I landed in Chicago about 10:30am. There is a 6 hour time difference and I had been up since 3:30am UK time. With the token overweight American woman next to me on the plane with arms like kebab shop meat I didnt sleep a wink whilst in the air.
The cabbie to the hotel hardly spoke English so I was pleased to meet a pretty looking receptionist at the hotel who I could have a chat with. She told me my room wouldnt be available until 3pm. I sorta expected this but had planned to use the superpower ability us English have here, a little English charm. She had weak resistance and got me my room straight away. :)
Showered and changed I grabbed a map and headed out to take a look around. Chicago is a very tall city. I could see numurous buildings towering above a low cloud that had seemed to engulf most of the skyline.
I walked for miles, no joke. Navy Pier, Grant Park, Sears tower all good to see but doesnt make for interesting writing. Around 2pm i needed some food so I grabbed a table at Dicks Last Resort, a rock n roll themed bar overlooking the river. Here i met my first character of the trip. Nya.
The waitress swaggers up and says "Here, catch." with that she throws the napkin bundle of knife and fork at me and sits on the table to introduce herself.
"Hi i'm Nya and ill be your waitress if I can be bothered. Have you been to Dick's before? No? Ok. Dicks is a concept bar. We are Dicks and we like to play. If you like to play with Dicks then you should stay. Beer?"
It caught me off guard at first and i was like a deer in headlights with my response. "errr yeah". On her return I started to play along and gave some backchat, we were then friends. A few beers later and my first of many burgers I decided to grab the bill and head back. She was intrigued with my trip and wanted her picture taken for my records. As i was leaving a family came in and she started the same script. This time i heard her address the parents as big momma and big daddy. She asked for ID of the daughter and tossed it back towards her. It caught a breeze and almost flew over the balcony. The daughter called her a bitch and they both laughed. Great place but a little strange in its approach.
I walked through the shopping streets of Chicago. Big trucks, yellow taxis, sirens and smokey manhole covers. Traffic police directing traffic and shouting at drivers, helicopters overhead and a ton of steakhouses on route.
It was around 4pm that i got back to the hotel room and had a lay down with the intention of a few hours kip. I woke up at 4am!!!
Oops. There goes my night out in Chicago. 12 hours sleep! Im sorta glad as i feel fully refreshed for the start of my Harley trip and i could have been easily swayed to find a bar and have a few beers, waking with a fuzzy head.
10am pick up for the bike. I will be heading to Springfield on I53 and I55 which is about 200 miles and I have no accomodation booked. Leaving the protection of a big city is a little daunting. This is jumping in the deep end for sure.
