July 4
Number of miles traveled: 612 (including the 33 miles to pick up the vehicle the day before)
Start: 7:31a EDT - Ann Arbor, MI
Finish: 11:20p CDT - Black River Falls, WI
Stops: Geno's East (Chicago, IL), Miller Park (Milwaukee, WI)
The trip actually begins on July 3, since the van that will go cross country must be procured from the rental agency. So, all that is required is for somebody to pick me up and drive to the kickback-themed Detroit/Wayne County Metropolitan Airport. I send Craig a reminder E-mail to pick me up at 5 PM and if you're late, don't forget to put a lid on the sundae, a very obscure Simpsons reference. The sundae was delicious. Dwight arrives in the evening and we'll go over to pick up Craig and Dave the next morning.
The trip begins at 7:30 AM as Dwight and I drive to Livonia to first get Craig. We get there at 8, and Craig is not up. The difficult decision -- wake up everybody or just wake up Craig. We try the latter, but he isn't answering his phone. So, unfortunately, we have to wake up everybody just to get Craig up. We get Craig by 8:15, get Dave by 8:30, and we're truly on our way. Well, except for that stop in Jackson, where it was decided everybody in the van needed a quick breakfast. Dave attempted the McGriddles, Dwight started his pork streak, Craig was flummoxed by the fact that salsa came with a breakfast burrito, and Mike just took the parts of the combo breakfasts that everyone else didn't want.
After a time zone change, we arrived at Gino's East around 12 CDT. For those of you who have been there before and remembered their location near the Water Tower, they have moved to the tourist restaurant district between Ontario and Ohio near the freeway. Still good Pizza, though. While waiting for the pizza, Craig made a purchase he would later regret, a University of Nebraska hat featuring some form of evil ear of corn on the front. Unlike the picture to the right, it was black.
After leaving Chicago, it was off to Milwaukee to see Selig's Folly -- Miller Park. Unfortunately, three 18 wheelers had collided near Kenosha, Wisconsin and had snarled traffic for hours. By the time we got to the border an hour after the accident, traffic was still snarled. We took back roads for a while and rejoined I-94 just south of Milwaukee. We got to the park a little late and missed a three run start by the Rockies. 409 pitches later, the Rockies prevailed 8-6, in a game that included 2 ejections, an injured player, Brooks Kieschnick nearly getting his first major league victory, a grand slam and an ejection. Finally, the Polish Sausage prevailed in a pre-Whacking Day race.
Since the lateness of the game was making my original stop choice of Eau Claire seem less likely, we started to try to find a hotel in LaCrosse. After being shutout there, we found one in Black River Falls, WI which pretty much came out of a Twin Peaks episode, except there were no donuts at the breakfast.