Morning glory sunrise over Chicago’s Lake Michigan.

Video of the first month in USA

Trying to take full advantage of our last scheduled day off until the end of our trip around the U.S., I was going to try and sleep late and rest most of the day. It did not quite happen that way, but nevertheless it was a relaxing day. Just by the fact that we did not have to drive a lot, or run, or cook, or shop or meet with anyone as on a usual day, it was a restful change of pace.

Most of us were up early enough to get a breakfast at Victory’s Banner Restaurant again. In order to beat the very busy morning crowds there, we were advised to be there before 9 a.m. Getting there just around 9 o’clock, we did barely get a seat almost right away. This is a very popular restaurant in town, especially for the breakfast on the weekends. We are very fortunate to be treated so well and fed so sumptuously at our friend’s restaurant here.

Chef Steve whipping up another Victory’s Banner award winning breakfast.

Indeed, not having to look for food or buy and food to prepare for everyone is a tremendous boon and a wonderful way to get a restful break. The food there is so delicious that we did not have to worry about anything for two days because of the service of those who cooked and took care of us. Pradhan, Steve, Eric, Bobby, Sukantika, Mary, Erin and all the rest of the crew deserve our deepest gratitude for such generosity and kindness.

Since a few of us were staying near Lake Michigan, I thought it would be nice to walk across the street and go for a relaxing swim. But as it turns out, the actual swimming beach is a few miles from our apartment so Jeromy and I ended up walking almost four miles round trip to swim. This actually was good for me as it helps the legs to recover after a long run to walk some easy miles if you have the strength.

Birthday Boys Eric, Arpan and Sudanta celebrated together the night before the Run departed from Chicago.

Some of the other guys went shopping, some went downtown, some stayed to catch up on our website updates as I am also doing right now. We try to have something interesting to offer each day about our experiences the day before. This takes time and some effort even on our days off. But having the time to sit around in one place without having to go anywhere as we usually do when we cover almost one hundred miles a day makes it a pleasure to do our internet work without much pressure.

This little customer just loved the French Toast.

This day is also unusual as we have to say goodbye to a few of our members who will leave us tomorrow unfortunately. Salil is leaving tomorrow along with Dmitry. They have been with us over a month and now they must get back home as many runners have done since the start in April. Jeromy will join us again until the end so we do gain a very good runner and responsible teammate.

Pradhan and his team of enthusiastic servers extradinare, get all of our undying gratitude for a super stay in the windy city.

So now, as we get ready for our last leg of the long journey, we are reminded that life is always changing and offering new experiences and opportunities for growth. Also along the way there always seems to be people who are willing to help, especially when your efforts are intended to inspire and uplift others. Our list of gratitude due to those who help us is growing rapidly everyday. Today, as we get ready to leave Chicago, our list of friends and new acquaintances who deserve our sincere gratitude has become quite large. We are so happy to welcome Jeromy back who not lnly ran with us earlier in the trip a number of times but also never tired from finding us accommodations all the way through. Here are a few thoughts from our valuable team member who will once again join us on the road home:

“I walked down to the beach with Arpan thinking we might find some space to wade in the water, but what we found was more like a beach at the ocean. The waves were not so large of course, but Chicago apparently has real beaches. While our excursion was more of a long walk then a swim, it was relaxing to hang out at the beach - now I have to do some running to earn the “break”. Tomorrow will be my first day of running after returning from a hiatus back in Texas. I ran a bit at the beginning of the summer and will now carry the torch along the road to the journey’s end. I truly look forward to the next three weeks. My all-too-brief stint as a Harmony Runner back in May was, well, all-too-brief. Here’s to three more weeks with my brothers! “

Arpan, Jeromy and Team Harmony

---

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

< USA 21 July

USA 23 July >