LaCrosse
I got out of Mankato for a few days and went to visit my friend Frances (ironic, the same name as the reason I have all this free time. . .) in LaCrosse WI. I haven't spent much time there and I was amazed at how beautiful it was down there. We went hiking in the bluffs for a few hours and it was great, very serene.
I have to say that the LaCrosse city planners really had their act together. All the bars are in basically one strip. Frances was talking about this bar that people didn't go to because it was far away. The bar was 3 blocks from the strip! Also, they have a drunk bus that goes from downtown to high density college neighborhoods. Now THAT'S thinking! (the bus was started by a college group called The Progressives)
Frances and I also helped the Progressives do a project. They are taking really old bikes, fixing them up, painting them green and leaving them all over campus/neighborhoods. The idea is that people can use these bikes when they need a ride and then leave them wherever they go and somebody else will be walking by and find it. Pretty cool, eh? Too bad it prolly wouldn't work at the U because people would just steal them and keep them. Maybe that'll happen at LaCrosse too, dunno. Anyway it was really fun to help these kids fix up bikes for an hour.
The last great part of my mini-road trip is that I got wicked truckers arm! The van doesn't have AC so I had to have the windows down the whole way home. 3 hours in the sun and now my left arm is a beautiful golden brown, except where the sleeve was!
Okay, now the nerves are setting in. My plane leaves at the ungodly hour of 6:30am on Tuesday which means we have to leave Mankato at 3am so that I get there with the now 2 hour waiting period. So that means that today and tomorrow are my last days. AH! I've packed this morning for the 3rd time. This is the final one. I can't keep packing, unpacking, repacking. It's compulsive. Not healthy.
This will be my last entry in Minnesota which is funny because this journal was intended for my trip. Anywho, I don't know what kind of computer access I'll have there, so I'm hoping to write once a month minimum. No where near the frequency that I have now because I'll actually have shit to do! FINALLY!
I have to say that the LaCrosse city planners really had their act together. All the bars are in basically one strip. Frances was talking about this bar that people didn't go to because it was far away. The bar was 3 blocks from the strip! Also, they have a drunk bus that goes from downtown to high density college neighborhoods. Now THAT'S thinking! (the bus was started by a college group called The Progressives)
Frances and I also helped the Progressives do a project. They are taking really old bikes, fixing them up, painting them green and leaving them all over campus/neighborhoods. The idea is that people can use these bikes when they need a ride and then leave them wherever they go and somebody else will be walking by and find it. Pretty cool, eh? Too bad it prolly wouldn't work at the U because people would just steal them and keep them. Maybe that'll happen at LaCrosse too, dunno. Anyway it was really fun to help these kids fix up bikes for an hour.
The last great part of my mini-road trip is that I got wicked truckers arm! The van doesn't have AC so I had to have the windows down the whole way home. 3 hours in the sun and now my left arm is a beautiful golden brown, except where the sleeve was!
Okay, now the nerves are setting in. My plane leaves at the ungodly hour of 6:30am on Tuesday which means we have to leave Mankato at 3am so that I get there with the now 2 hour waiting period. So that means that today and tomorrow are my last days. AH! I've packed this morning for the 3rd time. This is the final one. I can't keep packing, unpacking, repacking. It's compulsive. Not healthy.
This will be my last entry in Minnesota which is funny because this journal was intended for my trip. Anywho, I don't know what kind of computer access I'll have there, so I'm hoping to write once a month minimum. No where near the frequency that I have now because I'll actually have shit to do! FINALLY!