Day 66, 67 Mississippi River
The morning helped me to confirm that a stop in Cape Girardeau was the right move. Cold, rainy and overcast skies made me thankful to have a warm bed and roof over my head.
A slow morning gave way to a lunch stop in downtown Cape with Ken and Michelle. After a BBQ pork sandwich we cruised back to the house. As Ken headed back into work for the evening I knocked out a grocery store stop at Walmart. Oatmeal, peanut butter sandwich crackers, pretzels, apples, canned dinners and ramen noodles filled my shopping cart.
For dinner Michelle and I ate at a local Mexican joint near the campus of South East Missouri State, or SEMO, as it's known around town. A late night sucked in the couch watching game 3 of the Dodgers Astros World Series followed.
As Saturday morning (day 67) rolled around I was convinced by Michelle to stay one more night (at least one more, in her words). With a frost warning in effect for the evening and sub freezing temps into the early morning I was easily swayed. Add in the opportunity to watch College football all day and I was definitely swayed.
At 8:20am I had an interview with my colleagues in South Dakota on KWAT's "Whats Up" radio program. The rest of the day was spent the best way I know how- feet kicked up, with 3 different TVs throughout the house tuned to college football and one game on my phone.
In the afternoon Ken and Michelle attended a wedding. By the time they got back I had to fill Ken in on the superb Ohio St. Penn St. game that saw the Buckeyes come from behind to secure the W in an absolute thriller.
After both Ken and Michelle were settled in following the wedding, it was time to hit the streets. With Halloween coming up in a few days time I figured I should go out and take in the festivities of the Cape Girardeau night life.
Michelle went to work, whipping up and A+ costume. Using a hair band, a shipping envelope, pantyhose, a few markers and some eyeliner I was transformed into a "River Rat" in no time (with a name tag included that read "River Rat- Day 67")
Ken and Michelle then dropped me off downtown and enjoyed pointing out which establishments I should hit, spotting a few costumes, and laughing at the "River Rat".
At the first location, a sports bar, I took in game 4 of the World Series and made friends with a couple fellas sitting next to me. We shot pool, shot the breeze and enjoyed the night. One detour somewhere around last call led us to a local favorite, The Library (not much studying was being done, I can confirm). After the evening wrapped up my new buddy TJ led us back to the sports bar, HotShots, where a friend of his was working and would give us a ride home once the shop was closed up. We pitched in by putting up chairs on all of tables.
All in all, two great days. I got my fill of sports in, relaxed extremely hard (yes, that is possible) and even got to celebrate Halloween. Cape Girardeau, Missouri has treated me right.