and I feel like I'm sitting on a rainbow. These last few days have been hectic. The delay in posting was partially due to internet availability but also because of sheer exhaustion. Chicago was great, but just as hectic as Toronto. On the long haul between the two cities, I was able to do a lot of thinking. Here were some of the things I was working on.

1. How lucky I am to have this trip. In Chicago, we ran into people who's whole vacation was going to Chicago. They packed and travelled to the Windy city and will go home in a day or two. Chicago is a stop on our trip. I am blessed to be able to afford this journey west. I wonder how much better a country we would be if folks took trips like this, visiting other cities, meeting other people, witnessing other people's ways of life? I find myself not asking "How can they be like this" type questions and inquiring more along the lines of "I can see where their perspective comes from."

2. What is it that makes a city great? Chicago had an excellent atmosphere, great architecture and a very devoted civic community. Public libraries, transportation systems that are used, people who live and work in the city, people who donate large sums of money to the city. Why do some cities have sticking power and others just flounder from generation to generation? Is it the people that live there? Is it the companies that do business in the city? I am not sure if there is any one factor, but I don't know that I have ever been endeared to a city the way some of the Chicagians I met were.

3. After seeng how much land and how many resources are needed to raise cattle, I am beginning to wonder about the impact of eating meat. I have been told many times about how expensive it is to raise beef, but when you see the actual cost in land, equipment, machinery, etc, you realize the effort and strain you are putting on the earth. I am certainly not going to give up meat, but it really struck me that there would be 20-30 acres of land with some cows on it. A field of corn less than half the size of the pasture would be growing next door! I am not sure what the take home here is, but it's been on my mind and I am sure it will continue as we roll west and see some of the bigger ranches.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't starting to feel a little road weary. Living out of my trunk is tough. It requires a lot of flexibility and a lot of patience. You need to be willing to drive a few extra miles for a laundromat and wait for clean underwear. You need to be willing to eat minimalist meals for the sake of economy and time. These are all little things, but they can start to wear you down. I am going to be looking forward to getting out of cities for a while and camp. The pace we set for the camping is a bit slower and the drives won't be as long. It will be quieter and there will be more time to juice up in the sun.

Internet connectivity will be absent for the next few days while we camp, thus so will new posts.

To tide you over, here are 2 stops worth of pictures:

Chicago pictures click here

Minneapolis pics are here

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!