Manifest Destiny Psychedelic Road Trip Summer 2008

Here follows the chronicles of the Manifest Destiny Psychedelic Road Trip Summer 2008, approximately 2 weeks, spanning from Chicago to Seattle.

Monday 8/25 - Chicago

Off to a late start already. After a day of anxious packing and cleaning out my room in my now former apartment, I lugged my gigantor backpack/messenger bag, a jog of water, a bag of snacks, and a blanket on the train to meet Lisa, Kyle, Jina at Arlington House International Hostel. A long time central meeting point, it was fittingly the place we all met either directly or by association, and the place Lisa, Kyle, and Jina (and thus I too) would be leaving forever. We spent a couple hours loading up the car, trying to fit everything in very snuggly, including Lisa's and my massive luggage, several blankets/pillows/sleeping bags, and Shelby's homemade hula hoop. Somehow we managed to cram everything in, even the hula hoop which was tied to the roof with an extension cord and some useless duct tape. After months of uncertainty of who would be going on the trip and finally convincing both Jina and Henry at the last minute, we unfortunately had to leave Henry behind to make way for the sleeping bags.
We lingered around Arlington for a while, taking pictures, reminiscing, saying goodbye to people verbally or in writing. It was bittersweet for everyone, for me it was mostly sad despite that (or perhaps because) I never worked there like everybody else. My memories hanging out there were only good ones - meeting awesome travelers from all over, talking with Henry, listening to Mousa play guitar, making food, secretly sleeping in vacant rooms...I'll miss it.

We hit the road right around midnight, reset the odometer right in the heart of downtown Chicago, and at Lisa's request, aptly listened to Kanye West as we left the city. The outskirts were hauntingly pretty at night with the orange crescent moon over pitch black fields. Three of us eventually fell asleep as Kyle drove on through northern Illinois. We didn't wake up til we stopped at a gas station in some remote area in Iowa, where we found a wallet belonging to some teenager named Mangler. Nothing really in it except a few bucks and likely used $10 Walmart gift card.