Greetings from the frozen white north! I am live in the Twin Cities today, sitting with the good folks of The Daily Gopher and hoping that the 500+ miles I drove yesterday will result in a win. Some of the highlights yesterday, as noted in the usual road-trip diary:
10:49am - Lunch in Champaign as I surveyed the site of a future conquest over the Fighting Illini. Word is a college football game is taking place there today too, but Indiana and Illinois show no college football-like substance. It's like searching for life on Mars.
12:14pm - Passed by a baseball stadium in Normal, Illinois called The Corn Crib, home of the Normal Cornbelters of the Frontier League. I am not making this up.
1:33pm - After a dull two hours between Champaign and Rochelle a stop for the restroom is needed, but instead I am confronted with the BIGGEST DAMN BEEF JERKY EVER!!!!
1:33pm - The "Welcome to Wisconsin" store advertises Cheese, Gifts, and Fireworks. Nice to see America's Dairyland has our priorities covered.
3:47pm - In search of cheesy (no pun intended) roadside attractions the Wisconsin Dells to do not disappoint with the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory. It's all kinds of science, cheap C-3PO and R2-D2 mock-ups, a Feat of Strength where you can lift a car thanks to SCIENCE!, and a mock-up of Mir. I was required by law to do a video:
6:00pm - Dinner at Buffalo Phil's in the Dells area, where you can sit at tables to have your dinner delivered by a train. Like everything else int eh Dells, it is a tourist trap complete with bowling, arcade, and everything else except a vacuum hooked up to your wallet to suck the money directly out. Methinks the Dells are a definite stop again in the future.
8:25pm - Passing Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, home of Jack Dawson of Titanic fame. I have no idea why I remember this 15 years later.
9:35pm - If you think I didn't giggle at seeing "Hardman Avenue" after crossing the Mississippi River you obviously don't know I am still 12 mentally.
So those are the highlights. It would be nice to get a W today after three straight losses, because honestly, a bowl game is in danger if we don't win. I'll be here in Minneapolis until Monday, but enjoy the thread and my coverage on scene later today. Here is your full TV schedule for today: