Day 43: At Least You Don't Have Lou Gehrigs Disease

I wake up at 7:00am… and hate myself for not being able to sleep in later. I do some work on my computer while I am waiting for Eric to wake up. He is determined to find a bicycle to ride while I am in town and is employing “the secret” to make sure it is a road bike for under $20. We make a tour of all the SAVER stores (chain thrift store, like an overgrown Goodwill) in the area and come away completely empty handed. As much as I want to ride around town with Eric on a bike, I am thrilled that “The Secret” ends up not working… he and I have been arguing over its usefulness since I arrived last night. It’s not an original insight… but “The Secret” is stupid.

Eric makes breakfast and I decide to say hello to his landlord/roommate, a really neat guy who is in the process of writing a book and hopes to make a video presentation of it shortly after getting it published. He’s a very thoughtful gentleman… but wow… the man can talk for lengths I didn’t assume possible… and also…. He turns out to be a conspiracy theory nut… I was helplessly trapped in a conversation about the “truth” about 9/11, and the government conspiracy behind it… so Eric did what any good friend would do…. And completely abandoned me rather than risk getting sucked into the conversation himself… NO JOKE… I was listening to him talk for 2 hours before I could finally break free. 2 HOURS! That isn’t hyperbole… I will get even with Eric for this.

I take a shower, and we set off to explore the city… We take the light rail into “The West Bank” and get some Ethiopian food, which is apparently not my cup of tea. Then we check out the downed bridge and take inappropriate photos as commentary about catastrophe as tourist attractions. Mind you… we’re not faulting the tourists… heck… it’s only human nature to wanna see the rubble… but I guess it was a comment on those who try to maintain a sense of reverence about the site… Let’s not pretend that it’s not a supremely interesting sideshow attraction… we’re not there to pay respects for the dead, but to see something really surreal… And gosh, It looks real weird to see a collapsed bridge.

We wander around Dinkytown and then through the University of Minnesota campus… which is cool, and big… and straddles both sides of the Mississippi river.

After a pit stop back at Eric’s place for a nap and some list-making, we leave to hit up Chili’s. Eric offers to drive me to his hometown of Aberdeen, South Dakota… which I’ve been wanting to see for a while… but I know for a fact I will not want to travel that far west, only to come back east and have to traverse the same territory back west… But I’m still kinda considering taking him up on the offer and then just leaving for the rest of my trip from Aberdeen. The completist in me refuses… but I’m still torn…. What do you think? Should I sacrifice the sanctity of the statement that I cycled EVERY SINGLE MILE of the trip? I would like to see Aberdeen. We’ll see… but let me know what you think...

We are on our way to Chili’s; Eric and I used to eat at Chili’s about twice a week… so it seemed in fitting with our tradition to do that again. I like Minneapolis… It wasn’t as immediately amazing as Chicago… but could definitely understand living here… There are some really unique aspects to it… The neighborhoods seem a LOT less segregated than most cities… There isn’t a distinct region for each group (age, ethnicity, sexuality, and financial standing) with minor overlapping like most cities… it’s very thoroughly mixed (for the most part… I’m told North Minneapolis is much less so)… rent is cheap, and most of the city seems to be more house-based than apartment based, which is unassailably cool… even if it means a decentralized population.

We get kinda lost en route to dinner and after pulling a U-Turn… Eric’s front axle basically comes completely apart bringing the car to an immovable stop in the middle of two lanes blocking the exit to a major shopping center. Wow… Smoke is coming from the engine and a small, but “pivotal-looking” piece goes rolling out from under the car and into the intersection in front of us… After gathering our bearings… Eric calls a tow truck and I awkwardly try to cheer him up while we wait for it to arrive… it looks as if he might have to go without a car for the foreseeable future, which is never too easy of a transition to make. Cars get mad at us for leaving the car in the middle of two lanes... but it can't be rolled... so I take responsibility for giving all passing motorists a "shrug".

Well… I no longer have that dilemma about whether to visit Aberdeen…. I feel real bad for Eric and at some point while trying to cheer him up… I actually use the tactic… “at least you don’t have Lou Gehrig’s disease”. He asks me to stop trying to cheer him up. I am relieved... I suck at it. We get lost trying to walk to the restaurant and by the time we get there, it is closed. We find a TGI Fridays, and it’s a poor substitute… but it will do…

Eric’s friend Dan picks us up and takes us back to Eric’s house… I’m feeling kinda sick from the food. Tired. Just wanna pass out… tomorrow I’m gonna stay in bed all day. Or rather…. The section of floor I have annexed for my bed. I wonder if I had taken Eric up on that offer, If I’d have been able to make it to Going to the Sun Rd before its closure…? Oh well... no use worrying about it now.