Day 5: Longview IL to Chicago IL

While planning my route, it was difficult to plan between Greenville IL and Ann Arbor MI. The most direct way would have took 8 hours and would have taken me East to Indianapolis where I would have picked up I-69 up to Michigan. I was just about half dead with the 6 hr ride from Longview to East Memphis, let alone 8 hours from Greenville to Ann Arbor. I didn't have many friends that i knew in the Indianapolis area so I wasn't able to break up the 8 hrs into two 4 hr legs. I did have a bunch of friends up in Chicago. Even though it would mean taking a longer and indirect route north and then hanging a right towards Michigan on I-94, at least this would break up the trip into two 5-hr legs instead of a single 8 hr ride. So, thanks to the hospitality of my friend Aaron K who let me stay in his vacant condo room for the night, I was off for Chicago.


It was strange being back in the Midwest. The sights are just so incredibly different. For one, there are way (WAY WAY WAY) more cornfields than in the South. Riding up along I-70 and then I-57 the mass expanse alternated between tall cornfields filled with browning ears of corn and the low green soy bean fields. The cornfields tended to be quite tall such that if i was riding right next to it, i can hardly see anything beyond a foot of the external stalks. The Soy however was nice and low. If i were to guess, maybe 2-3 feet? But I would be riding along cornfields, my vision limited to the road in front of me because of the tall corn, but all of a sudden it would open up into huge expanses of soy fields.  Looking over the soy, i could see for miles and miles. Gently undulating hills stretch for as far as the farthermost hills. The sea of green seemingly come alive as every gust of wind send ripples cascading down the tops of the plants. 


Many times I find myself throttling down to admire such wonderful beauty only to be jolted back into reality by impatient vehicles breathing down my neck. If this seems so beautiful to myself, it must have been breathtaking when God took Moses up to Mount Nebo.

Deuteronomy 34:

1. Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORDshowed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, 
2. and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, 
3. and the Negev and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 
4. Then the LORD said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” 
5. So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.

I'm sure that the sight that Moses saw would be at least a gazillion times more wonderful than the soy fields and though its sad that he didn't get to set foot in it, i'm sure the very sight of it and the promise of God would have allowed him to die in peace.


A couple of hours later, corn & soy fields give way to the concrete jungle. All of a sudden sky scrapers and grey concrete have erased every trace of green from my vision as i battle Chicago rush hour traffic along the Dan Ryan expressway. By the time i get my destination my searing left hand has been stratified in the "death grip" from half clutching through an hour of crawling traffic. But finally, i pull into Trump International Tower where Aaron has been waiting for me. 


I prowl Chi Town tonight, Tomorrow.... onward towards the finish line at Ann Arbor....