A Shared Life: The Holidays - December in Chicago, Southern Family Christmas, New Years (12.03.2025 - 01.10.2026)

This project highlights the happenings after our return from Pennsylvania through the 12th Night/Epiphany party at the Community of the Holy Trinity about a week after our return from southern Christmas. This covers December in Chicago and the rest of the holiday season. I separated out all the hunting related footage into its own project and blog.

https://youtu.be/RpofcEPCw8A

December in Chicago

12.03.2025 - 12.04.2025
As I left for work on Wednesday December 3rd, 2025, There was plenty of snow on the ground from the storm we missed while in Pennsylvania. The Chicago dips had been activated as evidenced by the parking chairs. I also captured some footage of the Chicago skyline as I made my way to work. As I left in the morning of Thursday December 4th, 2026, I had to utilize some blankets to clear condensation from the interior of my windshield. Elphie captured a few shots of Stein wearing his new bow tie. On my way home I passed a tow truck towing a Cook County Sheriff bus.

12.05.2025
On Friday December 5th, 2025, I stuck around for a bit after work in the Uptown area during the Winter Walk on Wilson to catch Glenn Kaiser and Hilde Bialach play at Everybody's Coffee. Hilde played some Christmas instrumentals on cello while Glenn Kaiser played a bunch of blues tunes and finished it off with a few Christmas tunes. Afterward Glenn said he was using the time to sort of work through a set list he was intending to utilize in some upcoming shows including on New Year's Eve in Cincinnati.

https://youtu.be/Hj6h389tB4M


https://youtu.be/MGK-YD1l734

12.06.2025 - 12.19.2025

As we went to get groceries on Saturday December 6th, 2025, we were driving down Western Avenue in the left lane when a car passed us in the oncoming northbound lanes and turning lanes. The car had to return to the rightful southbound lanes as there was a tow truck sitting in the median/turning lanes but eventually went back into the turning and oncoming traffic lanes to pass a few more people.

https://youtu.be/PK9Z8cl0hN8

As I left the house on Monday December 8th, 2025 to go to work, ice had formed on tree branches and the top of our steps making it a bit treacherous. I put down some salt upon my return from work later that evening. On Wednesday December 17th, 2025, we held our Christmas party for the men's program at Cornerstone Community Outreach. As I drove home, I decided to capture the city lights as I drove on Lake Shore Drive, including the Lincoln Park Zoo Lights from that view. On Thursday December 18th, 2025, I utilized the new BP Pulse "Gigahub" near O'Hare International Airport to charge as they were offering one cent per kilowatt hour as the rate meaning I could charge for like 15 cents total. I watched a number of airplanes pass overhead and tried to watch the Penguins hockey game. As I drove there and back home, I captured some Christmas lights in Rosemont and on the Novak Construction building. On Friday December 19th, 2025 I took lunch break at the Christkindlmarket at Wrigley Field where I had pierogis from the Prince of Pierogi booth and picked up some Christmas soda and Chocokuss from the Sweets Barn. On my drive home, I went down Clark and through the city on Michigan Avenue and State to capture the city Christmas light displays. Back home, I worked on getting all the band uniforms loaded into the car along with our necessary luggage and gifts. It was a struggle but I got it all in!

12.20.2025 - 12.23.2025

On Saturday December 20th, 2025, we left to head south for Christmas. We stopped in Hobart, Indiana to pick up some gummies at the Albanese Confectionary. We had a quick charge there then continued south. We stopped at a Pilot/Flying J to utilize the EVGo network as we still had some credits to use. We decided this was a better stop than the Layfayette, Indiana Electrify America at a Wal*Mart as it is often busy. I was looking ahead on the app and it seemed likely all those chargers would be in use so we opted for the EVGo and I think it worked out alright. We stopped one more time in Indianapolis, Indiana then headed to Cincinnati where we were able to meet up with the Humans again. This time we chose the Norwood area where we could connect to a charger. We ate at Tom + Chee and caught up for a bit. We ended up charging to 100% inadvertently. Same thing happened last year, ha! I was able to pick up some coffee as well to replenish our supply. We ended the night staying at the Sheehy's.

We spent the day on Sunday December 21st, 2025 in the Cincinnati area. We hoped to see a few friends. Lisa was unable to make it happen but we saw Josiah. We stopped by The 86 and the Humans had instructed the staff to treat us to the drinks we got. After hanging out there for a bit, we continued over to Martino's On Vine to watch the Steelers game and eat large strombolis. Josiah met up with us for this part. It was a good time and the Steelers beat the Lions. We ended the evening hanging out with the Sheehy's again.

On Monday December 22nd, 2025, we resumed our drive south for Christmas, passing the good old Florence Ya'll. Our first stop in mid Kentucky was at a Buc-Ee's to charge. We also got brisket and I got a large Orange Dream soda. We had another stop at the end of Kentucky at a Wal*Mart and I was able to get a bottle of Ale-8-One to drink for the road. We had to delay picking up the cases because of our overly full car. While there, we saw a car decorated with Christmas lights being held on by blue tape. We continued about 10 minutes, stopping at the Tennessee Welcome Center because it is always decorated and Elphie likes it. As we made our way up the mountain, we passed Stinking Creek Road, the remains of an apparently abandoned amusement park and the large cross by the adult store on our way toward Knoxville. We stopped to charge again at Buc-Ee's in Knoxville then continued on our way. We drove through on I-40 which had been washed out in part during the hurricane remnants in 2024. While the highway is reopened, the southbound side is still considerably damaged and in some places, completely gone. But there is work being done and one can pass through, just somewhat slower. I included some footage of this as we drove. We arrived in Asheville, North Carolina and met up with our friends, the Floyd's at a restaurant called Daddy Mac's Down Home Dive which was a nice visit and good food. Elphie and I decided to get a hotel for the night, picking one with a charger so we were not dependent on charging while meeting with the Floyd's.

Southern Family Christmas: 12.24.2025 - 12.30.2025

On Tuesday December 23rd, 2025, we made our way to Gastonia, North Carolina. Immediately upon arriving in town, we went to R.O.'s BBQ as we learned during the drive it would be closing at the end of the week. One of Elphie's friends met us there with his kid and we enjoyed the meal. There was a long line out the door and remained busy the entire time we were there. We arrived at Elphie's sister's house where we stayed and hung out for the evening. We left shortly before 8pm to finish the delivery of the band uniforms in Bessemer City, North Carolina. It was nice to unload and free up the car! It didn't seem the weight made a huge difference in the performance or efficiency of the car. It was nice to be rid of the uniforms nonetheless.

On Wednesday December 24th, 2025, we returned to R.O.'s for more BBQ. Elphie had hoped to get a shirt but the guy in front of me in line got the last one. We had several more friends visit with us there including the Burk's and Elphie's mom. We spent a little time with her as well at her place for Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day, Thursday December 25th, 2025, we did the usual visiting with family as they opened gifts. Elphie's nephew made a surprise homecoming early! We also visited with the Burk's at their house for a while. We obliged on adding some graffiti to Dwayne's old Jeep. It was a good visit.

On Friday December 26th, 2025, we went to Dynasty Buffet for a Chinese buffet with Elphie's cousin. We also got some Krispy Kreme afterwards. The first part of the Southern Family Christmas gathering was on Saturday December 27th, 2025. On Sunday December 28th, 2025, after a terrible football game for the Steelers and Carolina Panthers both, we visited with Elphie's brother and got a great meal at Big Daddy's. On Monday December 29th, 2025, Elphie's brother in law had a birthday so we went to Texas Roadhouse. On Tuesday December 30th, 2025, we took some nieces and nephews to Monster Mini Golf. We also played some basketball arcade game and air hockey. After a quick stop at Krispy Kreme again, we had the second part of the Southern Family Christmas.

New Year's: 12.31.2025 - 01.01.2026

We ended up staying in North Carolina for New Year's this year. On New Year's Eve, Wednesday December 31st, 2025, we visited with a few of Elphie's friends before settling in for the televised ball drops. We had some pizza, drinks, and I was also able to watch some hockey broadcasts during the evening. New Year's Day, Thursday January 1st, 2026 was spent eating the southern traditional foods and I watched the Penguins game later that evening. We mostly relaxed as we were about to embark on the long drive back. This year we decided to take a different route putting us through Nashville.

01.02.2026 - 01.04.2026
We left in the morning Friday January 2nd, 2026 enroute to Nashville. We had to make our first stop in Asheville for a charge. We didn't need much and the car probably hadn't warmed to its fullest potential so it seemed to take longer than it should to charge for what we needed. We captured footage of the scenery as we went then stopped for another charge on the eastern side of Knoxville. Almost all of the charges happened to be at Wal*Marts. We passed at least one large cross on this route through Tennessee...possibly in Crossville. As we arrived in the Nashville area, we stopped to charge in Opryland at the mall. We got dinner while we charged then walked around the mall until it was nearly closed. We drove around to see the Grand Ole Opry and also saw the Paula Deen restaurant and an entrance to a showboat. We ended our drive at an AirBnB managed by our friend Natalie which is the Patsy Cline Dream Home. It was an interesting place to stay and we captured some footage of the house after we got in and somewhat situated.

On Saturday January 3rd, 2026, we spent most of the day relaxing. Marnee and Bryan came by and got to check out the house. We went out to dinner at Twin Peaks where we got to watch some of the football games. We relaxed the rest of the evening as well, catching a streaming movie then getting to bed a bit early with the long drive coming on Sunday.

Sunday January 4th, 2026 we made our way back to Chicago. I decided to route us in such a way that most of the northern part of the drive would be through Illinois. Our first few charging stops were once again at Wal*Marts. I took advantage of our stop in Paducah, Kentucky to pick up some Ale 8-One to bring back. Part of my plan for this route was making a quick pit stop in Metropolis, Illinois and seeing the Superman statue. There is also a Super Museum in Metropolis. We checked out the gift shop but didn't actually go into the museum. As we continued north, we passed through some apparent tornado damage and then the town of Effingham with its large cross. We stopped in Champaign for a charge and used that time to get some groceries for the week. We had one other stop in Bradley, Illinois. From Champaign on, I had on the Steelers football game streaming through my phone so we could know what was going on. The game ultimately determined who went on to the playoffs - The Steelers or The Ravens. As we neared home, we encountered a driver on Pershing Road who veered to the right and ended up hitting the curb pretty hard it seemed. They tried to turn north on the southbound McKinley Park leg of Damen Avenue then continued on down the road before turning north on Western Boulevard. Back home we were greeted as usual by Stein and his need to be on us or touching us which also often results in him waking us up the first few nights. We also got to see the Steelers win!

https://youtu.be/7aS7vwnc-ws

01.05.2026 - 01.10.2026
The remaining footage I included in this project was the first week back in Chicago after our southern Christmas trip. On Monday January 5th, 2026, we were able to watch the Swedish national junior team win the IIHF World Junior National Championship. We watched the broadcast in Swedish as well which was fun though we understood nearly none of what was being said. On Friday January 9th, 2026 as I parked to go into work I noticed two cars very poorly parked nearby. Saturday January 10th, 2026 was the 12th Night/Epiphany party at the Community of the Holy Trinity house. We provided a venison stew. I watched the Bears game to some extent with Zach and we had a good time hanging out with folks to conclude the Christmas and Holiday season.

