Before I begin, I apologize for my lack of pictures. My camera is somewhere in my extraordinarily cluttered apartment. Those who wish to see pictures as proof may look at others' images of the tea party at Checkpoint 2. As a checkpoint agent, some may think that I may not have had much of a journey, per se, as compared to those brave intrepids who ran the race. This is untrue.

For me, the journey began the night before. You see, not only was I a checkpoint agent, I also was host to a pair of out of town players and one of the six Official Bakers of sweets for the finish line. My first dilemma was what to bake. You see, next month I alone am responsible for paying the rent and bills for my large three-bedroom Lincoln Park apartment. I've a very limited supply of money right now, not enough to buy several boxes of cake mix, and not enough ingredients for cupcakes in the volume necessary for both the finish line and the food for my own checkpoint's tea party. So what to make? I scour my cabinets and find a package of chocolate chip cookie mix that (supposedly) makes 36 cookies (hah). "Wait a minute. . ." I think. "Don't I have a bag of chocolate chips somewhere?" I recall. I do. And one bag is enough for two batches! With two batches from scratch and another from the mix, I will have more than enough cookies. With this in mind, I set off to the grocery store to buy the remaining ingredients, a lone package of cake mix for my own checkpoint, and the fixin's to make cucumber sandwiches.

I return home and set about making cookies (one of the last of which I just ate as a snack ^^). Just as I finished, my guests, Doktor Harmon and JJason, along with Shea Wolfe, who rode along with them and is an acquaintance of mine through Iaman. Shortly, they went to hang out with Iaman, who was unable to attend Journey. The details of that can be read in Doktor Harmon's praxis.

I, meanwhile, was missing a man. Neo ZeN was due at my apartment around 12:45. 1 am rolls along. 2 am. My guests return. Will the journey be short a chaser on the morrow? Will I be short a boyfriend? Luckily, he is not missing but merely asleep, and he arrives in the early hours of the morning. We sleep.

Saturday dawns, oblivious to my sleepy uncaring. We rouse ourselves and head towards Dax's place, where he has graciously decided to hold a brunch. Complete with pancakes of awesomeness! And Korean snacks, scary and otherwise! We stay there for a while, and then I head home, for I have not reached the end of my baking. In a scant two hours, I bake 23 cupcakes and make 28 small cucumber sandwiches. I've barely enough time to finish and dress.

I leave my apartment, heading for Wicker Park, and the starting line, to drop off a portion of the cupcakes, only to find it is raining. I get an umbrella and awkwardly go down the street, in my fluffy red dress, trying to juggle a bag containing a blanket, a kettle and several mugs, a box full of cupcakes, some still hot with icing melting down the sides, and an umbrella. Midway there, a cell phone is added to this assortment of items. I need four hands.

It seem the red line is running above ground, eliminating the stop I planned to get off at. This should be no surprise, as it has been doing this every weekend, but of course I had not thought of it. I meet back up with Neo ZeN and we make the decision to go straight to my checkpoint.

As we arrive, EV, one of my fellow agents, calls. We converse for a few moments, before realizing that she is about 30 feet down the sidewalk, walking towards us. We make our way to the overpass/underpass in which we are to set up our party. (here, we encounter a pair trying tremendously hard to change a flat tire, and having trouble getting the spare detached from it's storage place underneath the car. I offer them cupcakes. They decline.) EV takes the opportunity to go get dinner, and Neo ZeN and I wait. She returns some time later with Killer Strangelet (also known as Myrna Minx), another of our agents. Neo ZeN departs for his station further along the course to lie in wait for those front runners who might otherwise never experience the challenge of being chased.

We wait.

Our final agent, Josephine, a last minute addition, arrives.

We wait, and decide to set out my blanket for the time being.

Finally, our first runners arrive, and zer0gee drives up with the tarp and camp stove that are the final components of our party. We set up the party and settle in for the night ahead.

Perhaps now I should take the time to describe our little party. The most distinctive characteristic of our location was the noise. The rush! The roar! The ten lanes of interstate tunneling below us gave the area a constant sound of displaced air around moving vehicles. To our left, a railing, facing the city, a vision of glowing lights. To our right, a calm residential neighborhood. And here, in our place, a small slice of refinement, with the wonderful food I had made scant hours earlier and the wonderful teas that Josephine brought.

Our moment of tension came early in the night, before we had even had ten or so players come through. A cop car drives down the street. It slows. It turns around, and pulls up alongside us. Killer Strangelet gets up and goes to talk to them. I wait with bated breath. They finish speaking, and She comes back to our blanket. The cops leave. We are safe. "They got a report of bizarre activity" Strangelet says. "They said someone reported a bunch of people dressed as pilgrims set up under a bridge with a blanket and a teakettle.

I ask you. Pilgrim?


I think not.

The night rolls on, and players stream through. A pair of friends who I had hoped would run, though I did not know for sure, came through, one still blue. Another friend, an unexpected face, comes later, with the only group to approach from the south. Finally, it grows late, and our stream of players dries up. At the appointed time, we pack up and leave, leaving nary a trace of our presence save a spray of spent, sodden leaves and plant pieces. Josephine leaves with her boyfriend, and EV and I help Killer Strangelet carry things to her car for transportation to the finish line. EV and I then take the train to Roosevelt. While on the train, Neo ZeN calls to make sure we know the finish line has been moved to beside the Shedd. He is at this point the third person to inform us of this.

As we walk in front of the Field Museum, suddenly we see movement. A museum security patrol car approaches! We hurry to a nearby pedestal and crouch behind it, hoping to avoid notice. It takes what seems like forever for the car to pass beyond us to a point where we will be unseen when we proceed, but finally it does. We continue on to the Shedd, and see no one. We walk to the side, and still see no one, Finally, a little ways down the road, I spot the flag. Our journey has ended! I meet up with Neo ZeN and our two friends and we make the decision first to go to my apartment so I can change, and then out to some place to hang out. On our way back to my place, it strikes us that we are all very tired, and we simply go home and sleep.