Massimo's photoblog

Lake Geneva, IL (Oct 18, 2008)

After a couple of rainy days we got a nice sunny Saturday, that we spent driving up to Wisconsin. Again following two lane highways biker’s favorites, like we did last weekend. It is almost surprising how the self-repeating fractal desert of malls and suburbs suddenly stops, to cede the ground to farms, corn and soy fields. Mayli told me that when she first came here to work at Fermilab, ten years ago, the line was closer to the East. This line is moving each year farther and farther inland as the sprawl eats away good soil for more of the lego-blocks of Starbucks, box-houses, Macdonalds and the same. But eventually it does (still) stops, albeit one wonders for how long still.

Anyway, we ended up in Lake Geneva. The one in Wisconsin, of course (no one cannot drive from Chicago to Switzerland, duh). The town is a summer resort on the homonymous lake, which saw better times when it was the haven of Al Capone and other mobsters of the old Chicago Outfit. Judging by where the crowds were concentrated, the town apparently has only two popular places where to eat: the Popeyes on Lake Geneva diner (one hour wait for a table) and the Sopra trattoria (two hours waiting). We didn’t try any of the two (we couldn’t wait that long), ending up in a nearby diner along the lake shore (zero wait, overpriced food and unsanitary restroom). Not all was bad, though: the light of the colorful neon signs was reflecting nicely on the tables, giving a satanic halo to another unlucky customer that didn’t want to wait for dinner.