Additional soundtrack includes "Sing A Christmas Chorus With Me" by Ronnie Martin, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel (2025 version)" by Leper, "The Child With The Star On His Head" by Teel Short, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" by The Uh Ohs, The Oh Hellos Family Christmas, "Mary Did You Know" by Ninth Sphere, "I Saw Three Ships/Joy To The World Medley" by Michael W. Smith, "Slow Christmas" by Kentucky Nightmare, "Christmas Is Now Drawing Near At Hand" by James Elkington, "Merry Christmas To Me" Emery, "On Christmas Day" by Erik Koskinen, "Ring, Ring Ring" by Rex Hobart And The Misery Boys, "Auld Lang Syne" by The Lonesome Travelers, "Plasma For Christmas" The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, "Silent Night" by Wynona, "Crazy" by Patsy Cline, "We Three Kings" by Toby Keith, and "Christ Was Born On Christmas Morn" by Found Wandering.

Footage filmed using a Canon Rebel T6s, GoPro Hero, iPhone 12 and 14 and Crosstour CR-900 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. Titles and other animations created and project edited using Final Cut Pro X on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpO_ZsH7j3Ts06Vv_7r-Brix

White Tail Deer Hunting In Pennsylvania October, November, December 2025

This wasn't my best season of hunting by any means. It was mostly quiet in the woods on the days I was able to be out and when I had shooting opportunities, they didn't go as well as I would have liked. I ended up having to spend several hours walking miles while trying to track the deer. In the end, I came away with a doe and with that, meat in the freezer for another year.


https://youtu.be/j4c_P-GQa9k

Archery Season
I took a few days in October to try to hunt deer during the archery season. Other than small game hunting as a teenager with my grandpa, this was the earliest I had tried to get out to hunt. I worked it out so I could utilize a weekend including the new in season Sundays. Unfortunately, things didn't really work out for me during those early October and quite warm days. I was also trying out some areas that were a bit new to me. These areas were on property own by family which I ensured through doing some searches of surveying websites online. In that process I also found other family owns land not all that far from this property.

For the last few years I have been parking at the home of family near where we (my family) had hunted for numerous years. Probably more than a hundred years at this point. I would often enter the woods through their property but then continue on beyond their property line into other areas that were accessible and not posted. Last year, I learned the area I had been using the previous four seasons was now posted and had unknowingly trespassed into this newly posted land on the first day I was out last year in archery season. Knowing this, I was not about to go back into the area without gaining permission. I decided to set up in a different spot which yielded a good result during the rifle season last year as well. I also decided to set up one spot last year on the eastern edge but within the property lines of the family that has graciously allowed me access to the woods, however that spot didn't work out so well last year.

So, this year, I decided to try to stay on that land as much as possible. When I made the trip to Warren, I first brought out the target and took a few practice shots with my Excalibur Bulldog 440 Crossbow then headed into the woods. Figuring more or less where I was in relation to the property boundaries, I scouted out a couple areas to try out. There were not a lot of clear sight lines but I found a couple spots I thought might work out alright if conditions happened to be favorable. With the spot I set up last year sitting on the eastern edge of the property, I set up another spot close to the western edge of the property. I had also surveyed some potential on the southern edge of the property as well after hearing some deer but not seeing anything. The spot on the western edge was near a couple rubs and scrapes along a few well traveled trails. It gave me a view down on the meadow by the stream to the north, a view westward into a hemlock grove, some view to the east but much of that was overgrown, and some view to the south up the hill which was also fairly overgrown. Once I cleared out the area of leaves and set up some downed limbs and trees to create a rest for shooting, I headed in for the night.

The first day I spent hunting, I spooked some deer in the meadow who ran up the path near my makeshift stand. I saw a lot of squirrels and mid morning, I had some deer move up through a gully just to my east but my view of them was pretty obstructed. I had one snorting at me for a while...I don't think I ever had one snort that much without running off. I eventually was able to see her clearly as well as a buck but they were still in such a spot that there was not a good shot to take. They eventually ran off. At some point I decided to try to shoot at a squirrel but missed it by a few inches and lost that bolt as it glanced off the tree and disappeared down the hill into the brush. A bunch of vultures ended up circling in the area and landing in the trees. Landing quite loudly. At one point, too many of them decided to try to use the same dead branch causing it to break and make a bunch more noise between the falling branch and their taking off. A couple more deer came back through the gully to the east of me, again mostly obscured from my view due to the terrain and brush. They would eventually make their way around me to the north in the meadow but I still could not get a shot at either of them. The one that seemingly gave me the best option, which was very brief, was at least 50 yards away. They eventually got spooked and ran off, I saw a couple more deer or perhaps the same couple of deer again to my west beyond the hemlock grove and again could not find a shot worth taking. This was as the sun was setting and it was getting harder to see. I made my way out of the woods, through the meadow to cross the bridge over the stream to get to my car. As I was walking, I saw several deer in the yard of the property. At least one of them I might have been able to take a shot at, however, it would have been a fairly long distance shot. I had also been spotted by at least one of the deer...the one which was giving me the shooting option and they would all eventually run away. Denny came out of the house as I was walking in toward my car and asked if I had seen the deer. I told him that I did and that they ran because I spooked them coming in from the woods. I also told him where I had set up and that I saw quite a few deer in the morning and near sun down but didn't have any good shots to take. I headed home.

The next day I came back into the woods and set up in the same place on the western edge of the property. I saw a couple deer further up the hill as I walked in and that was all the deer I saw the whole day. I saw plenty of squirrel but never had a real good shot at any of them. After mid day, I decided to move to the southern edge of the property and see if there might not be a good opportunity there. I worked out a spot, again utilizing fallen trees and building up around those. The only problem I found was that trying to sit down obstructed my view in this spot. I ended staying there the rest of the day, only seeing squirrels the rest of the daylight time.

The final day I was able to devote to hunting in the archery season, I decided to go to the southern edge of the property to the spot I had set up later in the day on the day before. As I walked in, something had run south up the hill in front of me. It was still quite dark and it was raining but the tail I saw made me think it was probably a coyote. I got to my spot and never saw it again or anything else moving around from that area where it appeared to go the rest of the day. Shortly after it became light enough to see well, a buck was walking up the hill. it seemed to have followed close to where I walked in. It was north of me but heading in my direction toward the south. I made a slight movement and apparently spooked the deer. It stopped in its tracks and I couldn't get myself set to prepare for a shot. I could tell it was a buck and likely legal but I didn't have enough of a view to really count the points and then it ran back north and doubled back to the south east outside of my range and I never saw it again. Not too long after this came a rafter of turkeys from the east. They crossed by to the north of me and continued on. I saw them some time later headed south up the hill off to the west of me. I think at some point they probably saw me as they were seemingly running to get out of my view. The rest of the day brought a few squirrels but far less than the previous days. Somewhere nearby some trees were being sawed down as I could hear the chainsaw and the crash of the trees. I couldn't see any of it so I assume this was a safe distance from me. Throughout the day (as was the case the day before) there would be noise from some kids in the area that was quite loud and occasionally sounded like wildlife...it was a bit distracting. I ended the day walking to the north and seeing if there might not be another spot I could try to use that overlooks the meadow next to the stream as well as gives me a view south up the hill and both east and west with perhaps more clear viewing than the spot I had set up on the western edge. I did find a spot to consider, however I didn't take the time to work on it. It turned out to be quite close to the spot on the western edge so I figured that I may perhaps try to drag some of the wood from that one over at some point to build up this other spot. It seemed like it could be more favorable.

I was not able to work out any more opportunity to hunt during the archery season. I had a few thoughts on the lack of success. First, being that it was so early in the season, I wondered if it might have been a little bit too early for the natural activity of the deer. The daylight was longer than I was used to partially due to daylight savings time and being early in the season. It was also quite warm. Another thing I noticed was that my clothing had a strong odor of detergent and I hadn't been able to air them out enough. I wondered if that led to the deer noticing me sooner than last year when I had the clothes aired out and also prior to the rifle season, had them hung in the area where I processed the doe. I was also hunting in spots I never used previously, so I was less familiar with the movements and patterns at this point in that area. I don't have any trail cameras at this time to use (and never had used them before) but maybe, knowing the land is owned by family, I could perhaps set some up and see what might be happening in the areas. I don't know if any of this held much if any affect on my experience, but they are thoughts none the less.

Rifle Season
We drove back to Pennsylvania over the Thanksgiving holiday. I decided we should leave on Wednesday night November 26th, 2025, getting to Angola, Indiana where we could use the Wingate Hotel and charge the car while we slept. There were snow storms coming to Chicago and already hitting in Pennsylvania and some lake effect snow was coming off of Lake Michigan as we approached South Bend, Indiana.

On Thursday November 27th, 2025, Thanksgiving day, we continued our drive with our destination being Erie, Pennsylvania. We would be staying in another hotel with a charger and the next morning, had an appointment for the Auto Butler at the Hallman Chevrolet dealership. We made the drive through the last few miles of Indiana and onto Ohio. For the most part, the roads were fine in western Ohio. We had to stop near Toledo and Cleveland for charging purposes. While at those stops, we ate some of our Bobbie subs from Capriotti's. When we began to make our way though Cleveland, we hit some accumulating snow and took it slow. Further east, it cleared up some until closer to the Pennsylvania line and into Erie County. We took it slow and got to the Red Roof Inn around mid evening. We ended up having to change rooms for the television but our stay was nice. We were able to utilize the charger there overnight.

On Friday November 28th, 2025, we stayed a few extra hours at the Red Roof Inn due to waiting for the car to be ready. They ended up refunding us the extra charge since we only stayed a couple extra hours. We made the rest of the drive to Warren through some blizzard conditions starting in the typical snow belt areas and all the way into Warren.

Once unloaded at my parents house, I got my hunting clothes and gear together and ready, suited up, and headed into the woods to do some scouting. As I made my way into the woods, I spooked a deer and it ran near the ground stand I had previously set up on the southern edge of the property during archery season. That ground stand had sustained some damage in that one of the downed trees I used to build around had shifted and fallen lower. This might have ultimately been a benefit for if I needed or wanted to sit down, my view was no longer obstructed. I had to spend some time "rebuilding" which is essentially to say, rearranging the fallen lumber I had previously utilized to make the stand. I ensured everything was steady to lean on then cleared out the snow and leaf cover on the grund so I would have less to do in the morning.

I headed up to the north side of the wooded part of the property to a spot I had noted for consideration to build a ground stand on. Some of what I had hoped to be able to do with it wasn't quite possible but I was able to build up something of a ground stand there. I used some downed timber that I had previously piled on the spot further to the west. That spot wasn't too far over, but it does give more view into a hemlock grove than this new spot I was building up. I felt this might be a good spot because it gave a view down into the meadow by the creek and some decent clear view south up the hillside. It also seemed to be where I saw deer moving into a gully while out during archery season and this might just give me a shot should any of the deer utilize that path. Once I had finished working on this spot, I headed back in. My gloves had gotten pretty wet so I dried them in the dryer so I could wear them for hunting.

