Monday, July 31, 2006
"At least we have the humidity."
Before you go thinking all this time on the road has confused us, the title quote is actually one we heard from a newscaster on Wisconsin tv last night. Here's the context:
Weather Guy: It's going to be 100 tomorrow.
Fool Newslady: Wow - it's like we're in Arizona or something.
WG: Yes, but in Arizona they have a dry heat.
FN: True. At least we have the humidity.
Will & Erin: WHAAAAA????
(Special note to Sarge - yes, this really did happen, and yes, the humidity makes a diff!)
So, today we covered Wisconsin, Minnesota and just barely crossed into South Dakota. Currently we're holed up in the "I have a giant dog with a menacing bark" wing of the Comfort Inn in Sioux Falls.
Once again we started the day on side roads, taking in American life and unfortunately several AmericInn's, which I have decided to boycott because that name is friggin' ridiculous. Our route took us up toward Madison, WI, over to Dodgeville, home to Lands End and then toward the Mississippi. Along the way we saw the "House on the Rock" and Taliesin former home of Frank Lloyd Wright.
We also saw another excellent "get your ass to church" motivator:
We're starting a Wordy Gurdy of the day, which will hopefully be somewhat linked to the places we've seen that day.
What's a Wordy Gurdy? We give a clue and you answer in a two word, rhyming phrase. For example - Clue: angry father, Answer: mad dad. Fun, right?
So, here goes.
Clue: Tribute to Winsconin's pride.
Have at it.
Badlands tomorrow...
Weather Guy: It's going to be 100 tomorrow.
Fool Newslady: Wow - it's like we're in Arizona or something.
WG: Yes, but in Arizona they have a dry heat.
FN: True. At least we have the humidity.
Will & Erin: WHAAAAA????
(Special note to Sarge - yes, this really did happen, and yes, the humidity makes a diff!)
So, today we covered Wisconsin, Minnesota and just barely crossed into South Dakota. Currently we're holed up in the "I have a giant dog with a menacing bark" wing of the Comfort Inn in Sioux Falls.
Once again we started the day on side roads, taking in American life and unfortunately several AmericInn's, which I have decided to boycott because that name is friggin' ridiculous. Our route took us up toward Madison, WI, over to Dodgeville, home to Lands End and then toward the Mississippi. Along the way we saw the "House on the Rock" and Taliesin former home of Frank Lloyd Wright.
We also saw another excellent "get your ass to church" motivator:
"Missing prayer for 7 days makes one weak."
Hee! God is funny!
Will and I almost perished today. It was for a good cause, though. In an effort to enjoy some local food - namely CHEESE and avoid the chain crap for lunch we drove and drove and drove. Unfortunately the chains seem to have quite a bit more cash in their marketing budgets for advance warning signs. McDonald's will tell you one's coming for MILES, but the fabulous looking cheese house waits until you're flying past to throw up a sign. Finally we found Ed's Family Food where we found some delish cheese and crackers. Seriously. We were close to death. Ed saved us.
Once we crossed into Minnesota we decided to stick to the interstate so we could make up some time and I took over the driving duties. In a word: BORING. Nothing at all of interest happened except that shortly after we left the Amish rest stop, Bella discovered a fly in the cab.
Now, I'm driving, and if I was alone, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. HOWEVER...I'm hurtling down the highway with a dog that loves to lunge wildly at all insects and a husband who despises bugs and assumes that I do to and that I would like him to whack the bejesus about of any bug that even thinks about landing on me. (This almost always means whacking me, too. It's awesome.)
So at this point I'm feeling like I'm in some serious peril. Bella's lunging and Will's swatting and I'm trying to stay on the road while hysterically laughing AND trying to defend myself. So then we decide to roll the windows down and hope the fly will leave. But that weather guy wasn't lying, and it was HOT! So the cab became a swirling tornado of steamy dog hair and eventually, after nearly knocking himself out with the swatting, Will got the fly out. I had just barely stopped laughing when along came another. See above.
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. We did see a pretty awesome lighting storm, but that's about it. It felt good to park the Penske tonight, for sure.
Hee! God is funny!
Will and I almost perished today. It was for a good cause, though. In an effort to enjoy some local food - namely CHEESE and avoid the chain crap for lunch we drove and drove and drove. Unfortunately the chains seem to have quite a bit more cash in their marketing budgets for advance warning signs. McDonald's will tell you one's coming for MILES, but the fabulous looking cheese house waits until you're flying past to throw up a sign. Finally we found Ed's Family Food where we found some delish cheese and crackers. Seriously. We were close to death. Ed saved us.
Once we crossed into Minnesota we decided to stick to the interstate so we could make up some time and I took over the driving duties. In a word: BORING. Nothing at all of interest happened except that shortly after we left the Amish rest stop, Bella discovered a fly in the cab.
Now, I'm driving, and if I was alone, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. HOWEVER...I'm hurtling down the highway with a dog that loves to lunge wildly at all insects and a husband who despises bugs and assumes that I do to and that I would like him to whack the bejesus about of any bug that even thinks about landing on me. (This almost always means whacking me, too. It's awesome.)
So at this point I'm feeling like I'm in some serious peril. Bella's lunging and Will's swatting and I'm trying to stay on the road while hysterically laughing AND trying to defend myself. So then we decide to roll the windows down and hope the fly will leave. But that weather guy wasn't lying, and it was HOT! So the cab became a swirling tornado of steamy dog hair and eventually, after nearly knocking himself out with the swatting, Will got the fly out. I had just barely stopped laughing when along came another. See above.
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. We did see a pretty awesome lighting storm, but that's about it. It felt good to park the Penske tonight, for sure.
We're starting a Wordy Gurdy of the day, which will hopefully be somewhat linked to the places we've seen that day.
What's a Wordy Gurdy? We give a clue and you answer in a two word, rhyming phrase. For example - Clue: angry father, Answer: mad dad. Fun, right?
So, here goes.
Clue: Tribute to Winsconin's pride.
Have at it.
Badlands tomorrow...