Day Nine- Done (Over 725 miles)

July 29th

I woke up at the Buchanan's house. The smell of bacon and eggs poured into the bedroom. I washed up a little and quietly organized some of my things in an effort to get ready to head out. Corene asked me to join her and Jim for breakfast and we ate blue berries, bananas, "baconed eggs," biscuits and honey.

The bike shop I was going to head to was closed until 10 am, so I decided to start my journey up to Evanston, Illinois. That is where the Rotary International World Headquarters is located. My tire was still a wobble from the previous day's antics. I kept riding regardless.

I made it up into Chicago, which looked a little rough around the edges. I think that is the best way to word it, because the center of the city is gorgeous. I made it to a Fire House on South Chicago and 93rd street where two guys were standing outside talking. That's when I met Bill (Windt)-- Correct me if that's wrong). Bill invited me in for lunch with the firemen. I met George, Ed and short-timer Frank, along with many others. Frank joked with me a lot so I gave it right back to him. He ended up talking me into looking at my bike in their garage. There was five of us checking it out. Well, it saved me time and trouble, because we found the problem and fixed it.

I started my ride up the Chicago shore. It was incredibly Beautiful. There were tons of bike riders, but for some reason I stood out because I still had over ten people ask me where I was going with all the baggage. I gave out the website to a few of them, one being Brad. Brad offered me a place to stay, but I had already set my sights toward returning back to the Fire station.

When I was getting close to Evanston Regina Rodriguez-Martin helped me in with easy instructions. She brought a large number of people out for me to meet. I met Carol Pandak, John Osterlund, PolioPlus Division Manager and Area General Manager, respectively. I was also fortunate to meet a few members of the team working on the End Polio Now campaign. I talked to them about the trip, answered some questions, and took some pictures. I wish I got one of the group of us (don't see picture).

I left the HQ's and started back toward the fire station while passing a bike race. I met more riders there and one of them passed me on the Lake Front Bike trail. I raced after him for the better part of twenty minutes at around 18 MPH. I think the max for today was 23.2, not that I could read the speedometer in the dark.

I wound up back at the Fire House around 10 pm. Frank saw me and invited me back in. Bill grabbed a bunch of food out of the fridge and I ate again. Right as I sat down to eat, there was a call for a hospital fire alarm pulled. Almost everyone in the station left. When Bill got back with the group, he gave me a bed to sleep in (in the "barracks") and I showered.

Daily Lesson: Sometimes you have to drop everything to work.

Please support the cause at http://www.rotary.org/en/endpolio/Pages/ridefault.aspx