Back at the house, we relaxed with the family, watching Penguins hockey until I headed to bed. I was permitted to open a gift early which was a cart to help haul a deer from the woods. I loaded that into the car before going to bed.

Saturday November 29th, 2025 was the first day of the Pennsylvania White Tail Deer Rifle Hunting Season. I got up and out into the woods near daybreak. It had snowed overnight and I was able to see fresh tracks that were all around my ground stand on the southern edge of the property. I got myself set up in the ground stand, clearing way the remaining leaves and fresh snow to be able to be as quiet as I could. I heard a few shots that were mostly distant. There were a couple somewhat close by including one that was very loud. It almost sounded like a cannon! It seemed to be in the area I hunted for many years before but is now posted.

Other than those few shots, it was mostly quiet in the woods until around 10:00am when four deer came from the west toward me. I was ready and set with my rifle. There were two doe and two buck in this group. One of the bucks had legal antlers but it stopped directly behind one of the does in a perfect shooting spot. I contemplated on how to get a good shot but the buck spooked at this point which also spooked the doe. I took a quick shot, feeling as close as the deer were, probably 15 yards or less, I had to have gotten a good shot. I went to check the tracks. I found hair at the shooting sight but no blood. I could also see a path in the snow where the bullet traveled after hitting the deer. Since there were four deer and three went the same way, including that which I shot, I ended up following the wrong set of tracks downhill to the north then it veered eastward. I checked these tracks three times but could not find any evidence of blood. The only evidence I could find was the hair at the shooting sight. I went back and followed the tracks that went more east and at that point, about 50 yards away, I found the first evidence of blood. Following the track proved very difficult as the deer went into some areas of heavy deer traffic and feeding evidence. All this is good, generally speaking. There is a lot of deer activity in the area! For me, it made things more and more difficult trying to decipher the track of the deer I had shot. Eventually I picked up another spot where there appeared to be blood. The snow helps in these cases. It was probably a good 100 yards further from the first sign of blood. I followed the tracks some more, finding more and more tracks of other deer all around and found probably the best evidence of blood. It seemed that the tracks may have crossed the creek and I couldn't figure a way to get over there very easily without having to go a good distance in either direction. I headed back to retrace the path to some degree then came back to the creek, trying to see if I could cross over. While looking over, I saw a movement that may have been the tail of the deer. I decided to take a break and head back to my stand and have a sandwich and some coffee.

While back at the stand, I sent messages to Elphie and my parents that I had shot a deer, but was having difficulty in tracking it due to so much deer traffic. I also explained having believed the deer had crossed the creek. As I went back to try to track it some more, my father said he was going to come out. He eventually found my trail and met up with me near the brightest blood spot. We tried tracking different directions, finding a possible bedding spot. It appeared that there might be urine and blood, possibly guts. Continuing trying to track this deer let to one of the oil roads and I determined I was going to get to the other side of the creek to give it a look. Sure enough, once over there, I found quite a few tracks and some more evidence of blood and possibly some gut contents. It appeared the deer crossed back over the creek. Once I was able to get back across the creek, my father showed another spot with blood and gut evidence. Found a few more seeming to head back the direction from where I shot at it but eventually, we lost the trail. There were just too many tracks! The relatives on whose land I hunt offered to contact their nephew to help with the tracking. I didn't see the message until I got out of the woods and had been home a few hours. I had returned to my stand after feeling that I couldn't find the track any more and feeling a bit defeated. I saw a couple more deer up the hill from where I was standing, however, they didn't get too close when they saw me and went another direction.

Back at the house, we relaxed and watched another hockey game after dinner before going to sleep.

On Sunday November 30th, 2025, I went back into the woods for the second day of the rifle season. It had snowed again which meant I could see fresh tracks again. I decided to set up more on the eastern side of the property. There had been a lot of tracks in that area which we had discovered while trying to track the deer on the day before and I could utilize a hemlock to try to keep dry due to the snow and wintry mix throughout the day. As I walked in, I saw a deer in a gully and was able to get myself positioned for a shot without the deer taking notice of me. It continued to feed as I prepared to take a shot once I knew if it was legal or not. When it lifted its head, I could see antlers, however, it appeared to be a long spike. I could not decipher any additional points to make it legal to shoot the deer. As I continued to look, trying to see if there were additional points, it eventually got skittish, running up the hill to the south. I didn't see any more deer the rest of the day.

Around 11:00am I decided to try walking around and seeing what other areas might be good for setting up stands. I found a lot of tracks in the hemlock grove on the west end of of the property as well as around my northern and southern stands. There may have even been some evidence of blood and gut contents in some of those tracks...perhaps the same deer I had shot made its way through the property and onward. I returned to the hemlock and considered potentially moving to either of my other stands but then it began to rain a wintry mix again My father decided to come out into the woods around this time. After he stopped where I was for a while, he continued off the property to where he had previously set up for many years. With maybe and hour and a half until sundown, he messaged that he had made it to the spot and was turning back to come out of the woods. He did well, I guess, considering he had complained of arthritis in his knees. He made it back and it was nearly dark. I hadn't had any deer come in sight for me during that time. I only saw the one early in the morning that did not appear to be a legal buck.

We came back in from the woods. I got to watch the rest of the Steelers game which was terrible. I fell asleep shortly after dinner as the Christmas tree was being built and decorated.

On Monday December 1st, 2025, I went into the woods one more time. I hadn't planned for any more days after this so I hoped for success but felt likely to be let down. It snowed overnight once again, so I had fresh tracks to see as I made my way into the woods. I decided to utilize the northern ground stand this time and there were a lot of fresh tracks around the area. I walked up toward my southern ground stand to cross the stream a bit easier then headed north west to the stand. I got set up and waited. I did not hear any evidence of other hunters and wondered if it might be best to attempt to still hunt. It is not a skill I had developed particularly well yet though my Grandpa and my Uncle Steve, The Everyday Hunter, have had success doing it. I wasn't sure if the snow conditions were good...they certainly were not on Sunday. It was too crunchy. I figured I would decide after a few hours. I scanned all around me, down in the meadow by the creek, up the hill to the south, and to the east and west. I figured I could see if something came around from most any direction. At some point someone on the neighboring property was out with their dog and I could see them in their yard near their house from where I was standing. I was probably as close to houses as one could be legally.

At 10:10am or so, I saw a deer moving from west to east just up the hill to the south of me. I got in a shooting position and when it stopped, I took a shot. I couldn't see much reaction from the deer but I couldn't imagine I had missed. I later measured and I had taken a shot of about 70 yards. Another one was near it and it went up the hill to the south while the deer I had shot continued east. I saw it another time before losing visual of it. I waited probably 10 minutes or so then decided to get up and walk to the shot sight. Again I found hair evidence that I hit the deer both in front of it and behind it. There was a lot more than on Saturday, it seemed. Again, I saw in the snow where the bullet had continued after passing through the deer. This time, I found blood evidence within a few feet of the shot sight which gave me hope that there'd be a dead deer somewhere nearby. I followed the trail which led me toward my southern ground stand. As I continued, there was blood evidence. Not a lot, but consistently there. I saw a deer stand up. It was up the hill from me and it moved a little then laid down. I assumed it was the deer I shot as it moved in such a way that it appeared wounded. I tried to get somewhere that I could take another shot to finish her off. In doing so, I spooked her and she ran off a bit. I followed and found evidence of her bedding down. There was blood so I knew it was the deer I shot. She bedded down a few places and would bleed. She would then get up to run from me up the hill. There continued to be consistent blood with its tracks. After an hour, I decided to take a break and go back to get my bag. As I walked down the hill, I encountered some more tracks with some blood and possibly gut content in them. It looked similar to what I saw tracking the deer on Saturday.

It turned out my father came out to the woods and wondered where I was. I ran into him as I made my way down the hill to get my bag. I told him where I was heading once I got my bag. I decided I would leave the stool and get it after we harvested the deer (which as I type this, I realize I left it out there). I ate a sandwich, drank some coffee, then had to take a quick poop break before heading back up the hill to try to recover this deer.

By this point it was noon. My hope was that the deer had bedded down somewhere not too far off, bled out, and expired. This was a false hope I would learn.

I decided to walk back up to where it had bedded down shortly after I shot it near my stand on the southern edge of the property and utilize the oil road to get to the pipeline. I saw where my father was, and decided to try to climb up to the pipeline through the thicker brush to not waste as much time. While doing so, my father noticed what I did earlier in that there were some tracks that appeared to have blood and possibly gut content around that area. Thinking it might be either deer I shot, he began trying to follow those tracks. I told him I was pretty certain the deer I shot on this day was further up the hill based on where I had tracked it earlier. I was correct, I found its tracks above where I had decided to leave off earlier to get my pack. It continued to consistently bleed and we followed the tracks up the pipeline. It kept walking quite a ways, even entering into some posted land briefly before returning to the pipeline then crossing over and heading back down the hill. It would turn out that the deer had bedded down for a bit around this point. Probably for a while because I had stopped my pursuit, however, I suppose when we started getting close to it again, it began to move, apparently running down the hill. There was a lot of blood in the first bed we found. It ran some from here down the hill and as I followed the tracks, I saw a deer come into view down the hill below me. I couldn't get into a position to take another shot but felt likely this was the deer I had shot and had been tracking. It began to move again and another deer crossed beside it and I believe there was at least one more in that area as well.

When I lost sight of the deer, I began to follow its tracks again down the hill in hopes I could locate where it went. I ended up following the wrong set of tracks and couldn't find any blood. I reached another oil road so I turned back to try to find the blood again. I was able to locate it fairly quickly. The deer had moved slightly lower on the hill than the others but had gone generally the same way. Perhaps I would have regained the trail without going back, but I am glad that I did. As we continued to follow, we continued to find spots where it bedded down and bled. We began to get a bit too close to houses when I approached another bed and saw it jump up ahead. I sighed, my father thought it was a deer, ha! He suggested maybe we should stop because we keep pushing it.

We stopped and then I saw another hunter approaching from the west. He spooked the deer and it settled just below me near a house. I was concerned about trying to take a shot so close to the houses and in their direction. He motioned to me that he was going to try to get it to move toward us. Instead it went into a small patch of woods between the houses. He came up and talked to me a bit and I explained I had shot it but it keeps on going. He stated that had he known it was wounded, he would have taken a kill shot himself to end its suffering. He suggested waiting it out and hope it would bleed out. He continued on his way up the hill, and talked with my father for a bit. They could see the deer from where they were but I could not. The other hunter then decided to come back down the hill, crossing over in front of his neighbors house (also apparently letting them know they may hear a shot nearby) and tried to spook the deer toward us out of the woods between the houses. He did spook her, but she stayed close to the houses and went further west which meant closer to more houses. I decided to walk west but still in the woods in case it came uphill. The other guy went behind his house and my dad went down to the yard as well. He apparently had a head shot opportunity while the deer was bedded down in the thicket behind the other guy's house but then it ran again across the road and bedded down under a tree.

