Not a great start to the day! Dark and raining when i woke up. Packed up a wet and gritty tent slowly before heading off. First 30miles were fairly trouble free then i had issues! Got a puncture on a fairly busy highway, which didn't please me too much. When replacing my tube i found that my pump had decided to give up the ghost. Good timing! Hobbled with my bike to the nearest restauant which was thankfully pretty close, asked around trying to hitch to the nearest town (Michagn city) with a bike shop. No joy on the hitching but one nice guy went back to his house and brought me a pump to use quickly! Carried along the highway before getting another puncture (i was on the way to the bike shop at this point!) thankfully it was a slow one and held out until i got there. Sat on their floor eating a gorgeous sandwich they had ordered for me before grudgingly continuing on the trip.
Next few hours went quickly averaging a good 16mph through nice quite roads. And then i entered Gary... this made harlem look like disneyland! I did however make it out alive for which i am grateful! Lots of steel & petroleum industries on the 15-20miles into Chicago.
A few hours on i met Keir on the Lakeside Drive cyclepath in Chicago which was really nice being out of traffic and by lake Michigan with good views of the city. Lovely to meet Keir aswell after a long day in the saddle!
Got to Owens apartment who kindly put us up for a few nights and took him out to a restaurant for dinner before flaking out!
Above: Views of the city taken from the cyclepath
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