TRAVERSE Issue 19 - August 2020 | Page 69

I got side-tracked and never saw him again. I thought I had best go and look at the Great Lakes so up to Cleveland home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on the banks of Lake Erie. Staying in a hostel I watched the news, the Indy 500 was the following weekend, too good to miss. I went online and got a ticket, luckily, I had already arranged to stay with Antonio and his brother in Chicago so had an address to send it to. Chicago what a blast, the windy city, my hosts Antonio and Emanuel were from Guyana, common ground as I had visited Guyana on my last trip. They were the epitome of couchsurfing hosts with an open house policy, people constantly coming and going. I had a great visit seeing a raunchier side of Chicago, partying, sightseeing and nightlife. Memorial Weekend and the Indy 500, so looking forward to this. I went to set off, but the back tyre was flat, absolute bummer there was a rivet sticking out. I spent all morning trying to find a bike shop to fix it, but no joy, everywhere was closed for Memorial Weekend. Two hundred miles to Indianapolis for the race, I filled the tyre with ‘Fixaflat’ blew it up and set off with TRAVERSE 69