The other hunter told me where it was and figured at the least I could spook it into more wooded areas over there rather than sending it back across the road. I went across the road and found it. It began to try to get up again and I tried for a kill shot to the head but apparently hit a bit low. The deer reeled then got up and ran some more but not too far. It fell in a briar and appeared to finally be dying but it kept on breathing. I finally took a third shot at the head to finish her off. She kicked a few times and finally expired. It was definitely not my favorite way to harvest a deer but I was glad it was finally over.

The track of this deer was nearly three miles up and down the hill. It was about five hours after my first shot that I finally was able to finish the hunt. When I field dressed the deer, I discovered my shot had hit further back than I realized which accounted for her not dying quickly. I missed the lungs. I had made quite a mess of the guts and had apparently also hit the liver. Once the field dressing was finished, I walked about a mile down the road back to where I had parked. I returned and we loaded up the deer using the cart I received for Christmas and then went back so my father could get his car.

The Butchering Process
Back at the house, we prepped to skin and quarter the deer. We cleaned her out with a hose, cut off the scent glands and hoofs, then skinned her after a while of getting lights and everything set up in the shed. After we got her skinned, I pulled out the tenderloins then we quartered her.

My plan for the butchering process was to transport the deer back to Chicago and deal with it as I had time over the coming week or so. I disposed of the hoofs and some other waste over the hill then went inside to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, have some dinner, and have our Northern Family Christmas.

I loaded the deer into garbage bags with frozen bottles and freezer packs. I kept the organs (liver and heart) in a cooler. I also bagged up the head of the doe and the hide. During the drive, I reached out to our acquaintance Charles in South Bend to inquire to see if he had interest in the hide. He said that he did, so we arranged to meet him while we charged at the mall in South Bend. Charles was there upon our arrival in South Bend so we passed off the hide. I had to actually cut the head off of the hide at one of the previous charging stops and utilize the spare garbage bags for that. Hopefully he will get to use it well this year.

I spent the after work hours and some of the weekend taking care of the butchering process of the deer. The first two evenings, I processed the meat off of the shoulders, saving the bones for potential bone broth. I was able to cut a few steaks from both shoulders and the rest was saved to use for stews and grinding. The steaks were put in the freezer. I spent a Saturday evening working through the rear legs, getting all the meat off the bone and cutting steaks from most of it. I put them in the freezer and the rest of the meat that I still needed to process was put in the refrigerator. On Sunday, I processed a few pieces, including the rump region. I made a few more steak cuts and worked through some of the other meat that would be better served being ground or used in stews. I bagged and froze the steaks from this session as well. I felt fairly tired so I didn't do all that much work that evening as I would have liked. On Monday, I worked through the body of the deer, cutting off the brisket, neck meat, anything I could save from the rib areas and flank or skirt, and finally, cut out the back straps or chops. I got all the meat that I thought I could off of the body then put the remains in the compost for now. I sent a message to Charles to see about coordinating getting those remains to him. On Tuesday and Wednesday I worked my way through the remaining meat now that it was off the bones. I processed the chops to bag up for meals then put them into the freezer. I worked through to see if I could get any skirt steaks cut or possibly cut some from the brisket as well but I decided that most of the rest would go toward the meats I would use for stews or would be ground to be used for jerky, burgers, and other meals in the next few days.

All I had left to do at this point was to skin the head and salvage the cheek meat and whatever I could from the neck portion still attached to the head. I worked on the head on Thursday while also separating the meats to decide what I would use for stews. I removed the tongue to use for venison tacos alongside the liver. The bones and the skull were bagged and put in the freezer.

On Friday, I ground the meat I had designated for the grind. Some of the ground venison was separated to be used for burger and other meals, and the rest was intended for jerky. We seasoned the meat intended for jerky then let it sit in the refrigerator to marinate before beginning the dehydration process on Saturday and Sunday, leaving making bone broth and boiling the skull as the only remaining projects left on this deer. I will likely get to this sometime during a free weekend later in the winter.

I was able to boil the bones to make some broth. I realized again that I did not have any apple cider vinegar which helps break down the bones and allow access to the marrow to add flavor and nutrients to the broth. That will go on the shopping list should I have another opportunity next season.

I boiled the skull to help get rid of the remaining meat, fat, and skin as well as to break down the brain matter. When I finished with the boil and worked all that remaining matter off the bones, I could not find conclusively where my kill shot went after hitting the eye. I assume it entered the brain area somehow but the interior of the eye socket remained intact. The lower part of the orbital bone had been shattered along with the jaw. I put the skull outside, protected by a milk crate so that bugs and small critters can clear the rest of what I could not do.

I had my new to me GoPro camera on hand during these days spent hunting. It seemed that the camera quit recording after a short time most of the times I had it on. I'm not sure if it was my mistake or if I got duped with the low price tag on an Ebay purchase. During the rifle season, I ensured that I charged the battery before going out to hunt each day. I think the cold weather had an impact on the battery performance most likely on these particular days.

In the video editing process, I found that on my second day out during the rifle season, I seem to have recorded for a couple of hours (either the file split automatically due to size or it somehow recorded at two different intervals) while the camera was likely in my pocket so that seems to indicate it may function properly and likely some of the problems were either cold or not having charged up the battery enough.

Additional soundtrack includes "Rattle Your Bones" and "Trail Of Tears" by Leper and "Skull Chamber" by Azusa.

Footage filmed using a Canon Rebel T6s, GoPro Hero, iPhone 12 and 14 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. Titles and other animations created and project edited using Final Cut Pro X on a Mac Mini  and using Motion 4 on a Macbook by Joel A. Swanson. 

A Shared Life: The Holidays - November In Chicago, Thanksgiving, Northern Family Christmas (11.02.2025 - 12.02.2025)

Instead of putting the November footage together with the rest of the "Fall in Chicago" project, I separated it out to be included with our trip to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving and Northern Family Christmas. As stated in the Fall project, there is a separate video project and blog for my Pennsylvania White Tail Deer hunt experience. I continued the soundtrack from the fall footage of "Rattle Your Bones" by Leper into the beginning of this project.

https://youtu.be/kwYGATT_c6c

11.02.2025 - 11.18.2025
On my drive back home from work on Monday November 3rd, 2025, I was waiting at the stop light at Damen Avenue and Pershing Road. Two different drivers disregarded that red light. One drove straight through after waiting a moment. The other made a left turn onto Damen Avenue before the light turned green. This was captured on my CrossTour CR-900. A couple more bad drivers for the collected videos of that nature.

https://youtu.be/jWLgcknI3vI

As I left work on Tuesday November 4th, 2025 I encountered a delivery robot waiting to cross the street. Both of my commutes on Friday November 7th, 2025 had wrecks on Lake Shore Drive. On Sunday November 9th, 2025 we got one of the first snowfalls of the season. It was definitely the first measurable one I saw. On Monday November 10th, 2025, there had been enough snowfall to have to clear my car. It was a strange consistency to the snow. Upon arrival at work, I found my charging plug had been damaged. One of the plug prongs had been bent. I tried to bend it back but it snapped in the outlet I was going to use. After several shocks from trying to remove it, I did finally get it out. I placed an order for the new part which allowed me to charge again after a few days.

On Tuesday November 11th, 2025, there was a forecast for good viewing of the northern lights. I stepped outside a few times after I got home but didn't notice too much. I then saw some posts by friends in the region of a bright display so I went back outside. I could see it with my eyes in the backyard so I told Elphie to come check it out. I then decided to drive to the lake where the observatory is located. There were a lot of other people there as well. I could not see the colors as well with my eyes but I could capture it with my iPhone camera. I didn't take the time to grab my Canon Rebel T6s though it may have been a good opportunity to figure out the settings. At any rate I was able to capture some decent photos and footage of this particular northern lights display. On Wednesday November 12th, 2025 I stopped at Montrose Beach before heading home to see if the northern lights might be visible. They were not, at least not yet at that time. I got one decent photo where the colors came through once I got back home. Elphie shared some footage of her walk to an appointment of the melting snow and the fall colors in the the trees.

On Saturday November 15th, 2025, Elphie and I embarked on an adventure. Some friends of hers in North Carolina had worked out a deal to purchase some band uniforms from a school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa but the cost for shipping them would be crippling. They threw out a request to see if they knew anyone in the area. Elphie worked out a plan so we made the drive out to Cedar Rapids, Iowa in our 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV. We figured that putting the back seat down, that there should be plenty of room. As we made the drive, we took a few pit stops for charging as we drove and tried to coordinate meeting up with some friends at the World's Largest Truck Stop on our way back. One stop was near Iowa City and near the campus for the University of  Iowa. There was a statue for Coach Fry and a Hawkeye. It was supposed to be a Kum and Go gas station but apparently Maverik bought it out. Luckily we still have our lighters. We arrived in Cedar Rapids, where Quaker Oats are apparently made. We got to the school campus and found the load was significantly larger than we had anticipated. We squeezed it all in, somehow and made our way back east. We were routed differently than our arrival which put us on some strange country roads. We arrived at the World's Largest Truck Stop to charge the car and some shifting allowed us to move a bag of uniforms that Elphie had on her lap to the back. We went into the World's Largest Truck Stop and ate at the buffet with Gary Buchanan who was able to come and see us. Thanks, Gary! It was a nice visit with Gary, even though it was a bit short. We got on the road again and had to make a couple more charging pit stops to make it to Chicago. We unloaded all the uniforms into our guest room and determined our best coarse of action would be to utilize vacuum sealed bags for the trip to North Carolina.

On Tuesday November 18th, 2025 I saved some footage showing the Damen Silos as they were nearly completely torn down.

11.19.2025
On Wednesday November 19th, 2025, I went to Subterranean to see Fuerza Bruta play with Cold As Life, Sector, Si Dios Quiere , and Kartika 55. I was thinking it was more of an oi show but it turned out to be hardcore. It was a fairly well attended show and fun to experience. I captured the title track of the latest album by Fuerza Bruta called Ecos de Chicago.

https://youtu.be/iVhfk_kDC8k


https://youtu.be/pr0m9Qhc2L8


https://youtu.be/saDiLKsFpBI


https://youtu.be/leFkvRcxYlc


https://youtu.be/Phxp3nj-laY

11.20.2026 - 11.26.2026
On my commute home on Thursday November 20th, 2025 I noticed what appeared to be a drone show of some sort. It turned out to be over the Christmas light display in the parking lot of the White Sox Rate Field. On Saturday November 22nd, 2025, we encountered a wreck driving home on I-55 northbound. On Sunday November 23rd, 2025, we got some White Fence Farm chicken and fritters to take to the Disgracegiving at Disgraceland Wasteland Suspensions at Wasted Youth. Elphie worked on vacuum sealing the uniforms on Monday November 24th, 2025. On my way to work on Wednesday November 26th, 2025 I captured some more footage of the destruction of the Damen Silos and Chicago skyline. I didn't include any footage of this but I made a lunch time trip to pick up a couple Bobbie's from Capriotti's Sandwich Shop to eat on our Thanksgiving drive.

