Settling In
Dec. 19th, 2015 12:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogOn Wednesday morning, I walked the 4.4 miles to DeWitt to pick my car up at the Budget Rent-a-Car. The address was the Shoppingtown Mall, (Hey, I don't make up the names) so I started trying to narrow it down from there. I walked across the parking lot to the mall, and then halfway around without seeing a rental car place. I went inside and walked the entire length of the building with no success. I went out the other side and walked around the other half of the mall, ending up back where I started. I went into the drug store attached to the mall (?) and asked staff there. They called the mall on the phone and told me that Budget is in an outbuilding in the parking lot. On the other side of the mall. So I walked through the entire mall once again, coming out where I had the first time. The Budget building was right across the way from me; I'd missed the signage the first time because it faces the street, not the mall. By this time it was ten o' clock. I asked, in the hope that I might get an early start, but my car wouldn't be ready until noon, so I walked a quarter mile or so for Subway, then a quarter mile back. I must have walked about six and a half miles altogether.
Shoppingtown Mall has been taken over on one side by martial arts and sports. There were at least three dojos, including one where people were working out with boken. There was a boxing studio, several sports gear stores, and even a fencing studio!
I stopped at Lowe's on the way home to pick up a plant watering sphere, but they didn't have one. Rather than go looking around and taking up more time, I decided to just take my plant with me. So I packed everything up and hauled it out to the car and started out of town. Shorly, I decided that the offline navigation app I downloaded was sending me in a sub-optimal direction so I stopped and wrote down directions from Google Maps. I got out of town a little late, but I wasn't too worried. I had my tablet connected for music via USB and was enjoying the drive.
As it turns out, those little delays made a bigger difference than I expected. I arrived at Kinzua Bridge State Park late in the day and found the parking lot near the viaduct. Signage said that the park closed at sunset. I hadn't seen the sun in about two days at that point due to clouds and rain, but I knew it must be near dark. I got my camera gear out of the backseat and walked briskly down the footpath to the bridge. I didn't even make it onto the skywalk. I stopped some yards back from the beginning to take a few photos of all the pretty old steel supports lined nicely up. I messed with camera settings for a bit, trying to squeeze as much light as I could out of the darkening air. I shot four or five pictures, and that was literally all I had time for. The light was gone, and I didn't have a tripod for night shots. I felt pretty ok about it. I got to see the place and establish that sort of quasi-mystical connection I get from being someplace in person. The timing could have been frustrating I suppose, but I found it kind of magical. What are the odds that I'd get there at precisely that last available moment to make a few images? It makes for good memories and stories. And I might try to see it again on the way home.
From there, I just drove. I stopped in Erie, Pennsylvania for dinner at a Golden Corral. I was aiming for a Chinese buffet, but I passed Golden Corral and Old Country on the way. Kenosha used to have both of those, but one closed. I thought it was Golden Corral so I went there, but as it turns out, Kenosha's Old Country is the one that's missing. No biggie. Except that the food was pretty unremarkable, even for a Golden Corral.
I thought I was going to take a nap along the way, but I didn't. I got diet, caffeinated soda, which works amazingly well when you only consume caffeine a few times a year. I was avoiding tolls, so I drove through some pretty small towns. I photographed a gorgeous Christmas display in the town square in Angola, Indiana at 3 in the morning. Going north from there, finally seeing a sign for I-94 gave me a ridiculous thrill. That was the moment that I finally felt like I was almost home.
As I was coming into Chicago from the south, I had the idea that I'd pick Lisa up at her place and take her to work! The idea of seeing her again was an even bigger thrill than being on 94 again. I took Stony Island to Lake Shore Drive, marveling at the idiocy of Chicago commuters (I almost got to see a pickup truck rear end a city bus) and parked outside of Lisa's place around 7. I texted her to suggest I give her a ride, and then half-napped in my car listening to music. I couldn't remember when she got up, so at 8, worried she'd missed my texts, I called. It turns out that she only gets up early on Fridays, and I'd robbed her of an hour's sleep. With her ridiculous schedule, I felt really rotten about that. But I took her out for breakfast as a least-I-could-do before driving to O'Hare to drop off the car. My brother J was kind enough to navigate the horrors of dealing with picking someone up at O'Hare (I literally had a panic attack last time I picked Danae up there; she took over the driving after I got her.), and bring me to Kenosha. My parents weren't home, but it was so good being around my brothers; it felt like I'd never been away.
