DAY 4-5: JC'S Ball & Chad to the Rescue!

This morning was pleasant…Woke up to a hot continental breakfast – I opted out on the chocolate Belgium waffle in an attempt to watch my figure….only to chow down on EVERY OTHER THING at the buffet (one cheese omelet, a few tatertots, a sausage link, a yogurt, oatmeal and a cup of OJ…grabbed a muffin, bagel, apple and banana for the road). So much for watching my figure….But then again, I’ve never been able to turn down free food. We each paid $24 bucks for the night at the Hilton which included dinner and breakfast….AND no one had to sleep on the floor. If that’s not a deal, I don’t know what is! (Hollar to Kris – DD’s administrative assistant!) After breakfast, we ran upstairs to get a quick shower so we could get on the road for our longest day yet – a projected 10 hours from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Keystone, South Dakota. As I lackadaisically strolled out of the Hilton a few minutes behind everyone else, I spotted the Durango about 50 yards away with the hood popped and the rest of the Drifters hovered over the engine. Ut-Ohhhh. Somehow I wasn’t too concerned though. Did we really expect to drive 10,000 miles without any hiccups? (PS I just asked “Wait, how many miles are we going again? Like 24,000 right??”…apparently that was funny.) I knew it’d come so my attitude was immediately “embrace the experience” but I didn’t think I’d be embracing this experience on DAY FIVE. Anyhow, Billy (a hotel shuttle driver) immediately pulled up his white Pontiac to give us a jump. After he hooked up the jumper cables, he got a call for a shuttle run and said, “Just park her and leave the keys at the front desk when you’re done.” We all thanked him and just stared at each other in awe of his hospitality. He was leaving his car with COMPLETE STRANGERS. I have been BLOWN AWAY by the people we’ve encountered along this trip. The first time it hit me was in Iowa when we stopped for lunch at Country Junction. The waitress didn’t simply walk up and say “Hi, what can I get you?” She engaged us and created conversation….something I could tell was foreign to us by Billy and Jorge’s slightly confused countenance. This morning I made quick eye contact with an older man and while expecting him to quickly look the other way or stare down at his cell phone, he smiled big and said, “GOOD MORNIN’!” Now THAT’S not typical of Fairfield County…A while back I did my own little study: While running through the streets of Fairfield, I smiled and said hello to every person I passed. Most people simply looked away, others even winced and I’d say about 2 out of 20 people acknowledged my existence at all. I don’t like that. We’ve met a lot of people along the way (i.e. Mohammed, our cab driver; Bobby & Angela, our neighbors at the cubs game who were super nice; the 711 Road Trip Crew; Mary & Sue, nice ladies who took our picture outside of Mall of America & stuck around to chat; girls on the train that we sang and danced with after the game, dude at field of dreams who shared his bat and ball so we could play)…Another person that really jumped out to me was the hostess at the continental breakfast – and while yes, I know it is “her job” to make my stay a pleasant one, she went above and beyond. She could’ve simply smiled and greeted me, but she ignited further conversation and she ended up asking about our trip and telling me how she was just reunited with her brother and sister in NYC after 7 long years. That just doesn’t happen back home. There is just a warmth about these people that I really admire. Even my Starbucks barista was sweeter than lemonade on a hot summer day (and no, I’m not just saying that cause she was handing me heaven in a cup.

Anyhow, I just realized I never actually finished writing about what happened with the Durango not starting….OH THE SUSPENSE!!! We got it started with Billy’s Pontiac, and drove it a whopping 250 yards across the street to the Mall of America. We knew we should let it juice up, but we figured if worse came to worse we could always call AAA. Well, worse came to worse…as soon as we shut off the car, the automatic locks already weren’t working and we called AAA on the way into the mall. They said they’d be there in about 40 minutes so we were elated with our situation – what better place to have car issues than at the Mall of America!! Not only does it have EVERY store you could ever imagine, but it also has a full-blown AMUSEMENT PARK in the middle of it!!....but to be honest, that was the last thing on mine and Tricia’s minds….We had one mission – STARBUCKS. It turns out Iowa and Illinois don’t have Starbucks every couple miles...Instead there’s FARMS…imagine that! I said a little serenity prayer & got through the day with very little withdrawal symptoms. They say, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” – how bout taste buds? Cause my Venti Toffee Nut Iced Coffee never tasted so goooood.

