I had to bring the car in to get serviced today. Mid-town Subaru. Nothing wrong. Just maintenance.
I put my bike on the back. The plan was to ride to work, and then ride back at the end of the day to pick it up.
The highway was going nowhere slowly. (It seems when the weather is really nice or really bad in Chicago, people tend to drive poorly.) So I got off on Diversey and headed north. Well, once I passed the Com Ed headquarters and turned left on Irving Park, I started to hit all the K streets. Keeler, Kildare, etc. And that's when I had my epiphany.
Maybe I had bitten off more that I could ride.
But I'm all about a challenge, and I was committed to make it to the lake.
As I neared what I thought was Medieval Times...
...which was actually Lane stadium,
...I saw a person who looked A LOT like Arun. But it couldn't possibly be Arun. I mean, what are the chances?
Well, turns out it WAS Arun.
S: Arun?
A: Steve?
S: Arun!
A: Hi, Steve. Do you live around here?
S: Nope, not at all.
I explained about my car, and Arun explained about dropping off his son at the day care.
S: Ok, man. I'll see you at work.
A: You'll probably beat me. I have to take a bus to a train, so...
I went on my way and Arun on his. Mine was a circuitous route as I went down Avondale (just off the highway) with its beautiful suburban pockets of tranquility. And then over one and down another until I found myself on Addison
and then down to Belmont
and finally the lake.
I used to bike LSD all the time when I lived on Montrose. Man, I loved biking along the lake.
So. Damn. Beautiful.
I locked up my bike and went into work. Who should be getting on the elevator at the EXACT SAME TIME?
S: Arun?
A: Steve?
S: Arun!
A: Hi Steve!
S: How is this even possible?
A: Well, my train caught on fire.
S: C'mon, man. Let's not make excuses.
A: No, seriously. It caught on fire. Everyone had to get off.
S: Seriously?
A: Seriously.
Chicago Tribune
Anyway, that's it. I thought it was weird it timed out SO PERFECTLY.
Epilogue:
At the end of the day I took a more direct line to pick up the car. I took Milwaukee all the way up. And here's the thing. Once you get past Wicker Park, it's like a whole other world. Specifically, Poland.
