Day 44

In The End, The Bitterness Always Gets You

Up early again and another run. This morning was 45 minutes and I managed to find a park near the hotel. So I did a few laps in the grass around the baseball fields. I gave it a bit of wellie and felt really, really good. There is still a bit of life left in these old legs and I may manage to get into decent shape yet.

When I got back to the hotel, we sat down and tried to find a hotel nearer to the city. What a nightmare! Anything that was in the city within our budget was totally booked out. I got on the dog & bone and rang a few places but nothing was near enough to the El for us. Finally, I found a Days Inn that was only a few miles from the El and had a room available. I reserved it and then managed to find another place for Friday night. It was very stressful but we had accommodation. Then Paulo made a call to inquire about Cubs tickets for tomorrow's game. Totally sold out. Saturday? Totally sold out. It was becoming increasingly apparent that you can't just cruise into Chicago and make your way through. You need to plan ahead. The learning curve continues...

We found Matty's Diner down the road from the hotel and got our daily dose of vitamin G (grease). Eggs, bacon, hash browns and lots of coffee. We were both shtuffed and ready to hit Chicago.

Now, here is the thing about Chicago. It is huge. And expensive. And not all that easy to find things. And it is bitter. I had booked a room at a Days Inn in Niles Skokie which are two neighborhoods north of the city. To get there we had to take 90 and 94, which are full of tolls. You have to pay anywhere between thirty cents and one dollar every couple of miles. When we came off 94, we turned right but realised the numbers on the street where going down, not up. Bollix. We turned around and started driving west. After a while, the numbers started going down again. Bollix. We had to stop to ring the hotel. We were going the right way the first time. The numbers go all the way down and then start again from 10,000. Eventually, we found the place and checked in.

We ordered a taxi and got a lift to the El station because we were too far away to walk. That set us back about nine dollars. Then, when we got to the station, we asked for help purchasing tickets. The girl says to us that the machines don't give change for bills and she doesn't sell tickets or handle any money. We didn't have exact change. Oh, and she didn't have any maps of the city or of the El lines. Fuck's sake.

We walked to a convenience store, got change and were finally on our way. We got off in the middle of the city and started walking north. Except that we were going south (and without a map). We managed to make our way to Sears Tower but decided not to go to the top for a view of the city. It was late, there was a thirty minute wait and it would have cost $18.50.







We turned east and walked towards Millennium Park. We stopped in Jambo Juice for a smoothie, then ducked into a really posh hotel to get a map and a Timeout magazine. They are supposed to cost two dollars but I did my best to look like I was a guest and know what I was doing so the woman didn't ask me for any money. We had a quick browse and found an ad for Reckless Records. We made it with about 15 minutes until closing time and both bought a few bargain CDs.





Continuing east, we had a look around Millennium Park, which is a new section that has been built at the top of Grant Park. There was a symphony concert on and lots of peeps wandering around. There was an outdoor bar with choons going and of course 'The Bean'.





It's actually called the Cloud Gate sculpture, weighs 110 tons and was designed by Anish Kapoor. It reflects everything around it and since there were some clouds, it was quite atmospheric.

There are also two 50 foot glass-block fountains that project video images under running water.



As well as great views of the city.





We walked into the city again, past the Loop and a few crazy, homeless people.





We were both feeling a bit pecky, so we made our way to Berghoff. This place was the first to open up after prohibition ended and it is a very cool, old school kind of place.



I ordered a portobello mushroom and Paulo had the chili and chips. They were both quality and despite only being appetizers filled us up completely. We washed them down with a Berghoff amber since they brew all of their own beer.

After carefully studying all the music magazines that we had collected, we decided to go to a bar called High Dive. It was miles away but the advertisement for it said that it was the best indie jukebox in Chicago. Paulo was sold.

We thought it might be a good idea if we walked, so we started north. And we walked. And we walked. And we walked some more. Now, I like walking and it was a great summer night. But when we turned left on Chicago Avenue looking for the 1900 block and realising that we were only on the 600 block, we hailed a cab.







Ten minutes later we were in High Dive talking to the barmaid (Meegan) and one of the owners (George). They were totally sound and sorted us out for the night. They gave us complete control of the jukebox, George bought us a few rounds and at the end of the night they only charged us $41.00! Happy days!

We were a bit bollixed, so we got another cab back to the El station, a train and another cab back to the hotel. I don't remember what time it was when we got back but I knew that my head was going to hurt in the morning...

If You Blink, You Might Just Miss Something

Day 43

Up this morning and out for a 40 minute run. The oppressive heat has lifted and I am feeling much better. It rained during the night and the temperature dropped about twenty degrees so I was actually able to run this morning as opposed to jog / trot. I ran a loop straight out of the door of the hotel and stretched the legs a bit on the way back in.

We decided to knock Detroit on the head. After reading in our Lonely Planet guide that the city looks like it has had the shit kicked out of it, I wasn't really enthusiastic. Plus, we are both keen to get to Chicago.

