Not too long ago, we got word of a show going on in Chicago, IL that peaked our interest. It’s called the One Of A Kind Show & Sale.

Needless to say, we had to attend. We’re on a mission to see how other merchants and entrepreneurs are doing it. Our hope is to get new ideas, inspiration, and make a few friends along the way.

Prepare yourself, because things are about to get wild!

Day 1

We embark from David’s house around mid-afternoon and make a 5-something-hour-long trip to Kansas City, our first destination.

Upon arrival in Kansas City, we visited the Plaza in hopes of finding something to grub on. The Plaza is this great outdoor mall and shopping extravaganza and around this time of year all the buildings are lined with Christmas lights. It’s beautiful.

In search of something to fill our hungry bellies, we decided to get BBQ – we’ve heard it’s kind of a big deal in Kansas City.

Just for the record, when it came to ordering BBQ, David was not concerned with the meat. For him, it’s all about the baked beans and chocolate milk.

After dinner, we headed over to our resting quarters, the home of some of our friends (you’ll read more about them later). It was a great day.

Day 2

We woke up and went to get coffee. David’s not much of a coffee person, but Brandon is. To him, it is imperative we start each day with coffee. Let’s be real, is there any other way?!

After coffee, we loaded up and hit the road. The drive from Kansas City to Chicago is much longer than our drive  from OKC to KC.

Spending all that time on the road can be tough. Fortunately, David’s found the best solution for how to successfully spend 8 hours at a time in the car – play two games at once!

It’s not really a big deal to David to actually play the games, for him, it’s all about the music. He’s got a thing for game soundtracks – like Pokemon, Mario, or Zelda.

Along the way, we stopped in St. Louis to see the Gateway Arch.

After many more hours of driving after our stop in St. Louis, we finally arrived in Chicago – just in time for 5 c’clock traffic!

After our first experience with Chicago traffic, we finally made it to the place we’re staying.

We’re staying at a hostel in downtown Chicago. The hostel experience is a little different than a typical hotel experience, but it’s a lot of fun and very cost effective. The hostel we’re staying at, Oak 112, is off the chain.

Once we got settled into our hostel, we went out for dinner to Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria!

So far, we’re having a great time and looking forward to all the new experiences in Chicago. Cheers to good friends, a good time, staying in good shape, and ….chocolate milk!