Dover Rolls on.

Dover woke up in the buff feeling very refreshed.  Nude sleeping was the only to sleep he decided.  After a hearty breakfast cooked up by the three of them,  he had a whole day ahead before hopping back on Amtrak in the middle of the night.   His hosts and told him repeatedly ” make yourself at home” and it was clear that they meant it.  He took the opportunity to do laundry and did every piece of clothing  at one time.   He got the idea of journaling from his host so he set up an online blog and spent a couple of hours putting his journey into words before the memories faded.

His hosts had another comfort zone pushing suggestion for him.   Their local nudist group had an event planned for the late afternoon and evening.   They had rented a small bowling alley and all eight lanes would be filled with naked bowlers.   “Sure , why not? were Dover’s first thoughts.  He had enjoyed bowling with his Gramps and Uncle when he was a young boy.   It would be the first time to bowl without the bumper guards that popped up when it was his turn.

The group met at 4 , and Dover realized something right away.  There were folks there his parents age and even one couple his Gramps age.   He was the youngest,  but everyone made him feel welcome.    This event was a first for the bowling alley too. The owners  had never hosted a nudist event before and were not sure what to expect.  But they soon found out that the group was well behaved and bought food and drinks just like a clothed crowd would.    Stepping up to the lane with only rented bowling shoes on he bowled a strike his first frame.   Congrats rang out from all who had seen it.  Alas consistency was not to be found with his frames ranging from gutter balls to spares and he was glad he broke 100.  They bowled 3 games and then headed over to one of the member’s homes to play a jaw hurting from laughing so hard game of Cards Against Humanity.   The party wrapped up late and so his host dropped him off going on midnight so his late night wait for Amtrak at the dual purpose station was not too long. And once again he was entertained by the colorful with fellow travelers.

The train rolled eastbound and he symbolically waved to the south as passed way north of his home town of Kansas City.   For breakfast aboard Dover got paired up Chief,  a woman in her 60s who had been a school teacher in Nebraska  for years and had switched careers in her 50s to being a stock broker.   She was heading back to NYC to the job she loved  on Wall Street.  Dover shared with her his pondering about what he wanted to do for a career.  She encouraged him to expose himself to as many majors his college offered by auditing classes. That might mean taking a lighter load so that he had time to sit through an extra lectures  each week.   He did not know  if that was an option but decided to check with the profs when he got back to campus.

Chicago was next on the docket.  He had been there as boy and vaguely remembered seeing the city from atop the Sear’s Tower.  This time he planned to see it from more than just above.  His research showed that Chicago has an extensive system of public transportation and so he knew he could get pretty much  get anywhere from anywhere   So he found lodging in Oak Park, the first suburb west of the city limits.   A mid-afternoon arrival welcomed him.  No finding his way around late at night.  The great hall looked familiar to him, but he could not figure out why.  A plaque on the wall revealed the reason.    A movie Gramps and him had watched together several times had memorable scene filmed there.   The Untouchables with Cosner and Connery.  The baby carriage careening down the staircase.   Now he knew.

It was a short walk along the Chicago River to hop on the westbound El to Oak Park.  His host assured him that it was easy to get there,  Get off at the last stop and walk 3 blocks through the shopping district and a small park.   He did and came out to a street with very stately homes with huge lawns around them.   “For $25 a night I get to stay with the rich folk?  ” was his first thought.   He rang the doorbell and a guy in his 50s answered it and welcomed him into tastefully decorated home.   He had his own suite in the back, a bedroom,  study and bathroom.   Luxury like this for so little,  too good to be true.  But hey he was not going to argue.   His host suggested a local eatery known to have everything on it’s menu.  The Bohemian Palace.   Prices are reasonable and servings generous.   He walked over and had a layered house specialty salad,  rabbit , real mashed potatoes,  garlic bread,  and pudding for dessert all for $15.    His host was home for the evening and they sat and talked about what were the must does while he was in the city.  Dover also got the nerve to ask ” why so cheap?”  The host explained that yes he used to charge quite a bit more but found the travelers that came were boring and only wanted to  sleep  and kept to themselves while they stayed.   He lowered his price and the rich people stopped booking because they figured there must be something wrong.  Instead he got far more interesting folks who were open to a night’s conversation and pitching in with house keeping.  He added ” I am not with Airbnb to get rich, I joined to meet people”

A good night’s sleep, horizontal and not sitting up on Amtrak refreshed Dover for a day of exploring the Windy City.   The thirty minute ride back to the Loop revealed a gritty part of the westside.  Something that Dover had not noticed the afternoon before.  The contrast was stark between Oak Park’s  well kept homes and parks and rundown residences and abandoned factories was drastic.   But once  near the river the area changed to high-rises and busy streets.

Dover decided  to rekindle his childhood memory of the Sear’s Tower, only to discover it is now the Willis Tower and they had taken the experience up a few notches.   you could walk out onto a glass bottomed balcony and look straight down.   It gave him the willies but he did it.   He took in the city with broad shoulders spread out below him and knew his allotted 3 days here would be filled to the max.   So back at the  base he took off walking towards Lake Michigan.  Old architecture was mixed with new and people were bustling about running their errands.  The giant bean in Millennium Park reflected back his distorted image.  He quickly took over four dozen pics of himself.  Navy Pier provided a carnival atmosphere of rides, but also culture with an outstanding collection of rescued stained glass on display along a long walkway as he made his way to the easternmost tip.  From there he saw the hundreds of yachts in the marinas and the curve of the lake.  He made his way up Michigan Avenue but decided the bragged about shopping along it was not for him.  Traveling light he did not need $500 umbrellas or an art piece made up of empty coke cans.   The most unexpected find was in the base of the fabled Water Tower.  It had been the sole survivor of that part of the city after the Great Chicago Fire.   A sign caught his attention.    Cards Against Humanity Museum.  Huh? a museum dedicated to the twisted but hilarious game he had played with the nudist group?   He had to see it and as a bonus it was free.  A collection of the cards,  displays on who the people were who came had such depraved minds to invent it.  All done tastefully but tongue in cheek.    Well worth the walk up the Magnificent Mile.   He did hop on a bus to get back down to the Loop for the El ride back to Oak Park.

