day 31
Thursday, August 14 2008
Indianapolis, IN to St. Louis, MO
About a month ago I got an e-vite from my friend Lindsey. She was having a goodbye-party for all of her friends in Portland before she left for graduate school. Sadly, I had to decline the invitation because I was on the road. But wait… I thought to myself… if I remembered correctly, wasn’t Lindsey going to graduate school somewhere in the midwest? And hey… I thought to myself still further… wasn’t I driving through the midwest? Perhaps there would be a way that I could still say goodbye to Lindsey, even if I missed the big dinner.
So I met up for lunch with Lindsey in Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University where Lindsey will be doing her graduate work. It was so great to see her! She has a very nice apartment in a charming city. We went for a walk through some of IU’s campus and down to a street filled with what looked like really good restaurants. We decided to eat at a Turkish establishment where I had a delicious vegetarian Markassa (I think that’s what it was), and Lindsey and I spent a few hours talking about our separate journies; plus I was extolling the virtues of my Excel budget (which I love) and Lindsey was extolling the virtues of furnishing your apartment from Goodwill. It was a beautiful afternoon, and I’m happy that I got to see Lindsey before she starts school. 
On my way south, my funnybone was endlessly tickled by the constant announcement of an upcoming city. I couldn’t get over this city’s name. It still strikes me as hilarious. The best example I could find was on a banner hung outside of a Ryan’s restaurant. It practically begs you to rearrange the syllables to tell you just how good their buffet is:
Seriously, am I the only person who thinks that’s hilarious??
I stopped in a few stores to see if I could find any souvenirs with the town’s name on them, but I was left unfulfilled. I did happen to find someone selling a farm game a friend had told me about: essentially it’s a large wooden box with a hole cut into it, and the object is to toss beanbags into the hole. The midwesterners call this game, I’m not kidding, Cornholing.
Alas, the game was too expensive and large for me to take with me. Also, maybe getting a Cornhole game in Effingham would have been going over the top a bit. 