After a luxurious morning of free coffee and cold Chinese, we left the hotel and booked it toward the Indiana border. Well. Leisurely rode on toward, with a long break for lunch (PB, brown sugar, granola, leftover canned tikka masala) and an afternoon refuel Dunkin Donuts. They do not have great donut holes and no one compares to my exaggerated nostalgia for Stan's in Santa Clara anyways, pulling myself up onto a counter seat for a hot morning glaze with my dad before school. The old couple makes the donuts right there behind the counter and I could still drink milk then, cold and sweet and straight out of the carton. I'm 8, wearing a scratchy sweater and corduroys instead of the ugly checkered jumper I reviled with a loathing usually reserved for canned vegetables, or warts.

Yo can someone mail me some good donuts or something?

We finally finally got to ride the Hennepin canal trail, albeit its tail end. I left after Rachel and she said it was in decent condition so I tried to hop on it earlier. Unfortunately the park I tried to go through really had not survived the storms in any kind of riding condition, cue thick layer of sticky black nutritious mud. The trail itself was in decent condition, packed limestone, just a little puddly in places. I saw a wild ferret and a turtle. I tried to pick the turtle up and it peed.

The only thing in the world scared of me

The trail ended in Chicago heights, but a short couple of city miles and we were on the Old Plank Road trail. 22 miles of pavement, no motorized vehicles except for the maintenance golf carts and mowers.

Sometimes you just gotta eat a long lunch and today was that day. I knew I wasn't in California anymore cause the sign next to the pond I sat by read "No ice fishing." Presumably they did not mean in June.

Met Rachel at the end of the trail and she had bought me a cake donut. What a lady.

We then actually booked it for the Indiana border where we met Faith, the mother of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of Rachel's, who was taking us in for a couple of nights. There were no state signs. Get it together Illinois and Indiana. We are teaching in La Porte tomorrow, so she gave us a ride to her house, since we were running (biking) behind to schedule thanks to the dependably ever-present storms.

Rachel and I got our own rooms tonight. #separationanxiety

JK it was the best, I'm in bed at 10:30 like the wild child that I am.