I crossed into Illinois via Lake Michigan, and swam down to sweet home Chicago. As I got out of the water a car sped past with a couple of guys with shades on inside, and a veritable convoy of different kinds of people chasing them. What a welcome, I thought; and also that I'm glad I'm on a mythological/legendary plain, and don't have to deal with everyday events.
As I walked down the street a Chicago Bear was heading down the road towards me; no, it wasn't a grizzly, it was William 'The Fridge' Perry, the legendary American Footballer. I said 'Hi, Fridge', and he replied 'Hi, Greeny'.
Then I climbed up the Sears Tower for great views over the city, and had a spot of lunch downtown. It was quite windy in the windy city.
Then I headed south to Pontiac, where I had a bit of trouble avoiding all the traffic, and down to Normal, where I began to feel ill. Returning to Pontiac, I had even more trouble with the cars, and a driver shouted 'Oi, you in the greenygrey, get out of my way'. I suppose he wasn't to know I was ill when he oi'd me.
I headed east after that, and reached the border with Indiana by nightfall. I'd enjoyed Illinois, and soon recovered from my illness.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Whisk on sin in Wisconsin
WIIM 1: Wisconsin
Having reached the bottom of MIMAL I had to decide my route from then on, as explained in the last blog, and after a great deal of deliberation I decided to start from the north again, and so shapeshifted into an eagle to fly up to the top of Wisconsin; although I obviously love travelling overland, and seeing all the great places up close, for convenience, speed and panoramic views you can't beat flying!
So, landing in the Lake Superior Lowland I quickly changed into my greenygrey default shape once my feet hit terra firma, turned to head south like an Olympic 100m swimmer at the end of a length, and was off at a gallop.
Although I can get tired of running after a long while, a few hours of flying rekindles my enthusiasm, and it was to be running wild again, with the beautiful lake to my left.
It wasn't long before I reached the Northern Highland, and I loved running in the forests and glacial lakes there. I particularly liked the massive Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, and Wisconsin's highest point, Timms Hill.
I picked a few berries and pieces of fruit along the way, and really fancied a smoothie after all the running when I stopped for lunch. I didn't really have anywhere to make one though, and was looking a bit flummoxed when a snake approached. I said 'hello, my name is greenygrey', and it replied 'howdy, my name is sin; sin the snake'.
I told sin about my smoothie quandary, and it replied 'You can can whisk on me', so that's what I did. After whisking on sin I of course shared the smoothie with it. It was a most enjoyable lunch, and after bidding farewell to sin I felt refreshed and rejuvenated.
I drifted through the Driftless Area during the afternoon, which had a nice mixture of farmland and forest.
It was quite an eventful trip for the rest of the time too, as passing along the Door Peninsula I thought I heard the voice of Jim Morrison; I really felt at home in Green County; and thought I saw the Fonz on his motorbike in Milwaukee, which is home to both Happy Days and Harley Davidson.
Yep, it was an eventful journey alright, and good to be back on the acronym road. I slept well on the edge of Illinois; the next step on my trip through WIIM.
Having reached the bottom of MIMAL I had to decide my route from then on, as explained in the last blog, and after a great deal of deliberation I decided to start from the north again, and so shapeshifted into an eagle to fly up to the top of Wisconsin; although I obviously love travelling overland, and seeing all the great places up close, for convenience, speed and panoramic views you can't beat flying!
So, landing in the Lake Superior Lowland I quickly changed into my greenygrey default shape once my feet hit terra firma, turned to head south like an Olympic 100m swimmer at the end of a length, and was off at a gallop.
Although I can get tired of running after a long while, a few hours of flying rekindles my enthusiasm, and it was to be running wild again, with the beautiful lake to my left.
It wasn't long before I reached the Northern Highland, and I loved running in the forests and glacial lakes there. I particularly liked the massive Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, and Wisconsin's highest point, Timms Hill.
I picked a few berries and pieces of fruit along the way, and really fancied a smoothie after all the running when I stopped for lunch. I didn't really have anywhere to make one though, and was looking a bit flummoxed when a snake approached. I said 'hello, my name is greenygrey', and it replied 'howdy, my name is sin; sin the snake'.
I told sin about my smoothie quandary, and it replied 'You can can whisk on me', so that's what I did. After whisking on sin I of course shared the smoothie with it. It was a most enjoyable lunch, and after bidding farewell to sin I felt refreshed and rejuvenated.