After a simple supper at a nondescript place,  he felt rested and wandered the neighborhood near where he was staying.  Many of the homes had a distinct look and Dover was curious so using his new found confidence he approached a woman who was tending her flower beds.  He asked about the homes with the wide expanses of horizontal lines and she told him they were all designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  A bell went off, Gramps had mentioned that he admired that  architect , but Dover had not pressed him for details.  He now knew why Gramps liked Wright, the designs were outstanding. The woman added that Wright’s home and studio was right up the street and that it was open for tours.    He discovered that he was hit the only night of the week that it was open late and glad he toured it.

For his second day he made his way down to the Museum of Science and Industry.  A huge collection of about anything that would fit under that label.   Even a German U-boat that had been brought through the Great Lakes was open to tour.  A fairy tale castle, a collection of unborn babies, a polished so that gleamed John Deere combine that he could climb in and pretend he was harvesting crops.   The stream lined art deco steam engine drew his eye,  he knew Gramps would have loved.   His big splurge was to stay after hours and do a dinner on the U-boat.

For his third day Dover decided to see as much of the city as he could from the El system. Armed with a paper map of the routes he would ride a line to the end taking in the views from of the various neighborhoods.   He ate lunch in the student cafeteria at Northwestern University. Since it was summer school it was not packed but did remind him of his college back home and also prodded  him that part of the reason for the trip was to figure out what next.

His train left at 9:30pm with his next planned stop New York City.  He had thought about hopping off a few places in between but after enjoying the urban atmosphere of Chicago he wanted to compare it to NYC.  A place he had never been.   It was nearly a 20 hour ride and for most of it he had two seats so his fetal position sleep went well.  The train rolled into Penn Station on time at 6:23PM.   This time his host was a friend of a friend.  No charge which excited him since he wanted to make Gramp’s fund last as long as possible.   One of his Dad’s Navy buddy’s son lived in the heart of Manhattan and had heard about Dover’s roamings.  He offered up a free couch for as long as Dover wanted to stay.   It was located on the Upper East side in a transition neighborhood.  Old was coming down and new going up.  Dover’s was in old, a 6 story walk up. but next door was a modern high-rise under construction which he could watch the cranes lifting out his window.    When his host opened the door the smell of roast turkey greeted him.  Spread out before him was a complete Thanksgiving meal, just a few months early.  Dover did not argue as they sat down and dove in.  His host,  Zach had rightly figured that a home cooked meal would be welcome to a guy who had dined out way too often.

Zach was a wealth of info for all things NYC.   From the must sees like the Ground Zero Memorial to the offbeat museums.   Dover knew one thing he had to do was tour Radio City Music Hall.   A place his Gramps had shared so much about.  The tour proved  worth the money.  Backstage to the lift systems so advanced for their time that they were guarded round the clock during WW2 so that spies would not learn the secrets. The Navy did not want the Axis to apply the hydraulics of the lifts to aircraft carriers.  He met a Rockette while she was still sweating from practice.  Displays of past costumes and the many performers over the years who had graced the stage and the perfectly preserved art deco lounge they entertained themselves in all had stories to tell.  Even a view from the projection booth which he got the best view of the proscenium above the stage.  While on the tour he had noticed a young lady pushing a cleaning cart in the lobby.  She was in work clothes but Dover hardly noticed them, what caught his attention were her eyes.  A hard to define color, mysterious would be the best description.  He nodded to her as his tour group walked past.    The tour wrapped up and Dover headed across the street to explore the rest of 30 rock.  The plaza near the hall was alive with summer visitors but pictures showed him what it looked like with the famed Rockefeller Christmas Tree in place.

His stomach growled when he saw a hot dog cart and he figured that is about a New York lunch as you could get.  As he stepped up to order he realized that the young lady still in her janitor outfit  was ahead of him in line.   As she turned with her dog in hand she recognized him too.  She waited as the vendor served up his lunch then said “follow me”.  Of course he did to a bench under a tree and they sat down to eat.  She was on her lunch break so only had a short time but in those few minutes Dover found someone he wanted to spend more time with.  She told him what time she got off work and then agreed to meet at the stage door.

Dover  had the rest of the afternoon to roam the area.  He had to duck into the Trump Tower just down the street to see the famed escalator The Donald had come down.  St Patrick’s Cathedral was a great place to quietly rest his feet and say his prayers of thanks to Gramps for making this possible.    The famed Waldorf Astoria was worth the walk through and the posted prices made him even more thankful for his free lodging. The number of construction cranes towering over the city amazed him.  Very tall , very skinny buildings were popping up all over.  All the time he wandered , his mind kept going back to Lorena.  Why did this big city gal agree to show this country bumpkin  the city that evening?   Could he afford a date and where would he take her?  His mind went everywhere.  With trepidation he approached the stage door at 5 o’clock.  Would she blow him off?  But Lorena showed up in street clothes as promised.     His worries about where to go  proved groundless.   The first thing Lorena said was ” We are off to the Met.  I know you like to tour theaters and I have a backstage connection there, my brother is a stage hand and he will let us explore.    That is how Dover ended up going to  an opera and hearing it performed from backstage.    His mind wandered during the long arias.    What adventure is around the next bend of the rails?   Where else would they explore together?  What other surprises were in store? Was Lorena the one?