It’s now Saturday in Chicago and I meet up with the whole group tomorrow afternoon at 3pm. Linda and I have been staying with friends in a Chicago suburb since we arrived Wednesday. They have a beautiful house and we’ve had a great time. The first day we drove directly to the bike shop, Everyday Cycles and Motion, 
in the suburb of Evanston to retrieve my gear. I’m happy to report that everything arrived intact. They assembled my bike and I’m just making a few last minute tweaks. In the mean time we were able to visit the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry where they had a nice exhibit on bicycles 
amongst all of the other cool stuff. We also managed to stop by “Super Dawg” for one of their famous hotdogs – delicious! But tomorrow everything changes. Linda will drop me by the bike shop about 10:30/11:00 am on her way to the airport . 
There I will load up my bike and ride with one of the bike shop owners (Also one of the ride group) the twelve miles to downtown Chicago where will will meet up with the rest of the crew. Sunday night we are staying at a hostel in downtown Chicago and Monday morning we start pedaling the 2,500 miles down Route 66 to Santa Monica pier. California – here we come!
Awesome Mike – have a great first day!!