RoadTrip - Day 15

The Friendly Confines - We wake up from our luxurious 4 wheel hotel and head into Chicago. The night before we hit up stubhub once again and score tickets to todays Cubs/Dbacks game at Wrigley Field. If you're a baseball fan, going to Wrigley is one of those things you have to do at some point in your life, there's really no debating it. So from my perspective, I'm ecstatic. We get to the stadium, pick up our tickets, find parking, and walk in right after the game started. Practically perfect timing. No small feat either considering how far away we were 12 hours ago. Wrigley's like no other baseball stadium I've been to. As soon as you go inside there's a strong scent of beer, peanuts, hotdogs, grass and dirt. I think Tim said it best, Wrigley smells like baseball should smell. The architecture is almost alien compared to modern stadiums. There's no jumbo-tron, the scoreboard is manual, the seats are metal and uncomfortable, and there's hardly any separation between the concessions and the seats. It's like we're walking around in the movie the Natural.

We get to our spots in the upperdeck and settle in with hotdogs and beers. The temperature was supposed to be in the low 60s but it feels more like the low 40s. We fight the cold and our illness and persevere until the 7th inning stretch. This is the point in baseball games when the fans sing "Take me out to the ball game". I've been to lots of baseball games, and this is the first one where every person in the crowd was on there feet singing along. It's a kind of a dorky sports fan thing, but it was awesome and it's one of my best baseball memories.

After we sing like locals, we succumb to the cold and make our way to the exit. We catch the last of the game at a local bar right outside the stadium. When we get there, there are 8 people in the bar, including us. An hour after the game ends there are over 100. The cubs won, so euphoria was the drink of choice. There have been some heavy drinking day's on this trip, but this one is shaping up badly considering it's not yet 5pm and we're already 3-4 deep. I'm sure the night will end with a nice quiet evening at home watching American Idol... or not.

Return of the 3000 - After leaving the bar we head to Jake's friend, Lee's apartment. Lee's a cool, funny guy with an awesome apartment right in the middle of the city and a bulldog named beefy. We have some deep dish for dinner and Tim rocks out on some guitar hero. Jake passes out in mid conversation for about 3 seconds, just long enough to spill his beer on the one piece of furniture Lee doesn't want to see ruined. Beefy is not impressed. We meet up with a couple more of Lee's friends and head out to do some damage to the windy city's night life.

Our first stop is a local bar where we have a couple of beers and a few rounds of shots and get to know our new friends. Lee relives some good Jake stories while Tim and I tell a few of our own. At this point Jake's got this look in his eye. It's accompanied by a knowing smile, like he's mentally bathing in past, present, and future happiness. It's the look that I imagine Sylvester Stallone gets when they convince him to play Rocky or Rambo one more time. Yes, it's a distinctive look and I've seen it once before. It's the look of the 3000....and God help us all.

At our next stop the alcohol and conversations are flowing more freely. There's also a cool vibe going on at the bar. All six of us are talking to random strangers. We come together, fan back out, and travel into each others circles all while making lots of new friends and having a great time. At this point Jake is starting to hit his stride. He's bopping around, drinking other people's drinks, and talking to every woman in the bar. The woman I'm talking to is keeping a tally of how many times he kisses her on the cheek. It's approaching double digits. At one point some guy says, "I think I'm just going to punch him in his face". Luckily Lee and one of our other friends happen to overhear and intervene. Another bullet dodged by the elusive 3000.

Bars apparently stay open late in chicago, cause it's 3:30am and there's no sign of slowing. I start to take mental inventory of the situation. We've been up for 19.5 hours (after a 4-5 hour minivan slumber party), we've been drinking all day, my cold feels worse than ever, and this is the 15th day of this road trip. There's no scientific reason why I should still be on my feet, but what the hell, it's our only night in Chicago and I'm having a blast. So let's keep the party rollin.

At this point we say goodbye to all our new friends and head for an all night taco stand. Mexican for breakfast, lunch, dinner and 4am snack. Our Mexican food fest is complete. Inside the taco stand they're playing club music so Jake seizes the opportunity to start dancing for the crowd. "Can you catch a falling star without burning your hand? Can you put the sky in your mouth? Can you say to an earthquake..'hey hold still for a second'? No! Such is 3000!". There's a crazy crack head bum in the taco stand who's looking at Jake with an expression on his face that says "What the fuck is wrong with this guy". After dancing with one too many attached women, Jake moves on to his next great idea. I didn't actually see it first hand, but when i heard the other 4 guys roar with laughter, I wasn't surprised to hear Jake (now outside) just plastered his bare ass against the front window, showing the ladies exactly what they were missing.

After giving him a few tacos, he peels the tinfoil off them like he's about to eat a banana and then cups the food in both hands and starts devouring it like a squirrel eating his first acorn after a long hibernation. All this while standing in a deep rock star lounge. Strangers take pictures. If this entire eating escapade isn't on youtube by now, I'm gonna lose all faith in our culture.

After Jake's done eating he decides to become the official greeter of the taco stand, shaking everyone's hand that enters. We then see some crazy chick trying to kick a guy repeatedly as he runs away from her. Jake immediately identifiers her as someone he needs to meet and the next thing I know he's posing her between Tim and I for a picture that's a can't miss christmas card. "Season's Greetings from Allen, Tim, and random psycho chick".

We're finally ready to go home, but we can't all fit in the same cab. We decide that Tim and I will take jake and the other 3 guys will get another cab. Jake agrees it's a good plan. First cab that we stop, the other 3 guys get in and Jake jumps into the passenger seat. So much for the plan. Jake's cab ride home basically went like this:

Jake: "I think I left my friends"

Lee: "No they're fine, we saw them get into another cab"

Jake: "oh". "Hey let's moon some people"

Jake: (speaks spanish to the cabbie for 5 mins. Cabbie does not speak spanish)

Jake: "I think I left my friends"

All in all, a great night in an amazing city, with lots of cool new friends. Can't ask for more than that. One more day to go. Let's hope we all survive.