To all the true snarkz out there

shadows in Kansas, to Atchison

not a lie
birthplaces of Nate and Pete, respectively, on the same sign! OH BOY!
Sunset in Iowa
Hey there sneezes!

Gezundheit! Nate here, from Plainfield, Illinois, staying with Pete's aunt linda and uncle tom. we've just enjoyed a delicious meal, abounding in ribs and potatoes and peppers, onions, broccoli, and even an ice cream cake, homemade. it was mighty tasty. chicago is tyte. i dont know how much zir peter fillled everyone in on it, but it's a really cool city. yesterday we walked around a lot. riding in here though we were told to get a [expletive] car [expletive]. watch out for butterfield road, it's nasty. and i'm not really that down i mean with the cubs, nor the white sux because they skipped town the day we got there, hence, no wiggly field, no comiskey. lame. we did have deep dish, which was zonktacular. oh man it was good. ill have to hit zacharys up hard when i get back to berkeley (zacharys is a pizza place in berekely that is phantastic). another chicago highlight is learning that chicago is the french spelling for the local word for 'wild leek', which refers not to the leeks that you and i love so much, but for the stench of the local skunkz, who smell like wild leeks. thats what french explorers thought would best describe this locale when they came in 200bc(e). also, the weird blob of metal in millenium park is really, really, REALLY cool. hypnotizing. today, while kelvin and pete slept and wrote and ate and showered and blogg'd, i went to the art institute of chicago, where i familiarized myself with several works by many grand masterz of the crapht. despite all the legendary paintings there by a long list of names, my favorite was this urn in the basement, by some mayan fellow, and it was basically an urn with a bunch of soldiers running after each other with spears and knives and shields, but their bodies were shaped like lima beans, and there were just arms and legs sprouting off of the beans. so, imagine beans chasing each other with ferocious weapons, for ever, as a circle is a perpetual shape. yow! this was from 100bc. that date is real, by the whey.

more gnus, we head out tomorrow, our next break is oberlin ohio where we shall find repose with the legendary hannah lesser, a fellow berkeley high school alum. i am looking forward greatly to oberlin, as i have heard many great things. she camped with us for a night in dallas center, and we'll see her again, which is good. from then, it's a powermob to the joisy kost guy. which i am also excited for.

then, just some personal info for all those interested and able, ill be flying back to berkeley sep 15 where ill be trying to get a visa and leaving for france the 30th of september. ill be in lille, in the north, for a year, so for all you pretentious euroheads, come to lille, stay with me, have a beer, maybe. here are some of my favorite photos from the last few days' riding. forgive my lack of ability as a photographer, but i like these. i like shadows and roads, as you may be able to tell. i also feel that color and contrast are important in constructing a composition, as well as shape and image. durant does this well, as does maxwell, but after a certain point it becomes difficult to distinguish the one from the other...