the States: midwest: chicago to kokomo to bloomington

As usual, when I came back to the States, my first stop was Chicago, or rather a suburb of the Windy City. Kelley and Jon have been a refuge for going back years and years. They recognize that coming back to the States is often overwhelming for me, so they let me adjust at my own pace, which is a relief.

We didn't stay there long, the next afternoon we started driving east, toward Kokomo, Indiana. We made it there in a bit over four hours, after a stop at Portillo's for dinner. I'm not usually a fan of chain restaurants, but for Portillo's I'll make an exception.

That first night in Kokomo we stayed up later than we should've chatting and catching up. I've known Rhonda and Chip for over 20 years, they've been part of my chosen family the whole time. It took me a few more days to get onto the local time zone, which means getting really sleepy at strange times, and being wide awake at strange times. Being in Rhonda and Chip's house is another perfect place to decompress, we never have a schedule to keep.

The only thing of note I did while in Kokomo was go to Mom's Homemade Pies, to buy three pies. This might sound excessive to everyone but me, but I love pie, and this place has the best pies. Lots and lots of fruit in the middle, and the perfect ratio of fruit to crust. It's good and bad that I don't have access to this place more often.

It wasn't easy to find an affordable way to get from Kokomo to Bloomington. My original idea was to rent a car, but picking it up in one town and returning in another town was out of my budget. I ended up booking bus tickets, much to the horror of pretty much anyone I told.

Unlike the countries in which I've lived for the past 17 years, there isn't a good system of public transport in most cities of the U.S. Argh. To get from one city to the next, I had to book bus tickets with a layover in the middle.

Kelley and Jon drove me to the pick up spot in Kokomo, which was a petrol station. Yes, it was a bit scary. As I boarded the bus I took one of the seats near the front, as I'm less likely to get motion sickness that way. Just before taking off the bus driver made an announcement that he was watching specific passengers, he expected them to follow the rules. Apparently they hadn't done so on previous rides, and he wasn't going to deal with it.

The bus ride itself was fine, arriving on time in Indianapolis. While I was in the bus station in Indy I spent most of my time on my phone. Kelley and Jon and John were freaked out that I was there for hours in the middle of the night, they didn't want me to sleep. I must admit, the variety of people I saw in the bus station was amazing.

Thankfully, my bus left Indianapolis on time, and arrived in Bloomington on time. Since it was still rather early, (before sunrise, at 5 something or 6 something in the morning,) the bus station in Bloomington wasn't open yet. I ended up sitting on a bench and waiting for a couple hours. I did get to see a pretty sunrise, and reflect on the fact that this was the first time I've ever arrived in my hometown by bus.

After a couple hours I walked from the bus station to the car hire place. It was warm and humid, I'm pretty sure I was drenched in sweat by the time I walked into the office. They didn't open until 0900, which is why I had to wait at the bus station. Picking up the car was easy enough, and made my life a lot easier.

Over the next week I didn't do much of anything of note. I went to a park I've never visited, I spent time with family members, and I did exactly one athletic thing. Jumping on a trampoline for nearly an hour is definitely a workout! It reminded me that I'm not anywhere close to as fit as I once was, sigh. 
I also did 'chores' like apply for a new drivers license, only to find out I didn't have the right documentation. That meant I had to apply for the right documentation, and wait. Bureaucracy is not fun.
It was a very low key visit to my hometown, the whole point was just to spend time with family.