Day's End at a Day's Inn

• By Our Longest Drive Traveler
• Oct 1, 2012 1:00 PM ET

A better first day than anyone expected from the way it started. I took over driving at about 2pm after we chewed on Subways in some Wisconsin town the name of which we never learned. A gaggle of tattooed high school girls watched as three grey haired guys eating sandwiches in their little town were filmed from all angles with complex video gear. I believe they thought we might have been somebody — maybe 60 Minutes – perhaps Morley Safer and Andy Rooney, et al.

The van was easier handling than I thought, even with Vic shouting imprecise directions as I practiced novice turns in the K Mart parking lot. From the driver’s seat you miss much of the conversation in the back. What I did pick up had to do with Vic explaining to Dan that he needed to use more product and to start spiking his hair. That led to some talk of the value in minor cosmetic surgery. I don’t know what’s happening. I tried to block it out by humming Big 10 songs.

We got to a place called Austin Minnesota right on schedule at 6:30. We put the bus in the parking lot of a Day’s Inn. Within ten minutes we were in lawn chairs on a jerry-rigged porch beside the RV. Martinis we mixed, snacks plated and a couple of Nicaraguan cigars were lit up. There was great conversation which, happily, again found its fuel in testosterone. It was healthy talk about firing people and breaking things. The local pizza place delivered us a large cheese and sausage right to the parking lot.

Thanks,

Jim Thompson, Our Longest Drive Traveler