Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota

Saturday, June 14: I woke up around 10:30AM again and ate some miso soup for lunch after having a power bar for breakfast. Gross. I packed everything up and checked the weather for Wisconsin and tried to look up which highways were closed but I couldn’t find anything so I set out around 2:30PM and didn’t get to Milwaukee until 5:10PM because of all the traffic and two of the lanes were closed. I stopped off to get gas on the way there since it was 4.01 (actually I thought it was 3.91 but the sign had in small letters 10 cents off per gallon if you buy a car wash).

I arrived in Milwaukee while the rain clouds rolled in. Tons of people were in the parking lot tailgating with beer, sausages, hot dogs, and other baseball food. It was great; every aisle I went down had tailgate party after party. I wish I had gotten there earlier so that I could weasel my way into one and have the entire Milwaukee Brewer experience. The stadium has a roof that closes so after I walked around the stadium and took pictures with the statues outside and the large drops plummeted from the sky, I got in line to go inside. It turned out it was kids’ t-shirt day and they were nicer at Miller Park than PNC and they gave me one. It had been Pirates kids’ t-shirt day and they wouldn’t give me one even thought it would have fit me. I probably would have worn the Pirates won too because SL’s mascot is the pirate. I walked around and took pictures down in the 100 level. I should have bought tickets earlier, but I didn’t realize there were enough hardcore people who would drive from Minneapolis to Milwaukee for the Twins vs Brewers game. I bought standing room only tickets and stood behind the seats on the 3rd base side to watch the game.

Large people were standing in the way but I ended up sitting down next to a guy who was with his family, originally from Minneapolis but moved to Chicago and drove up for the game. Another guy sat down next to me even though he had standing room only tickets as well. He was impressed that I was driving around from park to park and bought me a Miller Lite since I was at Miller Park, he didn’t think it was right to be there without having a Miller. I drank about a quarter of it (when I looked at the bottle, it was only a centimeter below the neck of the bottle, ha ha-if you look at the picture, that’s how much was left once I was done with it) and then left the rest under the seat. I figured I had the experience, but I don’t like beer so I was done with that. I saw some more homeruns by both teams. It was awesome and the game went into the 12th inning after Nathan blew the save with the Twins up 2-1 in the bottom of the 9th. The twins loaded the bases in the 10th, 11th, and 12th innings before scoring in the top of the 12th. After scoring two runs, with 2 on base, Cuddyer went up as a pinch hitter and hit a 3 run bomb. The twins shut down the Brewer offense in the bottom of the 12th and they became the first away team to win on this road trip.

I took more pictures after the game and waited for the traffic to die down. Walking outside to Lazarus I was telling Melissa about my travels and bringing her up to date. Ballpark number 6 had been reached and so far Lazarus was holding up quite nicely. I only had one scare in Pittsburgh so far and I prayed that God would help me out.

So far on the job and school front I’m not doing too terribly. I got the full time job offer from Farmville, VA and I got an email declaring my acceptance into Northeastern’s graduate program.

I rolled out on 94W and it detoured to 83S, which I took all the way to 59W. That highway brought me to Milton where Scott’s parents live. I arrived around 12:30AM and Clara showed me around the house and I soon went to sleep.

Sunday, June 15: I woke up at 11AM and went up stairs after brushing my teeth and washing my face. We set out to the Family Diner or the Milton Family Restaurant and had lunch there. I ate a mushroom burger and fries. For some reason I thought it was a big Portobello mushroom, but it was a burger with mushrooms cut on top and cheese melted over them. I ate it anyway; it was good, but huge. I ate it all.

After we ate I was taken on a little mini tour of Milton and then we went out to the mall to see if they had cheesehats. I met some of the people that work with Scott’s sister at Kohl’s and one guy was wearing this awesome shirt that had a picture of the United States and it showed baseball countries for each team on it. I had to have it. Luckily it was on sale and Scott’s sister Leanne gets another 15% discount on clothing. Unfortunately it was a medium rather than a small, but it was too great to pass up. I got my cheesehat and my Wisconsin mission was complete.

They showed me the old high school and the rock in front and where they used to live. The Milton House is the oldest concrete building in the nation and they used to have slave trade to Canada out there. There was a small pioneer cabin built in 1837 that has been maintained for the most part. We headed back to see if the sign that said 1989 football state championships was still up since Scott was on the winning team and scored the game clinching touchdown.

I took my Wisconsin jumping picture behind the house in the garden and took a nap before dinner after making my Wisconsin collages. I woke up around 7 and ate some dinner before we headed out to Scott’s sister’s place to pick up my shirt. It was father’s day so the grandparents were there. I met the whole family and we had some cake and ice cream. We headed back (I had driven) and all went to bed.

Monday, June 16: I woke up at 9:30AM and had some toast with homemade preserves. Clara was making molasses cookies so I had some of those before I left as well. She had some great cook books that I want to try to get. I said good bye and headed out around 11:00AM. I hit 90W to 94W and then headed toward La Crosse on 90W where it split again. It was pretty smooth sailing with little traffic and no blocks.

Once I got into Minnesota it started taking longer to get any where. I guess the flooding had gone down in Wisconsin, I thought that was the part that would take a long time. I hit 52N and then 50W. I met Ryan at Target once I got into Burnsville because I didn't know where he lived. We went to the Mall of America after I ate some chips and salsa and walked around. I figured we should take a picture with some of the Legos to prove that I was there. Gabe would be all about the Legos, but I think there must have been something cooler because I imagined Lego Land a lot cooler. Then we headed to Burnsville High School where Ryan's practice for his play was.

I sat through about an hour of it and then walked toward Burger King to get a milk shake. Unfortunately... or lamely they were closed at 7PM, it was 8PM, and they wouldn't let me get anything through the drive thru since I was walking. I started off annoyed toward the Super America or "SA" gas station and saw Dairy Queen across the street. Amazing. I walked kitty corner from BK to DQ and it was so much better. I got fries and a Health Blizzard. Yum. A little league team had won and was there to celebrate. After I was done I walked back to the high school and walked around the football field where the team was having practice. I had to wait a little longer and went to the bathroom since I had time to kill.

When practice was over we headed back to the house and watched an episode of the office and some movies on tv before heading off to bed.