The trip thusfar

Well, we just arrived in Chicago. The last day we spent in Indianapolis, Indiana. We arrived at 3:30 pm and immediately headed toward the convention hotel. It was the Westin, a fairly nice place. After checking into our room we turned right around and got some chips and salsa at a local place. We probably spent an hour or two there. While there we happened to meet up with a woman named Ellie. She was a Chicago native and was fun to talk to. We got the inside scoop on Chicago from her and she gave us a card to the Chicago Art Institute (so we don't have to pay).
From there we headed to the convention's opening dinner. There were free drinks and food. I spent the rest of the night networking and meeting people from all areas of the journalism industry.

The next morning we woke up and headed to the SPJ's award ceremony. There we received our second place award.

The plan was to leave for Chicago immediately after the award ceremony, however, fate planned things differently. First, my professor, Nils Rosedahl, lost the keys to the rental car. This was disastrous. We spent a good hour and a half looking for the darn things. Finally, one of the valets found them lying on the floor and returned them to us. This was a huge blessing, as the penalty for losing the keys would have cost us almost 500 dollars.

So, we were ready to go, except for one minor detail, we had no idea where our car was parked. Well, that isn't totally true, we had a general idea, however, it was way to general. We spent another hour wandering around down town Indianapolis looking for our parking garage. Luckily for us we found it (eventually).

And then we hit the road. We were about and hour and a half behind schedule, which placed us firmly in the worst of the Indianapolis/Chicago rush hour traffic. The drive to the outskirts of Chicago took three hours, to get the next 40 miles took an additional two hours. It was a long day, to say the least.

Additionally, the downtown Chicago traffic was horrendous (at least by North Idaho standards). While driving we had the bad or good luck, depending on your perspective, of seeing the monthly Critical Mass ride in Chicago. There were thousands of bikers taking up the whole street. Traffic was completely stopped. I thought it was awesome, most other people didn't.

So, as I've said before, it was a long day. But well worth it. Nil's friend Ira David Levy, the adviser of Chicago area college (I forget which one), had set us up at the Seneca, a very, very nice hotel in the middle of downtown Chicago. We are currently staying in a 400 dollar a night suit, however, because of Levy's connections we are getting it for 160 dollars. Lucky us.

We went out to dinner with him tonight (at an Armenian place, so good). Levy is creating a T.V. show called Pedal America (click here). The premise of the show is that he will bike all over the U.S. and film it. It will be run by PBS affiliate sites. I love the idea.
Anyways, it was a great day overall. Tomorrow we will tour the city and then go to a Cubs game at 3:10 pm.

Here are some photos I've taken while here...


Critical mass riders taking up the street in Chicago...

...more bikers...

... the Willis (formerly Sears) tower...

... (left) Eli Francovich (me), Jake Donahue and Nils Rosedahl accept the SPJ award.