« July 2006 | Main | September 2006 »
Page 2 of 2
We made it back alive and unharmed! Our bar tour was all we expected it to be and more. We have hundreds of photo and 5 notebooks of notes to sift through so it wwill be several more days before we reveal the full story.
To tide you over, here's a picture from a bar in Mason City, IA called The Saddle Company. "You guys are doing what?" a customer asked about our quest, then told us that we absolutely had to mount the saddle.
Stay tuned...
We spend today in Clear Lake and Mason City, visiting 18 bars plus the crash site where The Music Died. We also got lost tonight walking aroun d in Mason City after the bars closed -- only figuring out after we reached the far side of town that we had walked the opposite way from out motel.
Details to come!
With limited internet access, it looks like full detailed posts will come next week. But here's a quick teaser taste of day 1.
We visited 21 bars in small towns throughout south central Iowa, including some in towns with populations of approximately 40 that could only be reached after miles of driving on dirt highways. We've got pictures and details filed away ready to be reported when we return.
Today we are in Clear Lake, IA, about to head off to see the Buddy Holly - Richie Valenz - Big Bopper crash site.
More to come!
Early this morning Brandon (who you may remember from such drinking adventures as this and this) will be departing on the ultimate barhopping expedition. For the next five days we will travel the states shown here (mainly the top two) studying the local bar scenes. Small town bars, big city bars, dumpy bars, nice bars -- whatever we find at each of our destinations will be observed and sampled.
Presuming that I have internet access (which I know I will towards the end of the trip but it's iffy on the first 2 days), I'll be posting daily reports of our anthropological study on Iowan and Minnesotan taverns. So sit back, enjoy the virtual beer, and let us have the hangover for you.
More to come!
I washed my shoes last night and set them out to dry, but they failed to dry by morning so I was forced to put on some sandals and drive to work. (When I walk too far in the sandals, I get blisters.)
As I was heading south on Main Street downtown I got stuck behind some Jo who was coming to a complete stop at every steel plate in the construction zone, then creeping across them very slowly.
This person was driving an Xterra.
Yep, someone who bought a vehicle widely hyped about its off-roading capabilities was afraid of taking it over a 1-inch bump in the road.
That poor car, it's probably being mocked by all the other Xterras.
Yesterday evening I went up to my office to clean my saltwater tank that I keep up there.
In the tank I have a large piece of fake coral as one of the directions. I turned it on its side to clean the gravel under it, then put it back upright.
A few hours later I noticed that my spotted hawkfish was missing. After checking the usual hiding places, it hit me that I forgot to make sure no one had swum up inside the coral before I put it upright. I lifted the coral and out dropped the hawkfish -- dead.
Unsure whether I had crushed it or if it had asphyxiated after so long in a confined space, I attempted Fish CPR on it with a gentle but rapid compression of its body as I moved the fish rapidly through the water to get oxygen across its gills. But no luck, I called the code and pronounced the fish dead at 10:22pm last night.
Burial was in commode #2 of the 15th floor men's restroom in Commerce Tower.
I briefly flirted with the idea of not flushing just to create a surprise for someone on Monday, but decided in the end to respect the dignity of the fish and pull the handle.
I'm a lousy fish-dad.
Why was Brandon likely the most excited person ever over receiving an Iowa road map and travel guide in the mail last week? Why was I the second most excited person ever over an Iowa road map when he told me he got it?
Stop by on Wednesday to find out! :)