Pandifest '99 PART 4
Welcome to....
The Long Haul Through 5 States (Part II)
OR
Of Cheese, Hops, Barrels & The End of the Road
The drive to one of the country's busiest Airports
outside of the Windy City wasn't too bad for
Sluggy to handle...after all,
she had combat experience driving in the canyons of Manhattan
with all those yellow cabs, bike messengers, pushcart guys,
bagladies and just plain crazy people of NYC.
Ruth's in person directions proved to be top notch
so we got into O'Hare with no problem.
Ruth quickly offered to take a
turn
at driving on the trip. A little while later she recanted tales
of her
car escapades and her high speed motoring. Seeing as it was a
Rental Car under Sluggy's name,
at this point in the voyage Sluggy
nixed any thoughts of Ruth
driving on the trip. These tales also gave rise
to Ruth's nickname for the trip
-Leadfoot.*Big grin*
We found a place to stop the car and wait right near the gate we
needed to pick Ally up at so
Sluggy & Ruth
watched the car while Pandi
& Judi ventured
into the Terminal to hunt down Ally
who had flown in from California.
After awhile they returned, failing to find her. So back they
went on a second try. After what seemed like ages, they finally
returned with Ally in tow.
Success! While hunting Ally,
Judi & Pandi
were able to run into the Ty store as it was in
that Terminal. They bought a couple of things and Pandi even brought Sluggy
a pack of Beanie cards because she didn't get a
chance to go in and check it out.
8-)
Somehow we packed Ally's
luggage
into the trunk with ours and all of us into the now bulging
Sable. It was a tight fit now with all of us Happy Pandifest
Bound riders, our luggage and our Swap Boxes but we made the
best of it. Sluggy pointed the
noise of the Trusty Sable Northward and we were off again on the
last leg of the journey. Our next destination would be our last-
Minnesota and PANDIFEST! We had a
full day a driving though still ahead of us. We were fairly
quickly out of Illinois(danged flat place, that Illinois)and
crossing the border into Cheesehead Country-Wisconsin.
We decided to stop for an early lunch as The
lma, Louise & the Blonde hadn't had breakfast. So, we
cruised into the next Mickey D's and dined on McBurgers & McFrie
s, served by the friendly albeit bumbling staff of McCheeseheads.
*We love Wisconsinites, really we do! Please no hate mail.
Some of my best friends are from Wisconsin, right Auntie Karen?
The cuisine at Ronald's Place in Wisconsin was what you would
find at any other in the country-burgers, fries, nuggets, soda,
etc. There was one curious addition to the menu we found. As
the signs on each register at the counter imformed us, you could
buy a small cup of CHEESE to go with your meal for a mere 89
cents more. We all know the concept of "Extra Sizing" your
order at McDonald's but this idea of "Cheesy-ing" your meal was
foreign to us. Was the idea to dip your fries in the cheese?...
or perhaps as a chaser after your coke much like a beer chaser
for a Boilermaker? I had thoughts of using it as a finger bowl
after my sandwich was finished.....the added grip it would give
my hands on the wheel of the Sable might come in handy.
There were a few REAL friendly employees of this fine restaurant
we soon found out-and some interesting characters. While I
pondered this great Cheese mystery a McDonald's employee came
over to chat with us. He joined us for awhile after he learned
of our journey. Secretly I think this was a clever disguise
and
we were in actuality having lunch with that legendary & allusive
figure of McDonald's lore-Mayor McCheese!
We were actually lucky enough to be joined for lunch by Mayor
McCheese himself!
(l to r)Ruth, Ally, Pandi, Judi & Mcdonald's Employee Willie
aka Mayor McCheese
Ally &
Sluggy also found this charming fellow wiping down
tables near where we were dining.
 Pandi, Hank & Ally.
We got to chatting with this Senior Member of the McDonald's
team while he straightened the dining room area. Hank is one
heck of a nice guy! He is a retired veteran of the "Big War",
still married to his wife & enjoys his parttime job here at
Mickey's Place. We found we also have alot in common as he is a
computer nut himself! Hank said he frequently talks on the
internet with his grown daughters across the country. We did
invite him to join us in Minnesota and he was a real fun guy
and we could use some more male company at Pandifest. But
seeing as he couldn't be home for dinner and his wife might
worry, he reluctantly decided to pass on our offer. But the
next time we are in this part of Wisconsin or if anybody reading
this is in the McDonald's Restaurant in southern Wisconsin near
the IL border just off of I-94, tell Hank the crazy ladies
driving to Minnesota to a Convention of Internet Friends think
of him fondly and say "HI!".
