Needless to say, Stephen and I have been home for some time- our drive back to Toronto was uneventful and calm. On the way, we made a pit stop in London to have our last road-trip dinner together at the same restaurant where we started: The Alex P. Keaton. The car, lovingly named “The Black Rosa” got a tender car wash, and the three of us (Rosa, Steve and I) parted ways on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Since then, it’s been hard to get back into “reality”; being stationary is nice, but the adventure of being on the road is hard to give up. There’s been a lot of lethargy in my life in the past few days as I readjust and reintegrate, but I’m back in London, and back at school, so my time will fill up in the blink of an eye, I’m sure. I’m excited to be back; it’s just taking some time to get into the spirit of things.

From here, I expect to keep on rolling through the semester with a few little trips here and there- there’s a little Couchsurfing reunion being planned with my friend Michelle for somewhere in Michigan, and maybe another hop into Chicago for a weekend sometime soon. I’ll keep you posted… and I’m always open to ideas!

Our last day in America, and there was no better place to spend it than in Chicago. I ventured into the world today… sickness be damned! I met Stephen in the afternoon outside of the Art Institute; we didn’t go inside just yet, but instead worked our way to the Field Museum, home of the world’s most complete T-Rex skeleton. Through a Couchsurfing hookup, we got in for free and took in the history of the world, from the Pre-Cambrian Era onwards. From there, we hiked to the central library and dinner at a Mexican chain restaurant. We ended things off in style- an hour at the Art Institute to check out the Jeff Wall photography exhibit, and drinks at the 96th floor Signature Lounge at the John Hancock Building. It was the perfect capstone to an amazing trip. Tomorrow we make our last big drive- Chicago to Toronto. It’s been a wild ride, and things are just going to keep getting better!

So, I woke up sick in Chicago, and decided to take the day off. I slept, and did a crossword puzzle with Ainhoa, our host here. Stephen made the most of things by getting a transit pass and riding the rails up and down the city- out to O’Hare, and to the ghetto, and places in between.

Tonight, we finally saw Ratatouille, just like we promised Chris from Oakland that we would. Since before the trip, every day has had some moment of “Hey, tonight we should see Ratatouille,” and finally, it happened, for $3 at the Logan Square Cinema. The movie, to put shortly, was wonderful, and we even saw Chris’ name in the credits at the end! Huzzah!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a healthier day so we can take in some things together before we return home on Friday.