To the East
Part of the race is to use public transportation. You aren't allowed to use private cars, cabs, bikes, skates, scooters, etc. But you are encouraged to use public bus, light rail, streetcar, etc. We had our transportation passes and boarded Max nearby to take it to the east side of the river. While waiting, we got the answer to our next clue as another rider asked us about the race and we asked if he knew where the Joan of Arc statue was in the Hawthorne District. He did. Oswald and Danny ride again! On board was a team wearing caution-yellow jerseys. They looked young and fast. Sure enough, we all got off at the 42nd Ave. stop and they ran, we ambled over to the Alien Museum.Thus far, we hadn't walked more than 5-7 blocks between any checkpoints. Now the footrace would really begin. We crossed back over the freeway on the pedestrian bridge and over to 39th Ave. It was a good little hike of at least a kilometer, with the Caution Yellow Team seen weaving around. We plugged along to the statue in the traffic circle (I know it well, just never looked at it to know it was Joan of Arc).
By now it was 11 am. We were doing great by my standards, I really didn't think we would get more than a couple of the clues. But the next clue was a stumper, and Mike was no help. What did Gale Sayers say he was? Rich couldn't pull that out of his brain, Mike couldn't pull it from the internet. We knew the second word of the name of the shop we wanted was Eye, so I suggested we amble down to Belmont or Hawthorne and look for something with Eye in it. Meanwhile, we could ask people the location of the next clue - a neighborhood where a giant sunflower was painted in the intersections, with nifty things on each corner. My walking buddy Will had shown me this intersection a few months prior, but I didn't know exactly what street it was on or near. The Thomas Guide handily identified the neighborhood, though.
Rich was trotting ahead and I was lagging as we put in another many blocks over to Belmont and down Belmont. When the shops ran out, Rich asked a young man (with multi-colored hair and piercings) outside a market about the sunflower mural. He pointed over 1 block. Oswald and Danny Rule! We decided to skip the Gale Sayers clue using our Skip Man bonus and just capture the sunflower mural. Seven down, five to go!
The Caution Yellow team was almost always in sight. They would take off running, we would shuffle along, they would stop to ask for help, we would overtake them. I had the next clue solved long ago, the Clinton Street Theater. But it was a long way off - over 15 blocks, a full mile, and no public transportation. It was hard to take time to drink while walking and we hadn't even thought of a potty stop.
