Holy Moly! Austin could fit inside of Chicago several times! So, why is Brian in Chicago? Oh, I forgot to tell you. This is where Launch is for our World Race! Let's go through the story thus far…
In preparation of the World Race, all particpants attend Training Camp, which was held in Taccoa Falls GA this year. Then everyone takes a few weeks to further prepare personally until Launch. This is where everybody regroups and debriefs and gets last minute insight as to what they're about to do. Launch moves around the U.S. and just happened to take place out of Chicago this time. The sweet irony in this is that Michelle used to live in Chicago a few years ago and still has lots of friends there. Thus it was only natural for her to come to Launch with me 😉
In an effort to ease the financial burden and make logistical sense, we flew out of Dallas, not Austin. "Wait," you must be thinking, "I thought you both lived in Austin. Why would you fly out of Dallas?" Ah. Well, my Volvo can take the blame for that one. Or should I take the blame for not being able to part with my 80's $600 gold station wagon? Regardless, I had a vehicle that I did not want to abandon in Austin, and I have family in the DFW area. Makes logistical sense, right? I thought so. Anyway, Michelle and I drove to Fort Worth to visit my family and drop off my car, which my parents would pick up later. Speaking of, they too were invited to Chicago as part of parents send off.
It's funny because Michelle and I had both romanticized our idea of how our first traveling experience would go. Needless to say, our lives inevitably end up being a bit more, adventurous? We made it to the airport about 30 minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave. We asked to jump through the security line as they called our name over the loudspeakers. Once I made it through the metal detector, Michelle took off running to hold our spots on the plane. I ran through the airport like something in a movie and got the last seat in time for the stewardess to ask the standby passengers to get back off the plane since we had indeed arrived. So our first flight experience together ended with nervous laughter, rapid heartbeats, and excessive sweat.
Our bags made it to Chicago on a different flight, which was another episode of drama, but fortunately Michelle and I have each other, and pretty much nothing can get us down, so it was smiles and laughter all the while. Once the late hours rolled around, we made it to her friends' place. Bryan & Lindsey have a sweet pad downtown, and it gave us the ability to walk to that famous pizza place and pay an outrageous price for a beer and a "1-person" pizza (which still left us with 2 meals after we both stuffed ourselves). Sunday, Monday, and most of Tuesday was spent touring the city with Michelle. It was great having her as a guide because I most certainly would have otherwise become lost. The scale of Chicago blows my mind. What did it look like before? All that concrete and glass made me nervous for some reason.
BUT, we saw some cool things and I met some great people. Tuesday evening I met with some folks from the Race at our designated hotel and 'debriefed'. Launch is basically a time of preparation where we all regroup and get back into the Sprit. It's been a good time, but Chicago's still way too big.