Chad (our mechanic) called right on time and after he wiggled our spark plug, the car was started in 10 seconds flat – apparently we just have a lose connection. His remedy? Loosen the bolt and pour a little coca-cola on it. We snapped a shot with him & pulled around to the front of the mall to take a Drifters’ photo in front of Mall of America sign where we met our friends Mary and Sue from Cali! We were about to set up for a self-timer pic and they sweetly said, “You guys want us to take your photo?” Afterwards, we got chatting and I suggested a girls’ pic with our new friends – “all the single ladies!” I hollered out and Mary said, “Haha ohh no honeyy, I’ve been married for 40 years!” What a doll! Good people…

Let’s see, I guess I should rewind a bit to recap otherwise. Yesterday was the Yankees vs Twins Game at the new Target Stadium. They had super cool new features like charging stations for phones & a water conserving flushing system (up for #1 an down for #2) which I especially loved after recently watching a documentary on water with John and Kate (“Do they not know that water IS A NATURAL RESOURCE!? [insert Indian accent here]). We had seats in the upper deck, but we were there for a solid 10 minutes. The rest of the time we stood down below for a closer view and to get the full experience. We rocked our Yankees T’s that were donated by Uncle Danny & Uncle Timmy, and as I’m sure you could imagine…we got heckled quite a bit for being the odd ones out. By the end of the night, I had finagled a free Twin’s t-shirt and hat which I threw on. If a Yankee’s fan came by, I simply lifted my Twin’s shirt to reveal my Yankee pride...I’m a people pleaser! While my family is traditionally Yankee fans, I could give a hott damn – I’ll go to a game cause I love sports and anything that involves people I care about or getting out and living life. The rest of the Drifters, on the other hand, are avid fans. Kris and Cobra root for the Yanks while Tric and Billy ride or die for the Mets. BUT!...after 23 years of loyalty, Tricia converted to the Twins. We spent the last inning of the game right over the bull pen. While I watched the relief pitchers take turns keeping their arms warm, Tric blew kisses and hollered at them. A few minutes into her shananigans, a little boy next to her unfortunately told her one of their names, Jesse Craine…unfortunate for Craine that is. She spent the rest of the game screaming “JESSEEEE!!!” and “JC!!” I guess her persistence paid off because just as the last out was made, Craine looked up and tossed her a ball. Since she had a few beers, I was concerned with her hand-eye coordination and reached in to ensure retrieval. Mission complete….& as I handed Tric the ball we screamed like little girls, jumping around close to tears.

After the game, we went to a bar/restaurant where Jorge was in his glory as he chatted with other Yankee’s fans – in particular one who we later watched sock a Twin’s fan in the face and chase off to God knows where. Our buddy Muhammed loved us despite our differing teams and we chatted with him the entire night. We finally headed back to the subway station only to find that we missed the train by 15 minutes and we’d have to wait another 45 for the next one. This inspired a dance party and a workout sess (which included jumping jacks, squats and crunches). Check out Tricia’s videos if you’d like to witness Jorge and my rendition of “Soulja Boy”. The 45 minute trainride back to the hotel included a sing-along with several new friends…one of which knew EVERY lyric to EVERY song we played. We chatted with her, her sister and the rest of their crew for most of the trip. They were originally from New Yoooork! HOLLAAAA! Our girl Cassandra made her way down to our side of the train when she realized we brought the partaaay. She told me how she and her boy were dating for 3 years and 7 years before a mid-relationship breakup during college. She wanted a ring. Soooo we hollered down to her man singing Beyonce’s, “If you like it then you SHOULD put a ring on it.” I think we made progress….and Cass told me she’d be sure to invite me to the wedding J Back at the hotel, Kyle stumbled in the room a few minutes after the rest of us with a bag of cheese Ritz. We asked him where he got them, and he told us there was a “free concession stand” downstairs. Yea, free for sticky fingers – he went down twenty minutes later to pay his debt.

Jorge left us this morning on a 6am flight. He is “back in the concrete jungle…where dreams are made” according to his text. His spirit will be missed deeply but not his 6’3” body J I now have the backseat allll to myself….well except for the bag of difty laundry next to me. Now I’m not sure what I’d prefer….