after leaving the cape (the birth place of rush limbaugh, i couldnt help but notice reading from the many proud flyers, plaques, etc. on display about town) we crossed the mississippi for the second (and not the last) time into illinois, heading east to greencastle indiana. directly on the other side of the big muddy, we found a flea market cloister, manned by the most gnarled inhabitants we've found on that or any side of the mississippi. the atmosphere was nothing less than lynch like (albeit not separated from the atmosphere by the camera, like all lynch-lands/mindscapes). as cliche as it may be to label anything creepy or disqueting as such, this was it. after almost running out of gas in southern illinois (not much down there), we found greencastle. not as lush or regal as you would think, this town did boast a skatepark and some gas stations, a kfc and even a walmart. we conversed with some students about their town and the best advice they could give us was to leave it. and so, we eased on down the road to bloomington.

we met up with one jenn jameson (at a lovely restaurant, the bathroom of which is pictured above)

we story swapped, sauntered about her amazing town, ran into some poster slingers from a competing company that were selling at IU, made up new slang and co-op'd our foods for the next week (trying new nut butters to cut down on the farts).

the next three days we held a much more encouraging sale at depauw university. weirdly enough, this school seemed to be a repository for all of the chicago suburbanites that went to the school i worked at for the past year and a half. they probably think less of me now...


pictured above are the whispy, ghostlike, goldsworthy-ish sculptures that reside in the center of campus. birds were making their nests in it. walking the path through them, sipping warmth from thermoses at six thirty in the morning sustained us most of the days of selling...

a few more mornings and we woke up in chicago. this magnetic north drew the ryder in for a whirlwind tour of things and friends missed and loved. mr. forester-dehaan whisked us away to the many culinary and otherwise necessary destinations.

pilsen! friends!

lovelies!

josh showing us his back "deck."

my heart ached(s) to have to leave behind chicago for the second time. alas, slaves to the road, we made our way west. cornfields and cornfields and the impossibility of having the windows down too long because of the smells: IOWA.