Saturday, July 17, 2021

Day 35 - Non Riding Day

Finally don't have to get on the bike today which is nice but we had a big day planned and as I write this I decided they are no longer "rest days" and are "non riding days" as you will read below, there wasn't a whole lot of resting going on.  

Great start to the day.  Slept in a little bit, Cheryl made a fantastic breakfast of pancakes and an egg scramble and we were ready for the day.  A little haircut, then Mall of America and then who knows after that.  Look out Minneapolis Chris, Cheryl and Zuri are coming!  

As you can see from from the endless selfies I've been taking, that over the course of the trip my hair was getting a little shaggy.  So the first order of business was a haircut.   We picked a Great Clips (yes I drink box wine and yes I go to Great Clips).  Signed up online and I was in and out in about 20 minutes.  Took a shower in the RV in the parking lot (a little weird, but the benefits of the RV) and BOOM short hair, clean body and it's off to MOA (Mall of America).  

Mall of America used to be the largest mall in the country and just recently got surpassed, but that doesn't take anything away from it.  It is massive.  Every store you can think of is here and then some.  There is a store that just sells cotton candy.  There are four wings and four floors.  In the center is an amusement park.  Not just a merry-go-round and bumper cars but this is major.  There are multiple rollercoasters, different spin till you puke rides, kiddy rides and the whole deal.  I couldn't fit it in a single shot and had to pano but it still didn't do it justice.  We took a spin on the "mild" roller coaster then walked around for a couple hours and probably saw 25% of the mall.  


We stopped for a soda to plan our next move and decided on the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.  The lady I sat next to at the blackjack table yesterday recommended it to us.  It’s amazing the things you can find out between hands at a blackjack table.  She was right.  It is a very interesting place.  It sort of reminded me of the Sculptures in the Wild in Lincoln MT.  This park had a similar feel but with the Minneapolis skyline in the background it was cool.  The only bad part about our visit is that they were setting up for a huge beer festival (The Beer Dabbler) and we couldn’t stay for that.  Looked like it was going to be a blast!


Headed back to the RV park and we noticed they have an RV cleaning station and Cheryl convinced me that we need to give the ol’ Jamboree some loving so we gave her a bath.  I capture a picture of Cheryl in action.  Now before you all starting giving me crap about Cheryl doing the work, she soaped, I

scrubbed and then she rinsed.  This was the rinse cycle.  I didn't realize how dirty it was but I guess traveling through 7 states through multiple rain storms will do that.  

For the evening, we "planned" on going to the Casino and listening to a country western signer Todd Hurst.  He was pretty good and we were enjoying ourselves, but during one of his breaks we made a fatal mistake and walked over to the Bingo Parlor.  Just our luck, Friday is COSMIC BINGO and we were just in time for the early bird special.  The gravitational pull drew us to the ticket booth and from there we were toast.  Cheryl and I asked "two bingo cards please."  They looked at us like we were from another planet (appropriate since it was Cosmic Bingo night).  "That's not how it works folks."  You buy a "packet" with 3 cards per game.  There is also one card for "last person standing." 

You can also buy the computer option which plays extra cards for you (shocker that we ended up with that option).  Oh and don't forget the dobbers to mark your card with (can't I just use a pen?)  Oh my, Cheryl and I were expecting a card with the little slide windows we used in 4th grade and $51 later we end up with an arm full of bingo paper, two dobbers and a computer pad.  

Standing in line to enter the parlor, Cheryl and I were talking out loud trying to make sense of how a laid back evening listening to a little country music turned into a wild night of cosmic bingo.  A nice lady over heard our conversation and took pity on us and tried to explain everything. She and her husband have parents in Mexico who take their kids for the summer.  They never miss cosmic bingo through the summer.  It's their big night out.


 We really appreciated her help but it was like a professor at MIT speaking with kindergarteners and we didn't understand a word she said.  We'll just have to wing it.  The lights went down, the music started pounding the numbers started flashing and it was game on.  There was hard way bingo, broken frame bingo, Crazy L, Double Stamp, and small kite bingo.  We had a lime card, yellow card, red card and needless to say, no winning card. The best part was it ended at 12:30 am and I have to ride to Hager City tomorrow.  Oh well, we had a great time and learned a lot about bingo!

As I mentioned, 60 miles to Hager City Wisconsin.  Another state.  They are just flying by!

Until then...



5 comments:

  1. What's the deal with the giant grape in the spoon? Haircut is lookin' good, as is the Jamboree. One word for you: BINGO!

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  2. I didn’t really understand the cherry in the spoon but it was pretty cool and it had misters on it. It’s a way of watering the vegetation in the park. There is a whole infrastructure underneath it! I’m a bingo guy now!

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  3. I didn’t really understand the cherry in the spoon but it was pretty cool and it had misters on it. It’s a way of watering the vegetation in the park. There is a whole infrastructure underneath it! I’m a bingo guy now!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I didn’t really understand the cherry in the spoon but it was pretty cool and it had misters on it. It’s a way of watering the vegetation in the park. There is a whole infrastructure underneath it! I’m a bingo guy now!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So fun!! The BINGO sounds a little complex to me. I'm with you on the cardboard BINGO cards with the little slide plastic windows. We still had those just "a few years ago" at school carnival events. Oh, back in the day. HMMMMMMM WISCONSIN yahoooooo

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