Rod/Nick Midwest Tour '07 Comes To An End...

So within 48 hours of returning from Scotland, Nick and I set out on a midwest tour of college buddies, friends and family. From Jersey, we hit Valparaiso, IN; Naperville, IL; Hinsdale, IL; Darien, IL; Oak Forest, IL; Indianapolis, IN; Greentown, IN; Converse, IN and Cincinnati, OH. Our main goal: to attend college buddy/former housemate Dan Wolfe's wedding to his beau Erica Westergren. This trip didn't have as many photos to accompany it, but there are plenty of memories to compensate.

We started our road trip Wednesday after a stop for road snacks/drinks at Target and dinner at Friendly's. At Target, I found a Transformers Activity Kit and after being swept back into my childhood, it went with us on the road as entertainment, if not now, when? Within a few hours of being on the road we are on an empty interstate in the pitch black of night. The only other vehicle around is gaining on us and decides to tailgate us by no more than a couple of feet. A few minutes later this turns out to be a cop and we get pulled over. Normally, I am very respectful of what law enforcement are doing and don't question an action. This time, we were accused of spending too much time in the left lane. This may have been true, of course this depends on the official definition of "too much time" but also contingent upon the fact that there were no other vehicles whatsoever on the road! We still cooperated with the officer's requests and were let off with a warning, but a lot less respect for a bored cop.

We finally hit Valpo around 11am in time for lunch to meet our friend from college, Josh Smith, only to forget about the time change around the edges of Indiana and the fact that it was actually 10am there. So after killing some time and waiting for Chili's to open and Josh to get a lunch break, we enjoyed a brief time of catching up. BTW, Josh, if you're reading this, thanks again for lunch!

After lunch in Valpo we hit the road again for a couple hours to Naperville, IL where we checked in to our hotel and crashed for a few hours before meeting with the lovely Kelly Condron, also a good friend from college. We spent the next few hours catching up and exchanging our latest musical finds over noodles at Noodles & Co. After making our farewells, Nick and I set out to a 24 hour Wal-Mart to get our "real" gifts for the newlyweds. Sure, both of us purchased items from the gift registries, but now it was time for the real stuff. I won't go into details about what was purchased that night for Dan and Erica, but it did get the response of, "Should I call the police on you?" from the cashier that checked us out. To anyone who was at the wedding, yes, this was the infamous "Spiderman bag"!

The following day began with a trip to the Fox Valley Mall to get lunch and find any last minute things we might need for the wedding. To anyone keeping track, this makes today Friday the 13th...and yes, it was intentionally scheduled this way by the bride and groom. Around 2pm, we decided to head to the chapel early and see if we could catch up with anyone we haven't seen in a while. We arrive at the chapel to see a receiving line throwing rice on a bride and groom and for a second, we're a little worried that we got the wrong time. After closer inspection, we realize we don't know anyone and find out another wedding was just before the one we were to attend. We attend the correct wedding and then head to the reception in Darien which was a lot of dancing and carrying on. There, I had my first drink in months, gin & tonic, and was reveling in the fact that this was the first wedding in years that I had no responsibilities in the actual wedding. It was nice. Thanks Dan. The whole celebration was beautiful and the reception was equally a celebration. Dan was certainly celebrating...click here to see him celebrating...hehe...love ya man.

The next day Nick and I checked out of the hotel and headed to Hinsdale to meet Liz Derstine and Sarah Kim (no relation to me) for brunch. Liz was a good friend from college and Sarah was a new friend I had gotten to know through Liz and it was nice to finally meet her. For those of you who are into good music, check out the various projects Liz and Sarah work on, they are awesome. One of those is Ghhrfy, and it's hard to describe, but check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/ghhrfy. Hopefully we can work out more opportunities like this to hang out.

We left Hinsdale for Oak Forest to make a cameo at Dan and Erica's open house at the home of Erica's parents. We had some good BBQ and made our farewells to the happy couple before heading to Indy. We were already running late, but on the highway to Indy we were delayed more so by cars riding the left lane for nearly an hour without passing. Where is that effing cop when you need him?! We finally make it to Indy and got dinner at Kona Grill with Elizabeth Lee, her husband Michael, Jeb Templeton and his wife Dawn. I know Elizabeth's last name is now "Head" but she will always be "Lee" to me. It was a great time and good to see some of my closest friends again. I discovered a wonderful Oriental Salad at the grill and found Elizabeth a new obsession there. The few hours we had there were not nearly enough for all the catching up we needed to do, but I am thankful for it.

We left there to stop at my parent's home in Greentown to see my dad and have a mini-birthday party for him (his birthday was a week before). Pamn and her grand daughter, Katelyn, stopped by to partake in some very rich cake. My brother, Peter, was supposed to be there, but due to some horrible scheduling from the Christian Church, he was hours away that evening. My mother was in Canada visiting relatives, but we had the celebration anyway. The next morning we went out to lunch at Mike's Pizza in Kokomo and then headed out to Converse, IN where Peter's college travel team would be stopping into that afternoon. We spent a couple hours there with him and took a few photos since it had been ages since the last family photo. Thanks to Nick and his great photography skills, we got some great shots. We left Converse to get some Steak n' Shake and then it was off to Cincinnati, OH!

It was just a couple hours to our final stop in Cincy where we stayed with Nick's Aunt, Uncle and cousins. We stopped by a couple malls and had Skyline Chili, mmmmm... At the end of our time there, Nick's Aunt took us out to dinner at Texas Road House. We headed back to the house for a couple hours of a nap and then it was on the road back to the East Coast.

At 4am we hit the road back to the East Coast but made a pit stop in Columbus, OH to get some White Castle before leaving the area. There are White Castles in the East Coast, but for those of you who have seen the movie, it's right, they are very hard to find! We arrived back at my apartment around 1pm and Nick headed back to his place in Jersey.

I crashed for a few hours and then got up to post this very blog, and now it's time to head back to bed so I can return to work tomorrow!

In the end, I needed this trip, both me and Nick needed this trip. If for nothing else, to take a road trip as friends again and not coworkers on a mission. This was enhanced by all the other friends we got to see along the way. Huge thanks to Dan and Erica for being the excuse to get out and do all of this, one week on the road across the midwest/eastern US. Thousands of miles later and dozens of Transformers activity sheets colored, we had a really great road trip.

Thanks for tuning in,

-Rod