For once the United States of America did not make the usual fuzz about entering their holy country. Arriving with a totally muddy car and coming right from the Top Of The World Highway and the lawless Canadian city of Dawson (ok, maybe I wish it was such), the custom officer at Eagle Creek was a) friendly, b) a Toyota lover and c) not at all surprised to see a Swiss car. After 5 minutes I drove on and reached American soil.

This mainly surprised me, since I had calculated an extra day for explaining that my Swiss Army Knife was not a weapon of mass destruction and that, yes, I would leave the USA again without damaging the country too much.

Still surprised I arrived at Fairbanks one day ahead of schedule. Schedule? Did I not say that I travel under the flag of “an open mind, an open schedule”? Well, no rule without exception. I had to reach Fairbanks in time since from there my flight bound to Chicago would leave. Chicago? Now, what the hell…??

Don’t worry, I did not choose a short-cut and neither I gonna proceed my trip with a plane, tempting as it was after the car robbery in Winnipeg. I will meet my Mum and her husband! And moreover, I will sleep in a wonderful, soft bed with at least 6 pillows!

But first I was picked up by Jeff, a fellow couchsurfer in Chicago. He studies theatre at Loyola University and I must say – this has style. The university campground is next to the lake, features nice apartments for students and is surrounded by a lively night-life. I decided that life was good and so we went to swim early in the next morning in order to get a clear head. But then, I had to realize that now I really was in the USA. A country where McDonald’s must write “Caution: hot” on coffee cups or other would face claims articulated in billion dollars of clients who were surprised to find their coffee not ice-cold when spilled over their fat wrist.

The lake was extremely shallow – and so we walked out a bit in order to swim a mile or two. But no, please no such daring adventures in US-waters! A boy, who was a merely 16 years old, rowed over to us and firmly explained that swimming out any further (arhm, the water was still not reaching my belly) was strictly forbidden and that he would rather die than let us risk our lives in this murderous lake. I quickly started to calculate the opportunity cost of a) him being dead and b) us swimming further on, but Jeff seemed to be used to this final and for sure life-saving frontier and so we swam/walked along the shore with approximately 50cm of water under the belly. 

Later in that day I found the fabulous Hilton Palmer House. A hotel with history! In the middle of down-town Chicago. And with even two pillows more per bed than I would have expected! Meeting Mama and Theo, her husband, proved to be nice, but in the age of internet I could not say that I have been homesick so far. You hear and see your friends and parents whenever you want. They can follow my trip as you do right now. So it was not a reunion after a long time – it rather felt like coming home for a weekend after some holidays in the mountains or after a project assignment somewhere abroad.

We had a couple of nice dinners, tried to go sight-seeing a bit… …this proved to be tough since I was almost falling asleep while walking. Nope, not the time difference between Alaska and Chicago was the problem; rather a night out partying with the cutest girls Chicago has to offer…

However, after some 4 days in luxury and civilization I can say that I really like Chicago (to the extent that I could imagine living there for a while) and that now, I feel relaxed and pampered enough to attack the most Northern part of the Panmundo.com journey: the trip up North over the infamous Dalton Highway up to the Arctic Ocean!