October 10
An afternoon in the warm—nearly hot-- autumn summer sun, at Warren Dunes State Park on the east flank of Lake Michigan. A lovely swim and walk along the beach with my four legged ‘doodle’ comrad, Jack. What a great traveler he is!. His twice daily feeding and a romp or two, his only real demands. We make sure he gets his aqua, which we keep handy in our two ubiquitous plastic milk jugs. Of course there are his two or three daily ‘constitutionals’, to toilet, sniff, chase squirrels, and greet his admiring public (“He’s sooo cute”). The rest of the time he lies content on his blankie and pillow, with his head tucked up between our front seats and available for the occasional ‘touchy feelie’s’ from his human companions, as we put in our 5 to 7 hour driving day.
We pulled into down town Chicago around 6pm, with the expected heavy traffic and the discovery that we had just passed into our 2nd time zone change since leaving Cape Briton. Yet another ‘angel of the road’ embraced us and helped to diffuse the tension of the traffic and the uncertainty of where we would be sleeping as the night was coming on fast. Shann pulled into the Chicago Yacht Club per my instructions and in spite of her consternation, and I got out to introduce myself to the Hispanic gatekeeper. He had never heard of the Friday Harbor Yacht Club, but reckoned that reciprocity to other yachties was in order and allowed us to park our B150 in next to the members BMW’s, for the 2 or so hours that we needed for a quick taste of downtown and to sooth our ruffled feathers.
After a quick feed and watering for Jack, and leaving him in charge of his traveling kennel, we walked across Lake Shore Blvd., through Centennial Park and straight into an “occupy Wall Street’, Chicago style rally with half a dozen helicopters overhead and bicycle and beat cops galore. We hung with, chanted with, photographed, and ‘high fived’ many of the 3 or 4 hundred activists (of all ages and colors) that had gathered to picket outside the Chicago Art Institute, which was hosting a derivatives and brokers convention. “We are the 99%”—“No More Bailouts!” “Make the Rich Pay Their Share” read some of the placards.
Our next ‘road angel’ who was more or less our age, appeared to me under the ‘L’ (elevated rapid transit) with bike helmet on and in the midst of texting. She took several minutes to think through and direct us to a local eatery and gin mill, and then talked politics, social activism as she exuded her pride in being a Chicagoan. Seated at the bar in Millers Tavern soon thereafter and being well served by Kevin our 
barman, set us up for a great experience with a sauerbraten and beer dinner. Bar gossip and Monday night football (Chicago vs. Detroit—a classic regional rivalry) was the perfect backdrop.
After a quick check-in and another gracias to our gatekeeper, we headed west in the dark through the Gold Coast of the ritzy side of the Windy City. Providence (for want of a better term) delivered us onto the urban campus of North Western University, where we found accommodations in the full moon suite (parking lot) on the shore of Lake Michigan. Hot steamed milk at the student union, put a nice finish to a lovely day on the road.
steve
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