ay goodbye to Lee, but before leaving Chicago we need to climb to the top of the nearest skyscraper to get one last breathtaking view of the city. We decide to check out the Hancock building. It's almost the size of the Sears tower, but it's free and has unbelievable views of the city and the lake. Lake Michigan is the first great lake I've ever seen from the ground and it's incredibly big. If you didn't know it was a lake, you'd swear it was an ocean, waves and all. We descend from our perch and grab lbs of red meat at Mike Ditkas restaurant for lunch. After one amazingly fun and unfortunately short stay, we bid the city farewell and I promise myself that I'll return.We drive and we drive and we drive. Out of Illinois, through Indiana, over Ohio, and finally back to the keystone state. PA, home sweet home. We get to Pittsburgh around 2 in the morning on Saturday night. Jake used to live here so he gives us the late night tour. We drive through all the famous sections of the city and then drive up mt washington and get a look at the rivers converging and the span of downtown. I have to admit it's pretty impressive. We drive around some more as Jake rattles off some random facts, such as Pittsburgh has more bridges within city limits than any city in the world, except Venice. And that Pittsburgh was named after a statue of Sir William Pitt erected in the middle of town, made completely of peach pits. (Ok, i may have dreamed that one) Our plan was to spend our last night in Pittsburgh, but we were done and we all knew it. We were 4-5 hrs from home. It was time to push the rest of the way through.
We arrive back at Jake's around 7am Sunday morning. We unload the van and clean it up as much as possible. We figure out the car situation and drop off the minivan (and a tear runs down my cheek). I was depressed when we got the minivan instead of the jeep, but over the miles she proved herself. If I ever do this again, the minivan will be my vehicle of choice. Our final mileage was....drum roll......7216 (or there abouts). Which means I edged out Jake for the mileage guessing contest by 100 miles or so. And my grand prize is....3, 1 dollar bills and 2 pockets full of change that we scavenge from the van. It's more about the bragging rights.
Our trip has officially come to an end. We stand around the van grinning at each other, utterly tired but proud of what we've accomplished. 7216 miles, 22 states, 2 countries, 100+ hours driven, 37 mexican entrees consumed, 21,259 bugs killed via windshield, 13 laws broken, 44 shots of jager, 8 touristy t-shirts, 11 plastic dinosaurs, 0 minutes in gym, 0 minutes working, 8 years aged, and 14 lbs of fat gained; all in about 15 days.
Our goal was to see this country, inside and out. We did that and then some, and we became closer friends along the way. All in all it was better than i could have ever hoped, and I owe it mostly to Tim and Jake, two great road trip warriors. I just don't ever want to see you guys again. haha. Or at least not for the next two weeks. Ah what am I saying...lets start planning the next one.
To all those who've been following along via this blog, thanks for your support and kind words. I hope you were at least mildly entertained and I highly recommend doing this at least once in your life.
1 comment:
Great writing, but now I'll never read the resume of somebody named Jake and be able to consider him for a job. Please supply his last name so I won't be unjustly discriminating against every other Jake in the country for the rest of my life. Just kidding.
Sounds like you guys had a great trip.
Sully
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