11.26.2025 - 12.02.2025: Thanksgiving and Northern Family Christmas
We decided to start our drive on Wednesday night November 26th, 2025 due to some winter weather forecasted along Lake Erie in eastern Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania. We worked out a stay at a Wingate Hotel near the Indiana state line where I could charge the car overnight. We hit some lake effect snow as we drove through South Bend and east toward Ohio. All the footage I had saved had apparently been auto-erased from the camera card. On Thanksgiving Day, Thursday November 27th, 2025, we continued our drive with our destination being Erie. We intended to stay overnight at the Red Roof Inn so I could have the Auto Butler done on Friday morning before continuing to Warren, The snow wasn't too bad for most of the drive through western Ohio but it sure was cold! We stopped near Toledo for a charge then again west of Cleveland. We utilized the EVGo network as I had some credits available to make it some free charges. These chargers were at Pilot/Flying J gas stations so we would utilize their buildings while charging and ate part of the Bobbie's. After the Cleveland charge, we started to encounter the strong lake effect winter storm. The highway was mostly covered in snow and we had to take it pretty slow for a while. It did begin to clear up some closer to the Pennsylvania state line but got worse once we crossed into Pennsylvania as daylight was going away. We did make it to Red Roof Inn. I unloaded the car but we found out the television in our room did not work. We were moved next door and watched what was left of football, eating the rest of our Bobbies. We were also given a snack pack at the front desk. I utilized the charger on site for the car as we slept. On Friday November 28th, 2025, I got up to bring the car into Hallman Chevrolet dealership to have the Auto Butler taken care of. I also had the cabin air filter changed and got a new battery in the fob that wasn't working right. I walked back to the hotel and slept a bit more. As we waited for the car to be finished, it seemed to be taking longer than our check out time so I asked if we could get a couple hour extension. They obliged and essentially offered another night but we told them we wouldn't need that long. It wasn't long after that I got the notification that the car was done and ready to go. We packed up and I walked over to get the car. We loaded up and left and got refunded for the extra time I paid for! We made the drive to Warren through the snow which never seemed to stop, even when we got out of the snow belt. Once in Warren, I gathered my hunting clothes and made a trip into the woods to scout a bit. Again all hunting related information is found in this other blog. That evening I got to open my first Christmas gift as it would be beneficial to hunting. It was a cart to load up the harvest and roll it rather than having to drag it.

While I was out hunting, Elphie captured some footage of the cats playing on Saturday November 29th, 2025. On Sunday November 30th, 2025 Elphie captured footage of the cats napping together and grooming each other. The Christmas Tree was put up for Northern Family Christmas and the cats always seem to enjoy this new item in the room to explore around. On Monday December 1st, 2025, I was somewhat successful on my hunt (see other blog). We had Northern Family Christmas that evening. The Christmas footage ended up being a bit long...lots of footage for some reason, ha!

We drove back to Chicago on Tuesday December 2nd, 2025. Once again we dealt with some significant lake effect snow that never seemed to end. We carefully made our drive out of the snow belts of Lake Erie to much calmer weather. As we drove, we encountered someone pulling snow off the roof of their vehicle and throwing it on the windshield and using the wipers to clean the windshield after. We also captured some scenic views along the way. In Toledo, we had streetlights that were rhythmically blinking. I captured a few small town Christmas lights as we drove as well. We made our South Bend charging stop, after mall hours, so we had to just sit and wait in the car. Our friend Charles came out to take the deer hide off our hands while we charged. I hope he can make something cool of it this time. We got home late in the evening, unloaded what we needed to and went to bed.


Additional soundtrack includes "Rattle Your Bones" by Leper, "Above The Northern Lights" by Mannheim Steamroller, "Mambo Swing" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, "Christmas Light" by Paul Mayo, "Trail Of Tears" by Leper, "Mad Boys" by Kevin Max, "Here Come Santa Claus" by Nathan Ford, "Anti-Santa Is Coming To Town" by Einstein Savage, "Santa Claus Won't Come This Year" by Timmy Bush and The Axe-casters, "Santa Claus Is Not Coming To Town" by The Right Wing Conspiracy, "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" by Big Chris and D'Bare Bones Band, "Christmas Christmas" by You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, "Is There Room At The Inn Tonight" by X-Terra, "Joy To The World" by Wisdom and Wages, "When The First Snow Comes" by Chad Serhal.

Footage filmed using a Canon Rebel T6s, GoPro Hero, iPhone 12 and 14 and Crosstour CR-900 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. Titles and other animations created and project edited using Final Cut Pro X on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpO_ZsH7j3Ts06Vv_7r-Brix

A Shared Life: Fall in Chicago and our Halloweeniversary (09.10.2025 - 11.01.2025)

The footage in this project highlight life after our return from achieving  all 50 states visited. It is interrupted somewhat by attending Riot Fest and the Saturday for Bloodline Fest. I ended this project with our attendance at the accompanying performance by the Curse of the Vampire orchestra to the silent film of Phantom of the Opera the day after our Halloweeniversary. To come next will be November and our visit to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving and Northern Family Christmas as well as for the rifle hunting season for white tail deer. All the hunting related footage is also in its own project for those who prefer to not see such footage.

https://youtu.be/FX9j2di_gP8

09.10.2025 - 09.17.2025

On Wednesday September 10th, 2025, during my commute home, I saw helicopters flying overhead near Navy Pier along the lake. I also decided to capture the destruction of the Damen Silos from I-55 as I passed by. I saw helicopters again on Thursday September 11th, 2025 and a few more times through the fall. With the occupation of Chicago by federal forces, I assume these helicopters sightings were related. On Friday September 12th, 2025, on the way to a backyard BBQ at the Community Of the Holy Trinity, I followed a very smokey car. On September 13th, 2025 during our commute for groceries, we encountered some celebrants of the Mexican Independence and a bike rider with a message that they wanted 'No MAGATS in their house!'

Riot Fest (09.18.2025 - 09.21.2025)

Elphie and I attended a Riot Fest "Late Show" the night before Riot Fest featuring Mac Sabbath with Descartes a Kant, and Mikey Classic at Reggies. My thoughts and the video clips from this show and all of Riot Fest are in the aTigerRAWknroll Fall: Riot Fest 20 blog page.

09.22.2025 - 10.02.2025

On Tuesday September 23rd, 2025 I captured some footage of new sod or something being laid near the Buckingham Fountain during my morning commute. I also documented the heavy fog that morning. Back home, Elphie and I gave the Wednesday Addams themed Gushers a try. On Tuesday September 30th, 2025 there were more helicopters in the air during my evening commute. This time, they turned out to be Blackhawks and were used later that night in a highly publicized raid on a housing project in the South Shore where most everyone was awakened and suffered property damage. They were detained based on assumed immigration status or skin color, which determined which vehicle they were held in during the detention. While it seems the building was in disrepair and likely some illegal activities have occurred there, the actions seemed excessive and certainly were controversial. It was one of many violent acts committed by federal agents in Chicago and elsewhere.

10.03.2025
On Friday October 3rd, 2025, I went to Thalia Hall to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on their 20th Anniversary Tour for Howl. As I made my way, I encountered a street fair. Humanist was opening for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and I captured a song that they did with Peter Hayes on guest vocals called "BornTo Be." I decided to capture "The Line" from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club but sort of wish I had gone with "Gospel Song" due to the live performance being pretty cool. Oh well. It was a great show!

https://youtu.be/pTtn3ZD_Pl4

https://youtu.be/s5RgcXm25wY

10.04.2025 - 10.23.2025

On Saturday October 4th, 2025, we tried to have a Halloween house party but it turned out to be just the two of us having a bonfire and venison stew. On my morning commute on Tuesday October 7th, 2025 there was a lot of rain, fog, and accident on Lake Shore Drive. On my evening commute on Wednesday October 8th, 2025, there were more circling helicopters.

On Thursday October 16th, 2025 there was another helicopter which either flew low over Lake Shore Drive or lifted off from the nearby beach area. On Saturday October 18th, 2025 during our grocery commute we encountered the No Kings rally in the Beverly area of Chicago. We passed through it both directions. On Sunday October 19th, 2025, Elphie captured some footage as I prepared venison liver to make tacos for dinner (and few more dinners after that). This was from the buck taken during the 2024 deer hunting seasons. On Tuesday October 21st, 2025 I drove by the Riviera Theatre during lunch time and saw that they were using it for filming a project. It must be something from the 70s as the marquee had "The God Father" on it and an older model vehicle sat outside.

Bloodline Fest (10.24.2025 - 10.25.2025)

I drove out to South Bend, Indiana to attend Bloodline Fest at The Well on Saturday October 25th, 2025. The night before, while it was going on, I remained in Chicago to see ADJY with Future Teens and Maura Weaver at Reggies. In a way, I made it a pre-show. All the footage and such about that show and Bloodline Fest are in the aTigerRAWknRoll Fall: Bloodline Fest blog page.

10.26.2025 - 11.01.2025

During my morning commute on Thursday October 30th, 2025, I passed by a very smokey truck on Pershing Road during my morning commute. As I left work that evening, I captured a clip of the flyer hung by Truman College for the Wilson Abbey's Phantom of the Opera performed by the Curse Of The Vampire orchestra event. At home, we watched The Crow as one should. Elphie expressed her excitement. We spent our Halloweeniversary on Friday October 31st, 2025 at J.P.U.S.A. with The Shaws going to the rich northern neighborhoods and suburbs for Trick-or-Treating. We got dinner at JP's Pizza and Grill. We drove around some more for more Trick-or-Treating before returning to J.P.U.S.A. for the night. Elphie and I watched Donnie Darko in the room we were staying in. On Saturday November 1st, 2025, we went out to the Sweden Shop and dinner at Hon Kee with Kat Collins. Back at J.P.U.S.A. we went over to the Wilson Abbey for the Curse Of The Vampire orchestra's performance of the score for Phantom Of The Opera. The conductor, Phillip Shockey also spoke of what went into scoring for the movie and putting this all together. Afterwards, we hung out at J.P.U.S.A. with Lyle Theisen as I watched the end of the World Series. Unfortunately, it didn't go the way that Lyle and I had hoped. After sleeping, we returned home on Sunday morning November 2nd, 2025 to find that there had been a rugby match at Soldier Field and it turned out to be New Zealand's All Blacks and the Irish national team. Bummer to have missed that.

Additional soundtrack includes "Helicopter" by Covenant, "U.S. Government" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, "Dead Fall" by Murderbait, and "Rattle Your Bones" by Leper.

Footage filmed using a Canon Rebel T6s, GoPro Hero, iPhone 12 and 14 and Crosstour CR-900 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. Titles and other animations created and project edited using Final Cut Pro X on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpO_ZsH7j3Ts06Vv_7r-Brix

The "Visit ALL 50 States" Achievement Trip

This fall, Elphie and I were able to achieve the goal of having visited all 50 of the states of the United States of America. A few years ago, we celebrated the achievement in Alaska for Elphie but then afterwards, Elphie realized she had no recollection of visiting New Jersey or Rhode Island. By this time, since I had gained a good number of visited states myself and together we also had visited a good number of the states, she decided to hold off on her last two so we would be able to achieve the accomplishment together.

This required a few other trips in the last few years to get to where we could accomplish the goal. We also had that pesky COVID-19 pandemic that delayed things a bit as well. Once we were permitted to travel again, we made a couple trips to the South, a trip to Hawaii, and then last year we had the trip that focused a bit on Yellowstone which included a few more states.

