Champagne Anyone?

Yesterday was a day off for the Ethnicity tour here in Champaign, Illinois. It was windy and cold but I still couldn't wait to get outside for a little fresh air.

Most of the band members were taking the hotel shuttle to a nearby mall. According to a front desk map it was only a couple of miles by interstate but several more miles if you chose to walk, which they advised against. Hussain and I studied the map and notice that the shortest distance there was on the side of the interstate which, according the map, didn't have roads leading all the way there. We decided to set out on an adventure.

The first mile or so was down an industrial park road that ended in a massive railroad yard. We carefully ventured across 15 sets of tracks and through one parked train. We were careful to go over, rather than under the train buckle in case it suddenly moved.

We then found ourselves up against a swampy looking creek and thought about turning back, but after a little exploration found a few discarded railroad ties upon which we could hop across the water. The next obstacle was a tall chain link fence we had to climb, after that a small ditch to jump. We were then in a fenced in area behind another industrial complex so we stealthily stayed as far away from the buildings as possible, sneaking our way toward the mall. At the opposite edge of this field we found another sizable creek that took a decent running jump to traverse. After that we were home free and back on the street again. It's a good thing too because we were a little muddy and quite cold. I think Hussain wasn't quite sure about what he'd gotten himself into.

I've been slacking on putting up new pictures. I'll have my camera with me tonight and try to get some new shots to post after the show.
¶ 4:22 PM