Days 562-568! Time for a fantastic week! I got it started with a train ride to Omaha, Nebraska to visit some friends. And I ended it with hanging out with my friend Dylan! I couldn’t have asked for a better last few days in Peoria to cap off a wonderful time spent at home. I’ll be heading out on international adventures very soon, but I look forward to the next time I get to spend a month or two (or more) with my parents!

I started my day on Thursday, July 17th with going through my childhood room some more. I found old class schedules, the speech I gave at my 8th grade graduation, old photos, comics I made, and lots and lots of class work from high school.

It was really fun reminiscing on the past, but I didn’t need the class work anymore so I had lots of trash and recycling to deal with.

I also found my classwork for when I took my mother’s class in high school. It was funny looking through her comments on my work (she was a tough and great teacher).

I was close to finishing up going through all my things, but I decided to leave the rest for later. So I played some guitar and got ready for my next little adventure.

Quick music update, I have 3 songs that are getting close to recording ready! I have loads of ideas for future songs, but finding the time for studio time will be interesting while I’m in Honduras. Maybe Cofradia will have a good one, we’ll find out together!

My next adventure was taking the train from Galesburg, Illinois to Omaha, Nebraska! My parents drove me to the train station and we played some cards as we waited (we almost always are prepared with a deck of cards).

While we waited, we happened to run into a former student of my mother’s. Which was wild because we had just seen her a few days earlier and had no idea we were on the same train! Small world.

I gave my parents big hugs and then boarded Amtrak’s California Zephyr train. This line goes all the way from Chicago, Illinois to Emeryville, California!

The ride was around 6 and a half hours. I spent my time writing last week’s blog post, reading a book, and listening to music. The ride was super scenic too, going past rolling farm fields, small towns, and crossing rivers.

At 11pm, I arrived in Omaha! The train was actually a bit early, so I sat down on a bench and waited for my friend Troy to pick me up.

He lived about 20 minutes away from the station, it was really nice of him to come and scoop me. We stayed up chatting and catching up for a bit and then called it a night since we had a long weekend ahead of us.

Friday, July 18th started out with hanging out at Troy and Nat’s house! A number of our friends came over to hang as well for the morning. These are friends from my Bonnaroo group, so we had plenty of conversations reminiscing on past Bonnaroo and of course… this years cancelled Bonnaroo.

Also hanging out with us was Rosie, Troy and Nat’s tiny dog. We immediately became best friends and when I arrived on Thursday, she just sat in my lap the entire time we were chatting, which was also a lot of the case on Friday (and the rest of the weekend as well).

I got to spend time with my friend Pat too who came in from Colorado for the weekend as well!

Originally the plan was to see a concert on Saturday all together… but, with our luck, it got cancelled due to “low ticket sales.”

My friend Mia then took me around Omaha and showed me her childhood home, Warren Buffett’s house, lots of cute little neighborhoods, etc. I don’t believe I’ve actually ever been to Omaha before, so it was fun to explore a new city.

Pat, Mia, and I hung out at Mia’s house for a bit until her husband, Alex, came home from work. We then made our way to our friend Marcus’s apartment to hang out at his apartment’s rooftop. Two of our friends DJ’d for us while we chatted, grilled food, and enjoyed a view of the city.

We went to a couple local bars after their apartment and eventually, Troy, Nat, and I made our way back home and called it a night.

Saturday, July 19th started out with a brunch at my friend Cadence’s house! She had the whole crew over for a delicious feast that she cooked up all by herself. It was full of egg casserole, cinnamon swirl pancakes, fruit, and donuts. It was great!

After brunch, we moved to our friend Maggie and Tree’s apartment complex. They gave us the key to their pool and we spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun and floating around the water.

The evening and night was spent at our friend Tag’s house. I had the full grand tour of all my Omaha friend’s houses (or the Omahomies as we call them).

Sunday, July 20th started out with brunch as well! This time it was with my friends Nat and Zoe (Zoe lived in the same apartment complex as Troy and Nat). We went down the road to the restaurant Troy worked at, Railcar Modern American Kitchen. I had chicken and waffles, which is always a treat to have when done well! It was a tasty meal and it was fun watching Troy run around and do his job.

After brunch, we made our way to Costco! It’s been years since I’ve been in a Costco, and let me tell you, I had a blast. I was flying around on the shopping cart, trying every sample, and had a really good time people watching. We were buying dinner for our mini lake trip we were having later in the day.

Once everyone was off work and ready to go, around 2pm we headed to a nearby lake community where my friend Dunbar and his family lives.

I unfortunately don’t have any pictures of the afternoon and evening, but it was a blast! The water was the perfect temperature on a very hot day. Before everyone arrived, Dunbar took some of us out on their speed boat. This is when the fun really began!