I drifted through the Driftless Area during the afternoon, which had a nice mixture of farmland and forest.
It was quite an eventful trip for the rest of the time too, as passing along the Door Peninsula I thought I heard the voice of Jim Morrison; I really felt at home in Green County; and thought I saw the Fonz on his motorbike in Milwaukee, which is home to both Happy Days and Harley Davidson.
Yep, it was an eventful journey alright, and good to be back on the acronym road. I slept well on the edge of Illinois; the next step on my trip through WIIM.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
My travel route is planned
Sorry I've been away for a while, but I've been busy planning my route.
Having travelled across two-thirds of the US things got a bit complicated, as there are two-thirds of the 50 states in the eastern third of the country, so it gets a bit cramped and therefore harder to plot a coherent acronym route.
Anyway, I think I've got my plans together now, so in the next few weeks you'll hopefully be able to follow my trek through WIIM, TKO, MAG and F.
Yep, I'm looking forward to seeing the next eleven states, and hope you'll join me.
Having travelled across two-thirds of the US things got a bit complicated, as there are two-thirds of the 50 states in the eastern third of the country, so it gets a bit cramped and therefore harder to plot a coherent acronym route.
Anyway, I think I've got my plans together now, so in the next few weeks you'll hopefully be able to follow my trek through WIIM, TKO, MAG and F.
Yep, I'm looking forward to seeing the next eleven states, and hope you'll join me.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Louise y Anna in Louisiana
MIMAL 5: Louisiana
I crossed over into Louisiana soon after dawn, and it was already very humid; lucky my greenygrey coat kept me cool.
I made my way down to Monroe, and had brekkie in a diner there. A funny thing happened as I finished off my sunny side up eggs: a blonde waitress called Marilyn had her skirt blown up by a sudden gust of wind. And it had been really still beforehand. Wow.
I then made good progress down to Alexandria, which had a Mediterranean feel to it, before twirling my way over to Baton Rouge.
Between there and New Orleans another funny thing occurred. I had jumped into the Mississippi River to give my weary paws a rest, and was swimming merrily downstream, when I heard a call from the bank.
So I swam over, and one of two women said 'Do you speak Spanish?'. I replied 'un poco' (a little). She then introduced herself and her friend: 'nosotros (we are)Louise y Anna', and I did the same: 'yo (I am) Greengrey'. Then in Spanish they said 'Beware, there is a big whirlpool further down stream, and nothing can escape from it, not even a greenygrey'.
They looked serious and honest so I thanked them from the bottom of my heart and continued swimming. Then, not ten minutes later, I saw a whirlpool of gigantic proportions, filling up the river, and swallowing everything that crossed its path. So I quickly made my way to the bank, and escaped the liquid trap.
I ran for the rest of the way to New Orleans, and slept on a bayou on its edge.
I had travelled down MIMAL, and thanks to Louise y Anna I had reached my destination.
I crossed over into Louisiana soon after dawn, and it was already very humid; lucky my greenygrey coat kept me cool.
I made my way down to Monroe, and had brekkie in a diner there. A funny thing happened as I finished off my sunny side up eggs: a blonde waitress called Marilyn had her skirt blown up by a sudden gust of wind. And it had been really still beforehand. Wow.
I then made good progress down to Alexandria, which had a Mediterranean feel to it, before twirling my way over to Baton Rouge.
Between there and New Orleans another funny thing occurred. I had jumped into the Mississippi River to give my weary paws a rest, and was swimming merrily downstream, when I heard a call from the bank.
So I swam over, and one of two women said 'Do you speak Spanish?'. I replied 'un poco' (a little). She then introduced herself and her friend: 'nosotros (we are)Louise y Anna', and I did the same: 'yo (I am) Greengrey'. Then in Spanish they said 'Beware, there is a big whirlpool further down stream, and nothing can escape from it, not even a greenygrey'.
They looked serious and honest so I thanked them from the bottom of my heart and continued swimming. Then, not ten minutes later, I saw a whirlpool of gigantic proportions, filling up the river, and swallowing everything that crossed its path. So I quickly made my way to the bank, and escaped the liquid trap.
I ran for the rest of the way to New Orleans, and slept on a bayou on its edge.
I had travelled down MIMAL, and thanks to Louise y Anna I had reached my destination.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