This time, the trip was to the Mid Atlantic and New England states and Washington, the District of Columbia. I still needed Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC were needed to be knocked off together still so they were included into this trip as well. Even though I was born and raised in Pennsylvania, I had not ventured much further east than the Harrisburg area. We ended up adding in Hershey, Centralia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to our original trip plans and then included Gettysburg to our trip while on the trip.

The final destination of the trip was Providence, Rhode Island though we drove back to Baltimore at the end due to renting a car from there and returning it being considerably less than if we'd return it to another location. At the Rhode Island welcome center, we had a little celebration of our achievement with noise makers and party poppers. We ended up making a bit of a mess, ha!

Introduction

https://youtu.be/MyjeGnaU9R0

The introduction and promo for the video project for this trip starts out with Elphie opening the mail which had a shirt, pin, and certificate to commemorate our achievement of visiting all 50 states. I edited the footage she captured then added to it some animations of the map of the area where we traveled. I included some photos from the trip as well to highlight some of what we saw and things we did along the way along with state flag images. I also included the video footage of the celebration at Rhode Island as part of this introduction to the project. I decided to utilize the "bad tv" effect to serve as an interruption to the map based clips. I also put the camcorder effect on the video of the celebration for the fun of it. I guess, in a way, it's a spoiler for the trip for anyone who hadn't paid attention the title up there or those few paragraphs just above...sorry, I guess? The project returns to the map and photos to finish off our time in Rhode Island and the return to Chicago. The additional soundtrack I added was "Rhode Island" by David Van Buskirk (who I met through setting a couple shows up with my cousin Taylor Sorensen of The Trigger Code) and "Hunt For The Rhode Island Sasquatch" by Rodent Emporium. Both tracks were utilized during the Rhode Island section of the project as well.

Chicago to Baltimore (08.28.2025)

https://youtu.be/16ZuliSSGgk

The next part of the project was our leaving from Chicago, Illinois on Thursday August 28th, 2025 on our flight with Southwest Airlines to Baltimore, Maryland. I left work a bit early and Elphie got started out on the transit from the house to Midway as I made my way home. I didn't end up all that far behind her, however, as I tried to get my Ventra card loaded (having to add new payment information due to an issue earlier in the month) I got passed by two CTA busses. When a bus did stop to pick me up, Elphie had just boarded a train to Midway. I probably ended up on the next train, ha!

We got through the processes of checking out luggage and the TSA screening and then to our gate just as the sun was setting. I got a burger and ate it before we boarded the airplane. The pilot warned of some storms over Ohio and apparently felt it warranted some extra fuel to get around or over the storms. Our flight was on time and we arrived around when we should have. I captured some footage of the take off, some flights going passed us, the moon, and approaching then landing in Baltimore. I decided to speed up some of the approach and landing footage since it was dark at that point anyway. We gathered our luggage with no issue then proceeded to the shuttle pick up area. I had to look into how to order the complimentary shuttle and eventually we got picked up and to the hotel. The next morning I would go to pick up the rental car so I got the information on how to get that worked out from the driver.

Baltimore, Maryland (and vicinity), Washington, DC, Leesburg, Virginia (08.29.2025 - 08.30.2025)

https://youtu.be/3qPb6D02rGo
On Friday August 29th, 2025, I woke and then took the shuttle ride over to the car rental facility of BWI Airport. Our rental was through Avis (thanks to Debbie's hookup) so I got in line and waited for my turn. After going through all the process with the person at the desk, I was given a paper and told to go pick up a vehicle at a certain spot. When I went out there, the vehicle in that spot drove off. I was a bit confused by this and went to the desk out where the cars were and asked. I noticed another car pull into the spot. The person at the desk confirmed that I was to go to that spot to fetch my car so that's what I did. I was informed by the employee who had driven that car that I was not to take it. After a few minutes, they assigned me a different car. I left the lot and tried to navigate back to the hotel, however, due to some strange mapping glitch, I was navigated to the edge of the airport rather than the hotel. At that point, I adjusted the navigation and worked on getting everything to connect as I wanted it to before making my way to the hotel.

Arriving at the hotel, everyone was outside. A smoke detector apparently went off. Elphie had gone outside to the front of the building and while out there noticed a Spotted Lanternfly. She didn't realize it was considered invasive and a pest, ha! I got there and waited with Elphie for the all clear to come back into the hotel. We gathered what we'd need for the day and a fireman came to check out the detector in our room.

As we left the hotel, I got alerted to a tire being low. We probably could have and should have stopped to get air then but we continued to what was our first planned stop - the Curtis Creek Ship Graveyard from Atlas Obscura. Most of it is inaccessible due to industrial sites all along the waterway. We parked outside of "Jaws" Marina and walked down to the water where we could see a few of the ships.

As we left "Jaws" Marina, we passed a Coast Guard boat on display along the roadside. I pulled off at a gas station and filled the tires with air. We then headed over to Fort Armistead, which is also on Atlas Obscura, to see the Francis Scott Key Bridge. There was a memorial set up alongside the road for those who were killed during the accident at the bridge last year in 2024. We were able to get down to the water and see the expanse of the bridge and what was lost. They are beginning to rebuild it. A few folks were there fishing and a large container ship was making its way to the harbor.

From here, we left to visit with some old friends of Elphie. We drove out of Baltimore a ways to the Maker's Woodshop where Jason works and got a little tour of all the work that they do. Jason had to finish up a few things then we headed over to his home with his wife Myrthe and children where we had a nice dinner and conversation.

After the dinner, we decided to head into Baltimore to try to see a few things before it got too late. We ended up driving passed both sports stadiums (M and T Bank Stadium for the Ravens and the Orioles' Oriole Park at Camden Yards). We drove to the gravesite of Edgar Allen Poe then to the Poe House and Museum (which was not open at that hour, of course). We walked around at both sites a bit. We drove from there to the Oujia 7-Eleven store which has a commemorative Ouija Board plaque. As we drove to the 7-Eleven, we passed the Baltimore Basilica and I made a quick turn around so that we could see it better. As we made our way through town, we were passed by a lot of folks on bicycles. We visited the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum next before making our way to where the Fell Family Cemetery sits in a small vacant lot between townhouses.

We decided at this point it would be good to go to the local Wal*Mart to purchase supplies for the coming days. Of course there was Baltimore sports paraphernalia there which I had to properly salute.

Back at the hotel, we were woken by the smoke alarm again around 3:30am. I tried to rest in the car until we were permitted to enter again.

On Saturday August 30th, 2025, after our rude awakening, we tried to trade our rental car for another due to the tire not holding air. We were told by Avis that they had nothing to offer us. I got more air put in the tire and we went about our day of heading to Washington, D.C. Elphie captured some road footage including some large steeples from the Church of Latter Day Saints Temple.

Our first stop was a Jokes Phone in a Washington, D.C. neighborhood called Chevy Chase. Apparently someone lives nearby and programmed the phone with a variety of jokes. A father and his son tried it before us and didn't seem to get it to work. We tried next and had a similar issue of a busy signal until we realized the instructions showed a star before each number. At that point we were able to access a few jokes. Elphie would have liked to stay longer but she had to pee and hoped we'd have some friends waiting for us for lunch at the World Famous Florida Avenue Grill.

We arrived a bit later than we had hoped to the World Famous Florida Avenue Grill. It is a soul food restaurant where many famous African American folks have visited and had a meal. We ended up in the booth that Martin Luther King, Jr. had planned the Million Man March and there were a few other booths with plaques to honor who had sat there and or events that took place. One booth is called the Shotgun Booth because the owners son sat there armed to protect the restaurant during some unrest. We ordered some good lunches and had a very nice server.

After our lunch, we decided to head to Falls Church, Virginia where Elphie had lived and worked for a time. I picked a route that would take us through the center of the District of Columbia. I captured some footage as we passed the National Portrait Gallery and could see Capital One Arena where the Washington Capitals play. The Penguins fans stand in victory when they win at Washington on the steps of the National Portrait Gallery. We continued to drive south on 9th Street toward the National Mall, passing the National Archives. I wanted to stay above ground so we turned east on Constitution Avenue until we reach a road block by the National Gallery of Art then proceeded south on 7th Street, crossing the Mall then turning west on Independence Avenue and back south on 9th Street to get out of Washington, D.C. As we made our way toward Virginia, we ended up passing the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials from across the river and the Pentagon.

Once we got into Falls Church, we tried to find the places where Elphie had once worked. It turned out there are more than one Ledo Pizza and we went to the wrong one. We did eventually get to the right one as well as the Trader Joe's where Elphie also worked. We also saw where she likely lived, at least the building. Elphie bought some Green Tea Mochi Balls because it was one of her favorite things to eat from the Trader Joe's. While we ate them, and because we hadn't made any other plans, I looked at Atlas Obscura and found two sites nearby to check out. One was a Man Slopping Pigs statue on the corner of the main street next to a car dealership and the other was a Muffler Man called Mr. Dixie at a detailing shop.

We headed back north to Baltimore, stopping at a gas station and then went back to Avis to see about switching cars again. This time, we were able to do so, though the wait was a bit long. We unloaded our stuff and I went around to get the other car. We reloaded, then headed into Baltimore once again to visit the site Edgar Allan Poe's death. It also happened to be near the Johns Hopkins Hospital and University. We drove into its entrance then used it to turn around and head to the hotel for the night.

Baltimore, Maryland, Gettysburg and Hershey, Pennsylvania (08.31.2025 - 09.02.2025)

https://youtu.be/twHduSSjLZE
On Sunday August 31st, 2025, we checked out of the hotel near the Balitmore Washington International Airport. We would be heading to eastern Pennsylvania with our destination being Hershey. Elphie decided she wanted to do the Poe House and Museum tour though so we had signed up for a noon tour. We figured it wouldn't take too long since the sessions were limited to 45 minutes. It turned out that this car also had a tire with low air so we stopped at a Sheetz to get some air in the tire and figured we'd have to monitor this.

The Poe House was rather small and it probably could have taken about 10 minutes really. We ended up being there around a half hour. Elphie got a few souvenirs at the end of the visit.

As we left Baltimore, I made a wrong turn which would have had us on toll roads going toward New York City. Our plan was not that direction so I got us turned around but still headed north but toward Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

We added Gettysburg somewhat last minute as it wasn't terribly far off the route to get to Hershey. The drive was mostly country roads into Pennsylvania and onto Gettysburg. We arrived at the Gettysburg Military Memorial Park and made our way into the visitor center to utilize the restrooms. Elphie wanted mostly to see a memorial to the Gettysburg Address. We followed a path that actually got us quite close but we didn't realize it at the time. After walking through the woods, we cam out at various memorials and a Korean church services meeting in the 2nd Amendment yard. We walked a bit further to see what was on the other side of a hill then returned to the visitor center. I was about to go a different way but Elphie felt it safer to go back how we came...which turned out to be the right decision as the other path went to another parking area. Elphie asked about where the memorial was inside the Visitor center and unfortunately the map app didn't do any favors and it showed it to be in the visitor center (it was not). We went back out to the car, stopping to get a few shots of a Lincoln statue and a rock with the Gettysburg Address on it. We drove around to where the Gettysburg Address Memorial would be and parked then walked across the road to find it. After that, we drove around to see the rest of the area before heading into downtown Gettysburg to the Dobbin House to order a French Onion Soup because Elphie's friend Jason said it was the best he's ever had. It was quite good! Thanks for the tip, Jason!