Dunbar’s speed boat was set up for a water sport called wake surfing. This is an activity I’ve wanted to try ever since I learned about it! It essentially takes wakeboarding and surfing and mashes them together! But instead of being wayyy behind the boat and maneuvering in and out of the wake, you start very close to the boat and ride the wake like a continuous surfing wave!

I can water ski, but I can’t wakeboard so I was a bit nervous that I wouldn’t be able to do it. But, it actually ended up being a lot easier than I anticipated! I guess the months and months of surfing in Australia helped out. Everyone took a few turns before we headed back to the house. We then piled everyone on to their pontoon boat and took it out to a little island on the lake to swim and relax some more.

We had dinner and then called it a night, but it was a really fun end to an already great weekend!

I was up bright and early on Monday, July 21st because I had a train to catch! Even though it was delayed 1.5 hours, it was still arriving pretty much on time to Omaha. Troy drove me to the station and we said our see you laters. I then waited for a bit and the train arrived to take me back home.

The start of the trip wasn’t ideal. I was sat next to an old man who decided to have his walker right in front of our leg room… and when I was hoping to get on and fall right asleep, he just started yapping to me. Eventually I politely told him I was going to fall asleep and that we had a long train ride ahead of us to chat later.

But… when he’d fall asleep his arm would come crashing down and bump me, waking me up. After about 30 minutes into the ride I got up and asked a conductor if I could move. To which he said if I wanted to sit downstairs, no, but I could sit anywhere I wanted upstairs. So I quickly grabbed my backpack and went upstairs, where I was welcomed with a plethora of empty seats and plenty of room to spread out!

Halfway through the ride, we had an over hour stop in Ottumwa, Iowa. Apparently the train got in late the night before and the crew needed to have their mandatory 8 hour rest. But after the hour or so break they’d be ready to go. So I stood outside in a little bit of a drizzle and stretched out my legs.

The rest of the ride, I read more and listened to more music and before I knew it I was being picked up by my parents in Galesburg!

We spent the rest of afternoon hanging out and relaxing.

After dinner, I got picked up by my friend Dylan and we headed to the park to play volleyball with his coworkers. It was much more competitive than two weeks ago, which was a lot of fun. We ended up playing 9 games and then stayed a bit after chatting until it was dark.

It really makes me happy to play volleyball, but it especially makes me happy that I get to hang out with one of my best friends!

Tuesday, July 22nd was here and my mother and I made our way to the gym to workout. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for a gym nearby where I’m staying in Honduras! I’d love to be able to continue working out, it’s been really nice being able to get back into it while being home.

I spent the beginning of the afternoon finishing up going through my childhood belongings.

This box was full of childhood pictures, memories, medals, etc. It was a really nice blast from the past. I especially loved this news article that I was interviewed for, you can clearly see my interests on technology and having fun at school.

I played guitar for a bit and then later in the day, we met up with some family friends and hug out with their kids. We took a walk to a nearby Mediterranean restaurant for dinner and walked by a park that still had concrete play structures from when I was a kid!

Wednesday, July 23rd marks the end of this week! My final week in Peoria… for now. I started my day playing cards with my mother and working on this week’s blog post.

My father was going to lunch with a friend of his and I decided to tag along! We ended up going to a delicious Vietnamese restaurant called Thanh Linh, which served authentic Vietnamese cuisine and in a format I remember getting food from while in Vietnam!

It was a nice taste of good memories. We had a lot of fun discussions about music, comedy, and life updates. It was a really great time!

We then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and preparing for our upcoming trip!

Before the day was done, my parents had plans in Morton and I did as well! So we all headed up and I got dropped off at my friend Dylan’s house. We were supposed to be playing pickleball with his friends, but since it was pretty dang hot out, they decided to just hang at Dylan’s instead!

It also turned out that it was one of their birthdays! They made Allen a cake and brought him gifts, it was a very sweet little get together for him.

We ended up sitting around and chatting in the AC. Eventually, we busted out the game Code Names and played a couple rounds with everyone playing. I really enjoy the game!

I had a really nice time chatting and hanging out with all of his friends. They’re a wholesome bunch!

We hung out late into the night and people slowly petered off throughout it since they all had work in the morning. Dylan and I hung out a bit after and then he drove me back home.

Dylan is one of my closest friends and I love getting to spend time with him! I wasn’t expecting to be able to have so many chances to hang while I was around, but I’m so glad we did! While traveling, I realized it’s not always about how much you talk when you’re apart from a friend but the quality of the conversations… Dylan and I sometimes are really good about keeping up with each other and sometimes life gets in the way of it! But what really shows value in a friendship is when you get back together and it’s like nothing changed.

I would love to hang around longer, but I’m itching to get back on the road and explore more of the world!

The following weeks ahead will be full of fun adventures. The first couple will be in the US and then it’s off to Central America!

It’s crazy how fast time flys!

– Elie

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