Surprisingly, the greyhound bus arrived on time the next morning and had empty seats this time. There was audible sigh of relief from all of us that were stranded the night before and as the disgruntled passengers put away their weapons.

10 hours later I was standing in downtown Chicago. The bus station was right on the edge of Near South side, which is a little dodgey, but not too bad. I did have 2 different people try to sell me weed in less than a block. For a moment, I was starting to think that I was back in Luang Prabang, Laos! I walked a few blocks to the subway and caught a train to the north end where Rob lived. A few minutes later, I was standing with my friend Jessica in a gorgeous Old Town north Chicago home just blocks from DePaul university, Lincoln Park, and everything else you can think of.

Despite having little sleep the last couple of nights, I dragged myself out with them to a club in downtown Chicago and unbelievably ran into an Army mate of mine that was here visiting from Lexington….what an amazing coincidence!