Big Country Little Car Tour, Day 4: Madison, WI to Minneapolis, MN
Morning. Thursday was Biscuit Day at the Clarion Suites breakfast buffet, an “event” that had me more excited than it should have. I collected a few dough pucks and nibbled while answering email; then it was time to go. Usually, “time to go” + 15 minutes of Jenga in the rear compartment = “actual departure,” but thanks to Li’l Ava’s four-door-ness and real trunk, “time to go” = go.
The sky was nasty all the way down U.S. 12 to I-94, hanging low enough to touch. Good driving, though — those big boomy hills again, sleepy cows and soybeans and billboards for “adult” bakeries. Near Devil’s Lake, I passed a bar nestled among its several vintage outdoor signs; its happy hour is from 9 to 10…AM. Dang: missed it by half an hour. I seriously considered screeching into the parking lot, bursting in through the front door, and strapping on a Mel-Gibson-strength “NNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” just to see what would happen. In the best-case scenario, the bartender would snort, “City trash crazy,” and pour me a half-price pint, but I figured it’s all farmers in there and it seems like they have enough stress in their lives without a big blonde Improv-Everywhering their darts game. It did remind me of a story my parents sometimes tell about an apartment they had in New York back in the day, I think in Yorkville; they’d walk to the subway together first thing and see the German pipe-fitters drinking beer after the night shift, one greasy overall strap undone, eating bright white boiled eggs with inky fingers.
It never did rain. Ava’s a nice ride, good pep, and her AC hits the spot; we get along fine. I pulled into Minneapolis ahead of schedule but took a wrong turn in the downtown, into a completely deserted neighborhood. Where was everybody? What’s with the tumbleweed and the weird curving str– oh, hi, Metrodome. Then I came to the hotel, and my room is huge, bigger than my Cobble Hill apartment. It’s got a bedroom with a door, a full kitchen including dishwasher, and two TVs. I almost didn’t want to leave when MG came to pick me up — the hotel also has a happy hour, free booze and snacks — but we had patio beers in mind, so away we went to Pracna.
I can’t tell you how nice it felt to sit with other human beings who didn’t have hotel name-tags on, or any association with the automotive industry, and shoot the shit. Joined by M. Giant and Reader J and her husband, we covered it all: Jersey politics, Dennis Haysbert, movie locations, the horrendous and prolonged parking job committed by a lady in spike heels while we watched. (Minutes later, her husband emerged and drove off to another street entirely, presumably — and correctly — due to shame.) We drank. We ate starchy snacks. Heaven on the Mississippi.
Next stop: St. Paul, in tomato attire.
Tags: Big Country Little Car Tour Campbell day drinkin' Dennis Haysbert friends institutional starch Li'l Ava M. Giant Mel Gibson
Oh man, that stretch of I-94. I’ve trekked that *so* many times, albeit usually asleep in the back of the Megabus.
I’m glad my fair state treated you well, in spite of all your problems here. (Also, re: the bar, I do love that bars in Wisconsin open at 9 am but you can’t buy alcohol at a liquor store after 9 pm. We are a silly place.)
Ugh, I’m so annoyed at myself for not meeting up with you guys. I love Pracna (well, not specifically, I really just love all of the patios on Main), the weather was perfect, and I’d finally have had the chance to rid myself of the creepy “I sort of feel like a stalker” feeling I sometimes get from closely following blogs (yours and M. Giant’s among others). So many regrets…
I’m so glad you took the Highway 12 route out of Madison rather than just sticking with the interstate the whole time. When I went to college in Madison I loved driving back on 12 because the hills/cows/trees/fields views made me happy. Sort of stereotypically Wisconsin I guess, but so pretty in a low key kind of way.
You are in my town!!!!! Squee!!!
So glad you had a great time in my adopted hometown. It was great to meet everyone on the Pracna patio and have a couple tasty beverages on a fine summer evening. Here’s hoping the big delivery went well today!
Sars, your writing never ceases to amaze and enthrall me… I’m entertained immensely reading about billboards and boiled eggs. Well done. :D
I hope that the rest of your trip is kinder to you in the realm of the unexpected!
Lisa – I get what you’re saying about the “stalker” feeling. I attended one of Sars’ Brooklyn Baseball gatherings and felt like and “insider” ever since. Ok, not really, but it is nice to meet the person behind the juicy Ramapo. Besides, there’s nothing like watching someone in a Red Sox uniform running through a NY bar.
Now that Sars has come back to the Mets, perhaps it’s time to invite her to an evening at Citi Field.
Sars, your road-trip tales are, unsurprisingly, completely fabulous, but what I love most about this installment? “Improv Everywhere” used as a verb. Thank you so much for that. Hee.
When you actually got to downtown Minneapolis, were there people there, other than your friends and/or hotel employees? Because when I went there for a wedding last year, I found the whole city creepily devoid of people, save for an arts event one afternoon. I was mystified that a supposedly large city could be deserted at 10pm on a Saturday night. (Also, that place is amazingly — but oddly clean. If I saw so much as a gum wrapper on the sidewalk, I’d think, ‘Damn robot street cleaners, not doin’ their jobs!’)
Holy cow, you came to my town and I didn’t even know about it. Hope we were nice to you (via tasty biscuits if nothing else).
Ah, man! Pracna is sooooo close! Glad you enjoyed the patio by the river, though. Apologies for the extra humidity, it’s been unpleasant here lately.
And yes, the area around the Dome is pretty much a wasteland, especially now that the Twins have their shiny new palace in the Warehouse District. Downtown Mpls is a weird area: it’s busy during the day, but tend to empty out in the evening, except for entertainment areas like the Warehouse District, and to a lesser extent Nicollet Mall. Enatertainment has very much spread out around the cit in recent years, with Nordeast become much more popular, Uptown still being Uptown, South Mpls getting a nice selection of neighborhood wine bars, gastropubs, and restaurants, etc.
Sigh…until I can lure you out to the coast, I’ll just have to follow along on the trail of electronic bread crumbs that is the internet…
It’s very good to hear that your trip’s back on the road (hee.)