We drove from Gettysburg toward Harrisburg where we stopped just north of the city to capture some footage of the Lady Liberty of the Susquehanna River from the side of the road.

We headed over to Hershey next. We found that the town did not have a chocolately odor as we had been told. We saw some deer on the way in. Once we got into town, the directions were off by about a block so we had to turn around, seeing parts of Hersheypark behind the Main Street area called Chocolate Avenue. We got ourselves checked into the Simmon's Motel. The receptionist was friendly and walked us to our room. It turned out the pool in the neighboring yard belonged to the hotel as well but we didn't end up using it.

Once we got checked in, unloaded, and settled, we left to go to the Hershey Lodge to eat at the Bear's Den. A restaurant themed for the local AHL Hershey Bears hockey team. The meal was good and at the end, they brought a load of Hershey Kisses. After the dinner, we went to Hersheypark. We were planning to go for the whole day the next day but they offer a free preview for the final few hours of the night before. We got in a couple of roller coaster rides and Elphie was able to overcome some of her fears in doing so...yay, Elphie! We might have had a couple extra minutes but I missed where we were supposed to turn in as the map app directions sent us to the employee entrance. We visited the Chocolate World as well. Once we were finished, we headed back to the hotel but we first decided to drive down Chocolate Avenue out of the town then turned back to go back to the Simmon's Motel. We turned around at the other hotel we had originally booked who took $20 then canceled our reservation (DO NOT TRY TO STAY AT THE DUTCH MOTEL BY OYO!).

On Monday September 1st, 2025, we spent Labor Day at Hersheypark. It was fully open until about 7pm. We got there before the park officially opened so we had to wait around in the front area while those with some sort of VIP hookup were able to get on a few rides. Once the barriers were removed and most of the large crowd moved on, we began our journey to try to ride pretty much all the roller coasters. We succeeded in riding all but one of the roller coasters by the end of the day. Elphie rode them all as well! Yay Elphie! On one ride called the Coal Cracker, which was a log style ride on a lazy river, it seemed tame enough, however, I lost my Pittsburgh Pirates hat. This was pretty early so that was a bit of a bummer. We had enough time at the end for me to hit a few of the water park rides as well! At the end of the day, we went into the Chocolatier and back to Chocolate World as well. In Chocolate World, we got a couple of shakes to drink. We headed back to the Simmon's Motel at the end of the day.

On Tuesday September 2nd, 2025, we got up and decided to once again visit Chocolate World. Elphie got a few items for gifts for folks and we got ourselves some chocolates. We then drove up to one of the Milton Hershey School sites as well as the Hershey Hotel on the hill overlooking the town of Hershey and Hersheypark. From there we drove a bit further out over the hill to see what else we could find. We didn't really find much, ha! We then checked out the local Tanger Outlet Mall to see if I could find a replacement for my lost Pittsburgh Pirates hat. I decided I wanted a retro pillbox style hat from when the Pittsburgh Pirates last won a World Series. The only thing that I found that was close were the new batting practice hats. I tried both Rallyhouse (which is all Pennsylvania sports) and a Lids. No luck. I would order one on ebay instead. We drove out to another Milton Hershey School campus and drove around that for a while then decided to head back to the Hershey Lodge for dinner at the Bear's Den again. This time we went in through the regular entrance and there was a chocolately odor here! Before getting dinner we checked out the souvenir shop. We had another great dinner and dessert as well! We headed back to the Simmon's Motel after this and relaxed for the night because we'd have a lot of road time the next day.

Hershey and Centralia, Pennsylvania, Mason / Dixon Line area, Newark and Wilmington, Delaware (09.03.2025)

https://youtu.be/a3KyAzJtikU
We woke up on Wednesday September 3rd, 2025 and check out of the Simmon's Motel. We first headed north to Centralia, Pennsylvania. It is essentially a ghost town due to an underground mine fire in the area which has caused the ground to be unstable and some toxic fumes. On this day, I didn't notice any fumes or smoke. We stopped before getting into Centralia and I made a quick visit to one end of the Graffiti highway which the government covered over with dirt to keep folks off of it and from adding more graffiti. I did capture some graffiti that was still done despite these efforts to stop it. I got back to the car then headed into Centralia, stopping at the Assumption Of The Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church which remains active in the town. Had I done more research, we might have been able to get somewhere where smoke would be noticeable...or a geyser made due to the fires. Oh well. As we left Centralia, Pennsylvania, we went off the main road to visit the ruins of another ghost town called Byrnesville. While here, I ended up needing to use the restroom and we were apparently blocking the way for a large truck which started honking. I hurriedly finished up then we got out of there.

We headed south, stopping at a Sheetz for gas, tire air, again, and ate some lunch. We continued south to the Mason Dixon Line to find Mile Marker One. This had us on some country roads again where we crossed over between Maryland and Pennsylvania a few times. Close by was also supposed to be a Tri State Marker for Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. We went where the map had us go which ended up being private property. I walked down a ways and as it would turn out, a building I got to was just between me and the marker. Instead of continuing to trespass, we left and went into a state park area. Elphie elected to stay in the car and I went to walk to try to find it. I ended up being gone for quite a long time, having made a wrong turn at some point. But I did find it! I got back to the car having walked in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware...but returned to a grumpy Elphie for my being gone so long. We headed straight for the hotel in Newark, Delaware. Sorry, Elphie!

Once we checked in at the hotel and got settled a bit, we headed out to get dinner and decided to go to a Capriotti's Sandwich Shop for dinner. Elphie got a Thanksgiving themed one called a Bobbie while I got a Capastrami. After eating, we went to the Christiana Mall, primarily the Target so Elphie could get a few things and not have to pay tax due to there being no sales tax in the state of Delaware.

When we finished up at the mall, Elphie was ready to just go to the hotel for the night. We ended up seeing a new episode of South Park while we were there.

Wilmington, Delaware, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Princeton New Jersey (09.04.2025)

https://youtu.be/jHK-Td3kgVs
On Thursday September 4th, 2025, we left Newark and headed into Wilmington, Delaware. We found ourselves stuck at a train crossing so I figured out a detour around it which worked out nicely as the train was still crossing when we got to the other side! Our first stop was Old Swedes Church which is a settlement and church site where Swedish immigrants had made a home in Delaware. We went inside the Hendrickson House Museum but found that it cost $5 to tour the small area and didn't find it worth it so we left. We captured some footage from outside.

We headed back to Pennsylvania, taking a break at the welcome center before heading into Philadelphia. We could see the stadiums as we entered the city. The first thing we did was find the general area of Penn University of Pennsylvania and drove around the campus area as much as we could. Elphie wanted to check out the Ivy League schools of the area on the trip. We turned out to enter into Drexel University as well. All this was in an area called University City.

We headed over to Kensington next to visit The Simple Way. We got to the neighborhood with a few minutes to spare so I tried one corner store to see if they happened to sell Philly Cheesesteaks. They did not but told me where to go to get one so that's what I did. It was in Casablanca Grocery. I was told by someone leaving The Simple Way as we arrived that getting 'hood Cheesesteak is the way to go. The corner store where I got it had it misspelled as well, ha! It turned out to be pretty good! I was able to eat half while visiting at The Simple Way with Allee Torres. Allee told us of how things operate currently and a little more details of how things have changed since it all started. We told a bit of our work with Cornerstone Community Outreach and I told of having listened to and met Shane Claiborne at a few events in past years. Allee took us on a walk around the neighborhood where we saw a park that replaced a few building that had been burnt when a factory caught fire some years ago. There is also a new community health building in the place of the old factory as well. It was a cool visit overall and I am thankful that Allee took the time to talk to us and show us around.

After The Simple Way visit, we went back toward downtown. I detoured to drive by where the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall are before making our way to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where Rocky runs the steps! We couldn't see the Liberty Bell but we did see Independence Hall. we drove around a roundabout at the Art Museum before finding our way to a place to park. We got out, found the Rock statue at the bottom of the steps then made our way to the top where there is another Rocky statue and the museum. We got some footage while there. I finished my Cheesesteak as well.

We left Philadelphia and headed to New Jersey. Our destination was Princeton. Along the way, we took a pit stop at a Wawa where Elphie bought a juice and captured footage of the gas station attendant pumping gas. We got to our hotel and settled in again after unloading. We didn't really find anywhere to eat and I still had half my Capastrami so I finished that and Elphie got some McDonald's then we headed to Princeton University. Elphie was especially excited about this one due to A Beautiful Mind and John Nash. It was beginning to rain when we drove over but mostly stopped. We parked in a lot then walked around, first finding the Fine Hall which housed the math department. We walked around the area and found an alley with an Albert Einstein exhibit set up that we checked out. Next, we walked across the street to Nassau Hall. I tried to find the evidence of the Revolutionary War on the building but I couldn't. I think it is also used in A Beautiful Mind. Elphie had hoped to attend a Debate practice in Whig Hall but we couldn't get into the building. We tried all doors but no luck. After waiting around a bit, we walked over to the Princeton Chapel. We didn't see the bulldog that is on it which was the actual Atlas Obscura site but we did go inside and see the place. We utilized the restroom in the Firestone Library before going to the car and leaving. We drove down the main street by Princeton where we had walked in both directions prior to heading back to our hotel. Just as we got there, it began to rain heavily. I let Elphie out closer to the door, then I parked and walked through the rain. We ended up getting to watch some of the first NFL football game of the season once back in the hotel and situated.

Princeton and Leonardo, New Jersey, New York City drive-by, Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island (09.05.2025)

On Friday September 5th, 2025, we began a long drive from Princeton, New Jersey that would end in North Providence, Rhode Island. We found, while planning out the drive, that there were no real feasible routes to get around tolls going through the New York City area. Though we had talked about it and I had it as one of the spots I wanted to visit, it seemed getting to the Quickstop in Leonardo, New Jersey (of Clerks fame) may not work with the time we'd need to ensure getting to Rhode Island before too late. as we began the drive and saw the estimated time of arrival, we decided to go and have and give the added stop of the Quickstop in Leonardo a shot.

The change in direction had us hit a couple of the New Jersey tolls, ones where you had to toss coins into a bucket. We also ended up passing a rest stop dedicated to Jon Bon Jovi. We got to Leonardo and the Quickstop. There was another group checking it out as well. We went inside the Quickstop and looked around then captured some footage outside. The old video store is a podcast studio. The guy working sort of fit the mold from the movie too!

We didn't stay at the Quickstop very long. We stopped at a Wawa to fuel up for the drive (getting a New Jersey gas experience but not on video), get some more air in the tire, and utilize the restroom. Elphie decided to get a smoothie as well.

We continued on our way north through New Jersey, passing by New York City. We could see the skyline quite well for quite a while. We also saw the Meadlowands and MetLife Stadium (where the Steelers would play in a few days...and WIN!). We crossed into New York on the George Washington Bridge, passing through The Bronx and toward Yonkers apparently as we headed to Connecticut. We crossed into Connecticut then at the first rest area or welcome center (which took several miles to get to) we took a break from driving. The sign as we entered Connecticut claimed it to be the "Pizza Capital."

