Cross-Country

With my Summer of Love having come to a close, I packed up my little truck, hugged my family goodbye, and began to make one final pilgrimage back to the Midwest and the place that for the majority of the year I call home. Having already made the trip either coming or going on three previous occasions, I'd become accustomed to riding for 16 hours with no one to accompany me but the greatest hits of any randomly picked old school pop band. In previous trips such lucky companions have been The Spice Girls, Queen, and most recently Journey. Leave your judgements at the door...or in the comments box. Thaaaaank you! This time though, there was an actual breathing body (although sometimes what I wanted most in the world was to halt that breathing) next to me. My friend Garrett was flying back to NYC the day that I was leaving, so instead he came with me and arranged to fly back from Indianapolis (which later became Chicago).


Along the way we stopped in St. Louis for the night to be guest to hostess extraordinaire, Catherine. She and I did theatre together as teenagers in Dallas and though we never thought we'd see each other as adults, she's become a staple in my traveling life. She took us out for Sushi and then to a house party where, oops, the a/c was broken. One round of beer pong and we were glistening (read: sweating like pigs). Done. We went back to the house and discussed methods to return Catherine's famous red hair to its former glory after an earlier mishap at the salon, before calling it a night.


The next day it was on to Indiana. After a solid hour of maneuvering and..."creative storytelling" with American Airlines, Garrett was able to get his flight departure moved to Chicago, so upon arrival to my house we dumped the contents of my truck into my bedroom, threw down some sleeping bags, grabbed some shut eye, and headed to Chicago. Gar had never been, and I've never done the really touristy things, so we headed to Millennium Park where, just our luck it was "Family Fun Day". I instantly remembered WHY I hadn't done the touristy things. We meandered over to the Sears Tower, now renamed Willis Tower thanks to a pricey purchase by Bruce Willis. Ok maybe that part isn't true, but i'm sure it's better than whatever the actual story of that renaming might be. Finally Gar headed to the airport, and we said adieu.

Some friends of mine just moved into a new apartment in the city over the summer and they were eager to entertain a guest, so Roger's Park became my residency for the next two days as I flitted about town soaking up the wonderful summer spirit in the city. I've been many times before, but it's always in various stages of winter when everyone's shut inside and the streets are dead but for the feet moving frozen bodies from one building to the next. There's such a liveliness in the summer. It was beautiful. I also got to see "Spring Awakening" while I was in town. It's surprising that I hadn't seen it yet, but a few random circumstances have prevented it in the past I guess. This time though, there was no stopping me. I was at that box office before it opened and surely did get Courtney Love crazy when a bitch tried to get ahead in line. Don't mess with me when I'm trying to get theatre tickets, lady. I grew up in the ghetto (read upper middle class suburb) and surely will shank a ho. The show was incredible, despite it being geriatric hour with a snoring santa on my left and Nana from the Muppet Babies on my right. I wish there were more musicals running currently that had as much of a voice and point of view.

From Chicago twas on to Ohio via the worst possible toll road that ever existed. I-90. Avoid it like the plague. I didn't realize I would be on the toll for literally the entire trip, so my coinage was shortly gone. Luckily the next two booths took my credit card no problem. At the very last though, when I handed my card out the window the lady refused it. "But they've accepted Visa all day," I said. "Well you weren't on the Ohio Turnpike ALL day." Um...could we turn the bitch meter down to a one you hairy cunt! With no cash, no checks, and 35 cents in change, I was forced to hold the line up for a good 10 minutes as I was questioned like a common criminal and then given an unpaid toll ticket. Welcome to Ohio. Awesome.

The rest of the Ohio adventure was in fact awesome though. It was good to see Eric and we promptly went to the pool and caught up on all the hot gossip and happenings of the summer. The next day I went to Cedar Point to see his show and ride them rides. Which...were fucking awesome. I told everyone I knew that everything is NOT bigger in Texas. Rollercoasters and Sno-Cones...bigger in Ohio. Sorry YALL. By the days end, we high kicked it over to a local pizza place with Eric's friend and fellow castmate Tim for the park entertainers' farewell dinner and then onto Club X. Seedy Ohio nightclub on a Saturday night? Yes please! There was a foam party, but being how the only attractive people were the people I was with, I steered clear.

Traveled out and ready to sleep in my own bed, I headed home yesterday and after an ungodly number of hours unpacking and arranging, now sit in my up-and-running room. Home sweet home.