I was exhausted, but delayed going to bed because I just wanted to be around family. But finally I slept. I think I'm finally mostly recovered from the trip this morning. I'm feeling a little adrift, away from routines and without my laptop (which I managed to leave in New York). There's anxiety about feeling out of control without my own closed-off space to put my stuff. (I'm sleeping on a mattress on the living room floor.) But I'm really happy to be here.
Shoppingtown Mall has been taken over on one side by martial arts and sports. There were at least three dojos, including one where people were working out with boken. There was a boxing studio, several sports gear stores, and even a fencing studio!
I stopped at Lowe's on the way home to pick up a plant watering sphere, but they didn't have one. Rather than go looking around and taking up more time, I decided to just take my plant with me. So I packed everything up and hauled it out to the car and started out of town. Shorly, I decided that the offline navigation app I downloaded was sending me in a sub-optimal direction so I stopped and wrote down directions from Google Maps. I got out of town a little late, but I wasn't too worried. I had my tablet connected for music via USB and was enjoying the drive.
As it turns out, those little delays made a bigger difference than I expected. I arrived at Kinzua Bridge State Park late in the day and found the parking lot near the viaduct. Signage said that the park closed at sunset. I hadn't seen the sun in about two days at that point due to clouds and rain, but I knew it must be near dark. I got my camera gear out of the backseat and walked briskly down the footpath to the bridge. I didn't even make it onto the skywalk. I stopped some yards back from the beginning to take a few photos of all the pretty old steel supports lined nicely up. I messed with camera settings for a bit, trying to squeeze as much light as I could out of the darkening air. I shot four or five pictures, and that was literally all I had time for. The light was gone, and I didn't have a tripod for night shots. I felt pretty ok about it. I got to see the place and establish that sort of quasi-mystical connection I get from being someplace in person. The timing could have been frustrating I suppose, but I found it kind of magical. What are the odds that I'd get there at precisely that last available moment to make a few images? It makes for good memories and stories. And I might try to see it again on the way home.
From there, I just drove. I stopped in Erie, Pennsylvania for dinner at a Golden Corral. I was aiming for a Chinese buffet, but I passed Golden Corral and Old Country on the way. Kenosha used to have both of those, but one closed. I thought it was Golden Corral so I went there, but as it turns out, Kenosha's Old Country is the one that's missing. No biggie. Except that the food was pretty unremarkable, even for a Golden Corral.
I thought I was going to take a nap along the way, but I didn't. I got diet, caffeinated soda, which works amazingly well when you only consume caffeine a few times a year. I was avoiding tolls, so I drove through some pretty small towns. I photographed a gorgeous Christmas display in the town square in Angola, Indiana at 3 in the morning. Going north from there, finally seeing a sign for I-94 gave me a ridiculous thrill. That was the moment that I finally felt like I was almost home.
As I was coming into Chicago from the south, I had the idea that I'd pick Lisa up at her place and take her to work! The idea of seeing her again was an even bigger thrill than being on 94 again. I took Stony Island to Lake Shore Drive, marveling at the idiocy of Chicago commuters (I almost got to see a pickup truck rear end a city bus) and parked outside of Lisa's place around 7. I texted her to suggest I give her a ride, and then half-napped in my car listening to music. I couldn't remember when she got up, so at 8, worried she'd missed my texts, I called. It turns out that she only gets up early on Fridays, and I'd robbed her of an hour's sleep. With her ridiculous schedule, I felt really rotten about that. But I took her out for breakfast as a least-I-could-do before driving to O'Hare to drop off the car. My brother J was kind enough to navigate the horrors of dealing with picking someone up at O'Hare (I literally had a panic attack last time I picked Danae up there; she took over the driving after I got her.), and bring me to Kenosha. My parents weren't home, but it was so good being around my brothers; it felt like I'd never been away.
I was exhausted, but delayed going to bed because I just wanted to be around family. But finally I slept. I think I'm finally mostly recovered from the trip this morning. I'm feeling a little adrift, away from routines and without my laptop (which I managed to leave in New York). There's anxiety about feeling out of control without my own closed-off space to put my stuff. (I'm sleeping on a mattress on the living room floor.) But I'm really happy to be here.
