Woke up. Felt slightly chirpy, until I realized that I am [redacted], tormented 80s child and superstar travel-writer. No wait- that’s not me… That’s Bruce Chatwin. Only he’s much older. And he explored Patagonia, not America.
When I was thirteen or fourteen years of age, I traveled for the first time alone. It was a flight to Chicago, where I met my uncle. Together we drove to to the house in Galena. I spent three or four days with my aunt and uncle playing golf. I remember shooting very high scores, and playing a round with Matt Rodriguez, the former Chicago Chief of Police. The room where I slept at night reminded me of my room at home. The wallpaper was white with small blue lines intersecting to form an endless series boxes. At night I would try to count them. I always found this comforting. Last night, nearly ten years later, I again stayed in that room.
In Galena this morning, I showered and dressed. With a full stomach and fresh laundry in tow, I departed. US-20 East from Galena is a one lane stretch that goes on for 80 miles, until you hit Rockford. There was a terrible accident in my lane, but I managed to swing a u-turn and pull onto a farm road that took me for maybe 1.5 miles and then dumped me literally 20 yards in front of the car wreck. It didn’t look too pretty. The remainder of the drive was sparse. Cornfields and farms. Eventually I rejoined I-90, which I’d seen last in South Dakota. The view wasn’t much different until I approached Chicago.
My expert navigation skills (in conjunction with my uncle’s hand-drawn depiction of my intended route) saved me from a traffic jam as I neared downtown. I arrived shortly after 3pm. I went straight to Jet’s apartment and hung out for a while until she arrived with Rich Fessler from Bear Claw. We introduced ourselves and went upstairs to her apartment. We chose to sit down in her living room on the old couch (which was my bed some 30 nights ago). We spoke for about 75 minutes, Rich and I. Jet sat knitting on the floor while we spoke about his own musical history, his impressions of Chicago versus other US cities now that he’s completed his first national tour, the notion of an aesthetic or “style” being attributed to all Chicago bands by outsiders, venues in the city, the gentrification of different sections of Chicago, and more. He was full of interesting tidbits. Because Bear Claw is a relatively young band, his point-of-view differs vastly from some of the seasoned veterans I have spoken with in the past five weeks. We talked about his burgeoning record label, Ear Flaw. We joked about his job at Guitar Center and penchant for web design and general nerd tendencies. With the tape recorder off, we talked for several minutes about various nerdy things and more personal matters.
After we finished, Jet played Rich some tracks of a CD I sent her of my music. She left me with some of my guitar pedals I wanted her to fix that she deemed “dead,” a coupon for a free Chipotle burrito and an old Cubs t-shirt. I bid them both farewell and hopped in my car to visit cousin Mim in Highland Park. That’s where I am tonight, tomorrow I’m leaving Chicago and heading south to Louisville. I’m filled with excitement as I prepare to greet Kentucky again.
xo,
ehl