Having sated our burger desires for the moment we bid Hank and
"the Mayor" Adieuand headed back onto the road.
We made pretty good time and everyone was getting their second
wind by now. Until, that is, we hit Milwaukee
.
We could smell Milwaukee before
we saw it actually. We don't mean this in a BAD way, it's just
that with all of the Brewery operations that "made Milwaukee
famous", the air was a bit yeasty and foamy. The thought of
singing the opening theme from "Laverne & Shirley" did cross my
mind but that Cup o' Cheese a couple of hours before had done
a number coating my throat.
We were almost through Milwaukee
when the grey clouds descended and poured forth sheets of rain
upon our little Sable. Pandi had
taken over the driving duties after the Lunch stop & was having
a time driving in the downpour when we hit traffic as well.
Of course, we hadn't thought to check the Major League Baseball
schedules. If we had, we would have known that there was a
Ballgame set to begin shortly and our course was taking us
directly by the Stadium. After sitting in the rain & traffic
for a bit, Sluggy got out the
trusty Atlas and shortly, we were able to detour off the Inter
state onto some local hiways and leave both the rain & Milwaukee's congestion behind.
After a couple of hours we decided to take a leg stretching/
potty break about the same time as we saw a Cracker Barrel sign.
This was to be another first for Pandi as there are no CBs in New England. We wondered around
the gift shop area which was devoid of anything Ty� interesting.
Soon
Ally &
Sluggy had involved themselves in a hot and heavy
game of
Checkers out on the front porch. We called a draw after awhile
as our traveling companions urged us to finish and get back on
the road. Next time Ally,
it's dueling pistols at 40 paces.....
We posed for a group shot to commmemorate our CB visit before piling into the car and heading on.
(l to r)Ally, Ruth, Judi & Pandi at the
Cracker Barrel west of Milwaukee
Another stop for dinner further down the road at a Pizza Hut, a
couple of more stops for gas & sodas and we found we were finally
getting near out destination as we crossed the border & the
Mississippi River into Minnesota! Working from 2 sets of
directions to find our Hotel we still had problems locating it
on the first and second tries. Good old trial & error and common
sense AND quick thinking by Ally
who suggested we stop to ask a local guy washing
his car on some residential road finally did the trick. We
climbed the final hill(yes, a HILL Ruth
!lol)to the traffic light and saw just beyond the
Appleby's our PANDIFEST Hotel in
the distance. A sight never looked as good to this set of weary
bones!
We pulled into the parking lot slowly. As we did, we caught
sight of a group of people inside the building with their noses
pressed to the lobby windows like new puppies at the Pet Store.
They grew excited and began to wave at us. We figured that this
bunch must be either out on a day trip from the "Happy Home" or
part of our Pandifest crew-the early Wednesday arrivals. As we
emerged from the car, creaking and groaning, the window peepers
were now outside and hurriedly coming toward us. Like something
out of a
Mel Brooks movie, they got to a spot about 15 ft. from us and
stopped in their tracks. So, we all just stood their for a
moment that seemed to go in for hours, and looked at each other.
Finally the ice was broken and the chatter & hugs began as a
group of "friends" who had never met each other fell into a warm,
happy huddle.
Our welcoming committee consisted of
CharlieMeow, Maple Dee
After the hugs and welcomes we soon pealed off to our rooming
arrangements for the night as it was getting late.....well, those
of us that HAD rooming arrangements went to our rooms.
A few of us hadn't planned on arriving this early for Pandifest
or had tenuous plans to begin with so we just decided to go with
the flow and live for the moment as they say. Translation....
we didn't have the forsight to make reservations for Thursday
night so we were crossing our fingers for a spare bed! Judi found lodgings for the night
with Maple Dee,
Pandi with Betty
her roomie for the event, so Sluggy
, Ruth and
Ally threw themselves on
the mercy of the Front Desk Clerk at the AmericInn. Luckily,
CharlieMeow's lovely daughter
was there when we arrived and helped us find a room for the
night....thanks!!
We located a luggage cart and trekked up to Room 417 with our
things. The spare bed arrived soon after and we were set til
tomorrow morning when we would have to check out at 11 a.m. and
then store our things somewhere until we could check in again
under our reservation at 3 p.m. Leave it to
Ruth & Sluggy to do
things the HARD way!lol
Soon we were ready for bed and after a bit a
of chatting we hit the sack as we had an early call the next
morning for the Pre-Pandifest Shopping Day at the Mall of America.
Shop Til Ya Drop!
Back to Part III
Back to Slugmama's Gastropad
�1998-2003
Denise Bowman-Arcure
Last Updated 10-15-99
Contact the WEBMASTER
with any
questions or comments on this site.
|