After the rest stop, when we got back on the highway, we were in some very slow traffic. We had a few changes offered to lessen our drive time so we took a couple of those. We stopped in a town called Orange at Party Magic And More where Elphie wanted to get some party supplies to celebrate entering Rhode Island - our 50th State! We ended up skipping a stop at Yale University, though Elphie had hoped to do a campus drive through while in the area to see another Ivy League school.

We continued on our way, on schedule to make it into Rhode Island with daylight left. Elphie had found where the welcome center was and that was the goal for setting up the celebrating of the achievement of visiting all 50 states. We crossed into Rhode Island, drove a few more miles and at the rest area, parked in front of the Rhode Island welcome sign. I set up the camera, and Elphie decorated the sign with balloons, and making noise with her noise maker while wearing party hats. I pulled out the confetti poppers and we had our little celebration and made a bit of a mess! I did look to see about getting a broom to try to sweep up some of the confetti but I didn't find an attendant nor a broom.

We continued on the way, with some confetti flying off of the car and arrived at an AirBnB in North Providence. We unloaded and settled in after the long drive. Elphie captured footage of the space. We then decided to go to the nearby Twins Pizza to give a Rhode Island Pizza Strip a try. Elphie told the server it was our 50th state and that we were going to try the pizza strip as it was a local food. She was a friendly server and Elphie promised to leave a good review.

Back at the AirBnB, we had on the football game and Elphie was exhausted so she went to bed early. I captured a moon shot then edited a quick clip of the Rhode Island celebration to post to social media before going to bed.

Providence, Rhode Island (09.06.2025 - 09.07.2025)

https://youtu.be/O0oRkvij1wk
On Saturday September 6th, 2025, we drove to downtown Providence to check out the Rhose Island Seafood Festival along the Seekonk River at the India Point Park. We settled on one particular food truck where we got a Hot Lobster Roll, Lobster Grilled Cheese, and Loaded Lobster Fries from Sunset Farm. After we ate, we decided to get a Del's Frozen Lemonade as well. We went to the river and saw some swans a-swimming. We were not there long and got our fill. Elphie decided to get a t-shirt and we headed back out, driving around the nearby Brown University campus to achieve another Ivy League school visit.

As we drove through Providence south toward the sea shore, we passed the Big Blue Bug from Atlas Obscura. We ended up driving to the town of Warwick, Rhode Island where the "Danger Bridge" was located. It was called Danger Bridge due to a warning that there was a bridge there moreso than that it was dangerous. I decided to go into the Atlantic Ocean nearby before an impending storm hit. It was getting very windy and the temperature was dropping some as we were there. I'm not sure it was the best of places to get in the water but nonetheless I did it. There were folks fishing nearby. We drove to a nearby abandoned amusement park in Warwick, Rhode Island called Rocky Point which had a few remaining structures.

We headed back to the AirBnB and mostly made it before the storm hit. Elphie captured some footage of a military gun and motorcycle on top of a motorcycle shop and we captured another clip of the Big Blue Bug and the Providence skyline as we returned north. Elphie also got some footage of the 50 State Achievement certificate as well. Before going to bed, we found a channel to watch the Savannah Bananas play Banana Ball.

On Sunday September 7th, 2025 the rain continued. We had plans to attend the Horror Depot's Dark Arts Festival and decided to go ahead and check it out despite the rain. We found some parking not too far away and walked to the Rhode Island School of Design along the Providence River Walk. Some of it was indoors and some outdoors. We caught a performance art piece of the "Rocky Horror Punk Show" and the costume contest.

We left the Dark Arts Festival and headed to a store called the Frog and Toad looking for some souvenirs to give family and friends. While there, Elphie asked if there was a good spot to eat and catch the football game. The store clerks offered the idea of The Malted Barley where they serve sandwiches on pretzels. I assumed they meant pretzel buns but it turned out to be actual pretzels. The game on the television was of course the New England Patriots but when the game finished, it switched to the final moments of the Pittsburgh Steelers WIN over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. I got a Caprese sandwich and tried a Rhody Red Yacht Club soda. Elphie got a salad.

We drove around downtown Providence hitting or sighting a few of the Atlas Obscura sites in town such as the Time Wave, Nori The Dragon at the Children's Museum, the apparently vacant Industrial National Bank Building, and the Gun Totem whichw as created by a Pittsburgh artist.. As we made our way back to the Airbnb to rest up for the long drive, I stopped to get gas and air in the tire once again. While in the gas station, Elphie picked up another local item called Coffee Milk. We would give it a try on the drive.

At the AirBnB, we repacked everything and then settled in for the remainder of the day for football. I was going to try to get some ice cream from the nearby ice cream stand but it was closed. Instead, I ate as much of the remaining food we had as I could.

Providence, Rhode Island, driving to Baltimore, Maryland, flight to Chicago, Illinois (09.08.2025 - 09.09.2025)

https://youtu.be/BbAq88mr_Jk

We left Providence on Monday September 8th, 2025. We drove back to Baltimore Maryland as we learned that to return the car where it was picked up meant unlimited mileage for the rental term. We taste tested the Coffee Milk, which tasted like milk with some coffee flavoring added. It pretty much was that. As we drove, we crossed Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. Elphie captured scenic footage as we drove including some color change among the leaves in Connecticut, our pass by of New York City where I also captured what appeared to be the apartment buildings cited to be the birthplace of hip hop listed as Kool Herc's Block on Atlas Obscura, a taste test of the Mountain Dew flavor Trolli gummy worms, our crossing over the Delaware River on the tollbridge, another stop at the Christiana Mall, arriving into Baltimore by way of a toll tunnel, and the Mr. Trash Wheel in the water near the Baltimore smoke stack.

Once we checked into the hotel again, we unloaded then left to go to Wal*Mart to return the cooler we used for the trip. On the way back, we stopped at Sheetz to gas up the car and Elphie got some food for the evening as well as for the flight. I stopped at Primanti Brothers and got a Pastrami sandwich to eat at the hotel while we watched the Monday Night Football game. I captured some footage out the hotel room window of the moon.

After spending the day driving on Monday and then more or less relaxing in the hotel that night, we had a flight back to Chicago mid-afternoon on Tuesday September 9th, 2025. This was the first time in quite a while that we'd have a flight taking off and landing in the day time! We returned the rental car to the BWI rental car facility and I informed the person receiving the car that we had some issues with a tire losing air. From there, we took a shuttle to the airport and went through the processes of checking our luggage and the TSA screening without much of any issues. Elphie decided she wanted some Arby's while we waited and I decided to try Ledo Pizza, since the chain had once employed Elphie. It wasn't a bad pizza and I'd say it generally tasted like most any other pizza. Nothing stood out about it other than it being made in a square shape.

We boarded our flight and as we flew, I captured some footage of the take off as I usually do but also a shot of another flight below us, some areas with windmills, and northern Indiana as we turned to fly over Lake Michigan. I captured and kept the entire approach over the southside of Chicago from the harbors and the city until we landed at Midway. We gathered our luggage again and without issue. As we left, I captured some footage of an approaching flight as well as one passing by while we rode the CTA orange line back home and then some footage of the city as we approached the 35th and Archer station. Elphie got the "we're home with Stein" photo in and that is where the project comes to an end.

I included the "credits" with soundtrack information, a few thank you comments and some information on the equipment used and processes of editing for the project over the footage on the flight back to Chicago.

Elphie made a picture book highlighting our travels to all 50 States. Link below. 

https://www.lulu.com/shop/elphie-x-and-joel-x/joel-elphies-50-state-journey/hardcover/product-zmwme8m.html

Full Project Video Playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpPuqFZzsiPSz2ISwTLc_iaA&si=Fw4dSb2o6yqDifII

There was a lot of driving on this trip, however we broke it up pretty well with extended stays in a couple of places. It was fun. Elphie was able to overcome fears by riding roller coasters at Hersheypark so that was cool...I didn't have to ride them alone. A big THANKYOU Joshua for the ticket hook-up. I was very happy that visiting The Simple Way worked out and a big THANK YOU to Allee for taking the time to talk with us and show us around. A big THANK YOU to Jason and Myrthe for having us over for dinner and recommending the Dobbin House to get a taste of the French Onion Soup. A big THANK YOU to Debbie for her hook up on the discounted Avis car rental. A THANK YOU to Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now for his recommendation of the Simmon's Motel in Hershey. Thanks to Party Magic n More for being a place to pick up supplies to celebrate our 50th state visited. Thanks as always to Atlas Obscura for some ideas of things to check out in the places we go. Thanks to booking.com and AirBnB (and the friendly hosts) for being a source to find lodging. Thanks to Southwest Airlines for having flights to get us there and back again.

Additional soundtrack includes "Rhode Island" by David Van Buskirk, "Hunting The Rhode Island Sasquatch" by Rodent Emporium, "In Flight" by Eugenius, "Shipwreck" by Covenant, "Burning Ships" by 6'10, "Building Better Bridges" by Listener, "Tell-Tale Heart" by Grave Robber, "Mach 3" by Ghoti Hook, "Pilfers" by Betamax DC and Dread Pirate Roberts, "The Red Death" by Thrice, "Ouija" by Harley Poe, "Ouija" by God Module, "Civil Wars" by Emery, "Poison and Wine" by The Civil Wars, "Lincoln's Train" by REZ, "Harrisburg Shoes" by The Homeless Gospel Choir, "Cinnamon and Chocolate" by Butterfly Boucher, "Chocolate Angels" by Eerie Wanda, "Chocolate (Spanish Dance)" by Mr. Tyler Larson, "Chocolate Chip Trip" by Tool, "Perpetual Flame Of Centralia" by Lingua Ignota, "Ghost Town" by Lauren Lakis, "Milestone" by Five Iron Frenzy, "Country Mile" by Glenn Kaiser, "Soda Tax" by 2Minute Minor, "Swedish Purse" by Wovenhand, "Yesterday" by Boyz II Men, "Drexel U" by Huntingtons, "C-Minor" by mewithoutYou, "Bellyroot of America" by BEAST, "Altisidora" by Psalters, "?School" by Crashdog, "Math, I Will Defeat You" by Destroy Nate Allen, "Old Nassau" by Princeton Glee Club, "Born In The U.S.A." by Bruce Springsteen, "Something To Believe In" by Ramones, "Sea Song" by The Throes, "Rock Lobster" by Stop The Presses, "Swan Sea" by The Violet Burning, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Derek Webb, "Alice At The Atlantic" by The Ascendents, "Kings Of New England" by Gasoline Heart, "City By The Sea" by Dropkick Murphys, "Old New York" by Agnostic Front, "Living On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi, "Jersey Never Seemed So Long" by Element 101, "Baltimore Oriole" by PQMQ Workshop, "Trotz Der Kraehen (Despite The Crows)" by Leper, and "Chi-Town Beatdown" by Flatfoot 56.

Footage filmed using a Canon Rebel T6s, GoPro Hero, iPhone 12 and 14 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. Titles and other animations created and project edited using Final Cut Pro X on a Mac Mini  and using Motion 4 on a Macbook by Joel A. Swanson.