So, we went for a nice big proper feed in Denny's then a cheeky coffee in Caribou. There slogan is 'Life is short. Stay awake for it.' And I intend to. Then it was on to 80/90W through Ohio (with tolls), through Indiana (also with tolls) and eventually into Illinois. A very boring drive but a lovely day.

We stopped in a welcome center across the state line and managed to find a Super 8 that fit our budget. We drove there, checked in and then went off in search of food. It took a while but we found a TGI Fridays and were both satisfied. We agreed that the food over here in TGIFs is way better than in the ones back home.

Thinking we knew the way back (in the dark and without a map), we turned left when we should have turned right. Forty minutes later I was standing in a petrol station asking for directions back to the Super 8. We made our way back and Paulo dropped me off and then went out for a quick drive. I thought that he was going to Target to pick up a few things but he came back with a brown bag. Inside he had two bottles of Sobe (seemingly his new favourite drink) and a six pack of Old Milwaukee (my old favourite drink).

He told me that since we won't be making the drive up to Milwaukee, he thought he would bring a bit of it back to the hotel. Oh, how the memories came flooding back. I spent my first year of college drinking Old Milwaukee because you could buy a 12 pack for $4.99. Times have changed (slightly) and now a 6 pack will set you back $3.59 but it is still great value. And it didn't taste that bad either! We drank the 6 pack and watched Seinfeld. A great night in.

Day 42

It's Only Rock & Roll But I Like It

Up at 8:30, breakfast at 9:00, on the road at 9:45. We drove into the city and went to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum.









You may be wondering why the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame is Cleveland? Well, apparently a Cleveland DJ named Alan Freed coined the term on his radio program "Moon Dog House Rock and Roll Party" and it stuck. That and the city paid a lot of money to have it built there.



To describe it, I would have to say that I don't even know where to begin. Six floors, four special exhibits, one cafe and only six hours to see it all!?

We started at the bottom. There were lots of pictures and placards with information about the early influences on Rock & Roll. People whose music I know well and people who I never heard of. There was also an entire wall dedicated to James Brown with some fantastic black and white photos of him through the years.

There was a huge section called Rock & Roll All Over The World. It documented rock & roll music through the years with lots of information and a ridiculous amount of memorabilia. Too much in fact. I was in overload the entire time. Trying to consume information about rock and country during the 40s and 50s in Memphis, soul through the 60s in Detroit, Mersey beat in Liverpool and psychedelic rock in San Francisco. Then there was soft rock during the 70s in Los Angeles, punk in New York and London. Finally there was grunge in Seattle during the 90s. It all blew me away. The volume and depth of information was just unbelievable.

With a dizzy head, I moved into another section that contained clothing from just about any band or singer you could think of - all original items. There was Wacko Jackos sequined glove and ripped jacket from the Thriller video. ZZ Top's furry drum kit. Numerous Bowie get-ups, lots of Madonna's wardrobe through the years and what seemed like Mick Jagger's entire closet.

There was also some great stuff from the Who, Queen and U2 including an original T-shirt made by Larry in arts class in secondary school. But the coolest thing in this section was the 1933 Ford with a Corvette engine that was built for ZZ Top and made famous during their Eliminator days.

There was also a great little display on Joy Division / New Order, a cool corner with Elvis stuff and all of the original Polaroids that we used to create a collage for the Talking Heads album cover for 'More Songs About Buildings And Food'.

Feeling Hank, I made my way around the last corner and took in as much as I could of the Beach Boys exhibit, documenting their early years. There were lots of hand written notes, various bits from their school years and some brilliant photos of all the lads. The story about Brian Wilson's slide into mental health problems was also documented. He had a break down on a flight to a gig in 1964 and stopped touring with the band. He spent most of his time in the studio as a producer afterwards and by most accounts drove everyone mad. He also tried (and failed) to outdo the Beatles. They released Revolver, so he released Pet Sounds. Then they released Sgt Peppers and when he couldn't figure out how to better it, he locked himself in his room. For a few years.

After lunch, we watched a film about all of the Hall of Fame inductees since 1986.

Then we took in special exhibits about Pink Floyd's 'The Wall', The Clash and The Doors. They were all phenomenal and contained mountains of information about each of the bands. There were original posters, drawings, set lists, hand written lyrics, clothing and of course guitars.

Paul Simonon's smashed bass guitar was there. There is a picture of him smashing the guitar - you have probably seen it since it is the cover of the album 'London Calling'. It happened in The Palladium in 1979. Apparently Paul was annoyed because the gig wasn't going well. The sound was crap and no one was allowed to get up and dance. So, he got annoyed. And started smashing his guitar. By his own admission, he always liked to destroy guitars - take out his frustration on things that he really loved. Pennie Smith was at the gig photographing the band and was offstage when Paul lost it. She says that pieces of the guitar were flying past here, so she started moving backwards while shooting film. The picture of him is blurry and despite her best attempt to get the band to not use it, they did. It is one of the most iconic pictures in all of rock history.

