Chicago: Fast Times in the Windy City, Chicago, Illinois

To get from Toronto to Chicago involved 2 buses, numerous stops, an intrusive border crossing experience and a whole lot of time.

I always dread having to cross into the US, especially by land. The US Border Guards are pretty much always nasty and incredibly self-important at the best of times, but the guy that was working on the border in Detroit was an even worse piece of work than usual.

He was so supremely rude to everyone, even including the US citizens, and the whole experience made me feel like a criminal. He was also really creepy and gave you the feeling he was undressing you with his eyes - creepy!

Anyway, after that unpleasantness we had 1 ½ hours in Detroit (more unpleasantness) before catching our bus to Chicago.

Detroit has a really weird, post-apocalyptic feel about it. I saw it described that way in an article and it really does describe it perfectly. It was a beautiful sunny day and the modern skyscrapers sparkled in the sun.

What made it weird was that there were hardly any cars or people about. It literally felt abandoned which was kind of spooky.

We had to catch our bus from the Rosa Parks Transit Centre, about 15 minutes walk from the Greyhound Station. It took another 6 hours to get to Chicago from Detroit with a meal break along the way. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).