Strangers with Candy

I made some questionable decisions to get to where I am now.  A stranger called me "either completely stupid or way too trusting," but hey, I got here and I'm safe!


The part where I came to Chicago and met someone who was to be my roommate and that backfired has already been covered in the first entry.  And then I mentioned I went to craigslist to find a place to stay, and I found one where I can stay temporarily until things get settled here.

After establishing that, a day or so before I arrived I went to craigslist yet again for a Rideshare.  Flying into Midway and needing to get to Rogers Park is no stone's throw away.

As you can see, it's really, really, really kind of far.  If I were to take a taxi (I looked it up on a taxi calculator) it would have been in the ballpark of $70.  Especially because I flew in right during rush hour.

So I had a few replies from CL, most of them saying, "you know you can take the train!"  Wonderful suggestion!  Did I forget to mention I had a 50lb suitcase with broken wheels, 2 duffle bags, one of which had its handle broken off in Sea Tac, and a giant camera bag that holds my 17" Macbook Pro, a large, clunky dSLR, and whatever other things I happened to shove in there to save space.

Well, yes, I did forget to mention that.  But that is the case!

In this ad that I published, I had a kind of bullshit preface that claimed "friends give friends rides from the airport, so let's be friends!" but I was very honest and upfront with the fact that if I never see this person again, it won't be any skin off my back.  I just needed a ride.  One person offers some pretty negative feedback on the bluntness of my ad.  One person said, "sorry, I would, but I work, even though I work near MDW and live in Rogers park!" and send me pictures of an impossibly muscular guy with no shirt on and said we should hang out sometime.  Tonight.  Alone.   This was not one of the questionable decisions I had to make.  That was obviously out.

I did have a reply from someone who mentioned he would, he has a wife and two kids and a part time job but would need money for gas.  We spoke back and forth a bit and I was all about it, but when he mentioned in his emails that he was shocked I wasn't getting any other offers due to the fact that there are many sick people out there who would do anything for some action, I started to see some red flags.

I asked him, "How do I know you're not one of those people?" to which he replied something like, "I'm not sure, you tell me.  I guess if I was one of them I would have offered you a ride home if you are naked."  That's it.  No "haha" or anything else to sort of ease out of that creepy statement.

So I ended it there.  Didn't say anything more to him.  So it came as a bit of a surprise when he called me yesterday.  During the landing into my connection city, MSP, the plane was approaching the runway, and then steadily lifted back up no more than 20 feet above ground.  We spent a good 20 or 30 minutes flying over the Minneapolis/St. Paul area (which looks absolutely gorgeous, by the way!  So green!) before we actually landed at the airport.

The bad news:  My original connection was only 50 minutes, which has now been greatly reduced.
The good news:  The gate was literally the gate right next to the one we parked at.

The plane seen here flew me from SEA>MSP

The wing seen here is part of the plane that 

took me from MSP>MDW

So I rushed as fast I could onto a plane that was already boarded, luckily into an isle that had no people.

(side note: both of my flights were booked full, and on both flights, I had the only empty seat on the plane next to me.  win!)

As I got settled in, my phone started to ring.  Surely a call from a far away but not forgotten friend from back home wishing me a fond farewell.

Nope.  The number was from Illinois.  It was him.  HE'S CALLING FROM INSIDE THE PLANE.

No, not really.  But he was calling to ask me why I didn't get back to him and if I still needed a ride.

Oh, right.  Still didn't have a way up to Rogers Park.  Uhh, sure.  Okay.  I thought about saying no and assuming during this really quick connection that my bags were not going to make it from one plane to the next.  That would be perfect.  I could take the train with my two carry ons and the airport could deliver my lost luggage to me later!  Perfect!  But could I really take that chance?  I decided to go ahead and agree to have him pick me up, mostly because his voice didn't sound like that of a serial killer; I've watched a horror film or two in my day.

Into Chicago Midway I landed.  I get off the plane and down into baggage claim where not only do my bags show up, but they are the first ones off the plane.  Makes sense since they were the last ones put on.  So I supposed I'm glad I decided to take this guy up on his offer for a ride.  I felt only slightly apprehensive about the whole thing, so all-in-all good.  It was 4 in the afternoon, 80°F outside, so what's the worst that couple happen?  Maybe don't answer that.

He said he was running a bit late (traffic) so I sat inside the airport trying to lug all my gear around while trying to find an outlet that worked so I could charge my phone and use my Mac.  Also, is Sea Tac the only airport in the world with free wifi?  Everyone else wants me to sign up with this Boingo Hot Spot shit.

Eventually he got there and picked me up and we figured out the best route to get to where we were going.  We shot the shit a bit, talked about Chicago and a little about Seattle, about travel and moving and all of this other stuff.  We talked about street fairs and craigslist and we talked about looking for jobs.  He told me he wasn't having much luck with craigslist and looking for someone to pass out flyers for him.  It was obviously one of those I-want-to-tell-you-about-it-but-will-wait-for-you-to-ask moments, so to carry on the conversation, and for genuine curiosity, I asked.  He told me I was going to be shocked and appalled and get out of the car if he told me.  Without my bags?  Fat chance.

He said he wanted a young guy to be shirtless and pass out flyers while saying things like, "I want you to taste my nuts," and "Put my nuts in your mouth."  Okay, so he was selling nuts at gay pride.  

The shock.  

The horror.

I explained to him that I was just at a bar in Seattle where young boys dressed up in (not much) leather to resemble dogs were being paraded around the bar on leashes by hairy leather daddies and forced to sell jello shots.  The dog tails were butt plugs.

Then there was some other story about last year how to guy who did it had an offer to piss on his underwear and sell it to someone.  Not my thing, but not shocking in the slightest.  But this guy had told me before he was married with kids.  I guess he never said he was straight.

Anyway, he managed to get me all the way to Rogers Park without murdering me, so I gave him a $20 and called the other craigslist guy, the one who was letting me stay there.  I went inside, met the guy, saw the place, met the cats, and all of it was awesome.  We sat and talked for a while, discussed our travels and his part in the diamond trade while living in Africa (pretty sure it wasn't blood diamonds but I can't say I know too much about that) and then off he went to a dinner with his friends, and I went to my new room to unpack.  So I threw everything from my suitcase onto the bed until I found something cute to wear out that night, took a shower, and headed out the door.