Vampire Birds and the Relapsing of Time

Plans change. This trip is proof. Last night Mani got a flat tire and I ended up catching a ride at the nearest truck stop all the way to Wisconsin. It wasn't my original ride, and I didn't have the number on me to let Dean know I couldn't get to that meeting spot. I feel a bit bad about flaking on him. I hope he has a safe trip up the west coast of Canada. And I hope Mani made it home alright.
So since I last posted I've crossed a time zone back toward my normal time. I'm slowly moving back into the past where I will eventually return to my life in SF for a while. Slowly. I still have more than a week before I get there.
So anyways. I'm now in Tomah, Wisconsin. I got here sooner than expected so I stopped at a park a few blocks from Jesse's house to swing on the swings, but was eventually chased from the park by mosquitoes. Whether they can smell fresh blood or they like me because of the amount of grapefruit I've had on this trip, I can only speculate. But I retreated, walking up to Jesse's house, trying to leave the vampires behind.
For anyone not familiar with Jesse or his beautiful artwork, where have you been while I've been ranting? And why haven't you looked at the links on the side of my page? I'm just kidding, kind of. But he's awesome, so check him out.
And now I will proceed to go back to all my picture-less entries in the last two days and fill them in.

Pictures from the ride through Chicago: