Indianapolis to Milwaukee

I was sat having a coffee at the hostel last night when I heard a knock on the back door. It was a well to do young lady who lived locally (but still a few blocks away). She came to ask for help undoing her dress. She said she would have asked her "gaybours" if they'd not have been away. Why she felt more comfortable to come to a hostel and ask a complete stranger rather than going to another neighbour was a source of some bemusement. Anyway I managed to get the zip undone although it was quite well stuck and she went on her way back home. It's got to be one of the most random things to happen on all my travels.

Moving onto today, I headed Downtown on a bus towards the Greyhound Station. My bus was nearly 30 minutes late leaving the city and absolutely packed which meant I couldn't stretch out my left knee, quite sore after yesterday's cycling. 30 minutes was the time I had in Chicago before my onward bus journey so I was worried the entire trip that I might miss my connection. I also had to put up with the tension of watching Arsenal away at Leicester City via text commentary on the Arsenal Player, BBC website and Twitter. The 1-1 draw didn't come across as a very good match. We hit bad traffic on the edge of Chicago but thankfully arrived into the station at 1.45pm. I headed straight for my next bus due to leave at 2pm which was then for some reason late leaving. All the passengers boarded on time but the driver had wandered off somewhere.

I had hoped that Eric, my Couchsurfing host would be able to pick me up in Milwaukee. Unfortunately he had to head out so I had to search for a bus to make my own way across town. It was actually quite easy to get to his apartment about 20 minutes north of Downtown. He left a key under the mat for me so it's a very safe neighbourhood or he's very trusting or both. The apartment is pretty damn cool. It's open plan across two levels and even had a climbing wall built in. He mentioned being an outdoors guy in his Couchsurfing profile and there are snowboards and mountain bikes around the place.

I went out for about an hour to get a snack and to figure out where exactly I am and what's around here then came back to the apartment for a bit before heading out to a nearby bar to grab something to eat. Eric text me to say he'd be back about 10pm and it was good to finally meet him along with his brother who's visiting. We went to another nearby bar for drinks and now I'm all set up upstairs with a huge couch for my bed. It's Labor Day tomorrow, a bank holiday so I'm sure there are things going on. I may just head Downtown and see what I walk into.

Eric's apartment

Inside the apartment