Day 7

(Emily Entry #2- Yahoo!)

We woke up on Thursday with a fire in our bellies! It was time to move on, even though I think Andrew and I had fallen in love with Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan campus. We said goodbye to our host, who was both amazing and continuously amazed at the little things we remembered to bring for our long journey;

"Wow! You really thought of that? I would have forgotten tweezers for sure."

The girth in the back seat of the car actually looked pretty organized, and we said goodbye to Ann Arbor at around noon, refusing to stop to eat until we pulled up to our single food oriented destination - VEGGIE BITE - the first fast food-style vegan restaurant in the whole wide world! Since it was in Southern Chicago, we made a serious dent in our boxed cereal along the way.

Still clutching our giant road atlas, we introduced ourselves to the long haired, surprisingly young self proclaimed owner of Veggie Bite, who gave us free bottled water for having traveled so far. He helped us select an their vegan interpretation of 1) a Meatball sub 2) a Fajita Wrap 3) Chix-Free Nuggets 4) Buffalo Bites 5) A Mint Chocolate Chip milkshake. They were all great! All greasy and filling - just like fast food! We took pictures in front of the sign with the other young owner, who told us she expected us to ask because;

"Well, you know... vegans are kind of crazy like that."

She also gave us directions to Lake Shore drive, which follows a north/south route along Lake Michigan and is thought of as one of the most scenic drives in the US. We were so excited to see water and grass, and so full of energy to burn, we stopped and practice cartwheels for a little while beside the bike path.

Lake Shore Dr. took us on a tour of downtown Chicago, where we considered leaving the car until we found out Millennium Park charges $17 for 0-8 hours of parking. Andrew appeared personally insulted by the possibility.

The drive took us through Northwestern University (Woah! On the water! Covered in Ivy! Gorgeous! Who actually goes there?) and past the Ba'Hai House of Worship (Woah! It's massive! And white! Who actually goes there?) and all the way into Wisconsin, where we crashed in a Select Inn in Janesville.

A little culture shock first, though - just before crossing the Illinois/Wisconsin boarder, Andrew walked into a local motel to check the rates and found 2 elderly women in a cloud of cigarette smoke, chewing on Italian take-out. One look at him brought their conversation to a halt, and after telling him that the only vacancy was a weekly kitchenette, warned him to "Watch out for the cops in Janesville."