After overloading our heads with music information, we had a quick sniff in the shop downstairs and took a couple of snaps in the lobby.







Parked outside the museum was one of Johnny Cash's tour buses.



We were right next to the Lake Eerie, so we had a stroll down the path to have a quick look.







We then attempted to find a record shop called My Mind's Eye which was recommended to us by someone in the museum. We couldn't find it and it's just as well. We found out later that it specialises in metal. Heavy metal, death metal, nu metal and every other kind of metal known to man.

In an effort to find a bite to eat and a place to watch the baseball All-Star game, we ended up in the Old Angle pub. It's in Ohio City, a little neighborhood in the west of Cleveland. The food was good, the service was good and the couple of Old Speckled Hen's I drank weren't too bad either.

We hung on to see the start of the game and then drove back to the hotel to watch the rest of it and relax for the evening.

Day 41

I woke up this morning at 8:50 and decided to go for a run despite the high temperatures (forecast highs were 96). I ran for 40 minutes and spent about 20 of those lost. Fortunately, I managed to do a bit of a loop and shniffed my way back to the hotel.

After a shower and a tariffic cup of coffee we were on our way. Paulo very cheekily found a mini golf course just a few miles from the hotel called Putt Putt.



We called in for the fourth game in our series and it was a scorcher. I was still sweating from the run and was a bit out of sorts. I choked on the 9th hole but Paulo choked on the 12th hole to keep things close. In the end, he beat me by two strokes, took my dollar and took the overall lead by two.

We were considering a second game as we were the only ones in the place but decided that we would probably melt if we did. Instead, we went to Panera for some rub-a-dub. And of course, I had a double espresso.

We drove 230 something miles to Cleveland. Well, Paulo drove the first few miles but he was struggling so I drove most of the way. He shnoozed while I listened to some house music and we were both happy.

We chose a Days Inn hotel about fifteen miles from Cleveland because of the price. We checked in around 5:00. I went for a swim, while Paulo went to do a few thangs.

Tonight was the home run derby and we wanted to watch it in the city near Jacobs Field. We drove into town and found Winking Lizard Tavern.



We settled in and had a great time. That is until the bartender was pulling a pint of Miller Lite. He went to push the tap back up and broke it. The tap sailed between me & Paulo, missing both of our heads and crashing on the floor. After all the hooplah, your man offered us the broken tap and we quickly decided that it would become our mini-golf championship trophy. We even got the barman to sign it for us at the end of the night. So, now the guantlet is down. I'm two strokes down and now there is everything to play for. Well, there is a broken Miller Lite tap to play for anyway. And I would be proud to display it in my gaff...



On the way home, we stopped by Jacobs Field for a quick look. We would have loved to see the Tribe playing but with the All Star break, it was not meant to be.



We drove back to the hotel on 71S and enjoyed the warm summer air blowing in our faces and through the car. Nothing beats it.

Actually, the only thing that beats it is a replay of the 1981 All Star game on TV that we found back in the hotel. The All Star game is tomorrow and as a tribute a local station was replaying the 1981 game because it was played in Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. Wow, the memories came flooding back watching the game. The dodgy uniforms, the huge barnetts and the great nicknames. I was in love with baseball then (it was before I discovered girls) and it was magnificent to see all of the players I remember growing up with.

Baseball. I love this game!

Day 40

We both slept it out today, feeling wrecked from a busy week of traveling and sight seeing. When we started to move, it was time for lunch. I got a few minutes in down by the pool and then we went to Chipotle for a bite. It's the place that Aido introduced us to in Orlando and it is great. Their tag line is 'ingest no evil', which is not only good advice but summarises their conviction to serve nothing but fresh food. The only downside is that I wouldn't suggest taking anyone there as a first date or that you are trying to impress. The food is every bit messy as it is good and you can't help but looking like a total eejit by the time you finished your meal.

After breakie / lunch, we went to the laundry mat because we were both running out of clothes. That and there seems to have been a bit of a judy in the jammer the last few days which may or may not be our dirty clothes.

We both chilled at the hotel today. I went for a swim and got a bit of sun for a little while.

At 6 1/2 bells we got in the car and drove to Mt. Adams, which is a neighborhood in the north of Cincinnati. We had a bit of trouble finding it but when we did the views were amazing.









We drove to Gregory Street and had a look around to see what was going on. There was absolutely nothing! This guy was the most lively person we came across.

We settled into a pub called Longworths, had the chatsies with the bar staff, ate burgers, threw some darts and had a few beers. But when we realised we were keeping everyone awake (at 9:00), we decided to go home.

On the way back down from Mt. Adams, we got the last few seconds of the sunset.

Then it was back to the hotel for a bit of kip and some recovery from a busy week.

Where's Paulo?