end of chicago

Just before checking out of the hotel I gave in to paying for internet access so that I could book a few more hotels for later in the trip and also to check for any last minute craiglisters who might be trying to get rid of some tickets for the blackhawks game that night. It worked out pretty well as I found a pair of tickets for $80, which was way better than I saw a couple days ago, so when the girl said that they were still available I told her that I would take them.  We checked out of the hotel and heading over to the Navy Pier area where we were going to meet the girl to pick up the tickets and also had originally planned to spend some time there before picking up our dear old friend Brian Usinger from the airport. Although it turned out we weren’t going to have time to hang out at the pier because as soon as we were getting into the car we realized that not only did we have no room for Usi’s bags but we had no room for Usi himself in the car. Not quite sure why we never thought of this sooner but we didn’t. We met up with the girl and got my tickets to the game and then started to troubleshoot our problem. At first we just tried rearranging things so that there would be room but then realizing that we had no idea the size of Bri’s bags, we called his dad to find out. He let us know that he had two pretty big bags so right away we knew we were screwed unless we got rid of stuff. What we ended up doing was driving out to BU’s house in Evanston, unloaded a bunch of stuff out of the car, and then headed to Midway airport to pick him up. If you’ve ever flown into Midway then you probably already know about it but if you haven’t then keep it that way. It is one of the scummier areas I’ve ever seen but you can definitely pick up some great old 1 dollar air fresheners for your car off the dudes on the side of the road. But anyways, we picked him up so he could start his official guest appearance on our cross country trip. We headed straight for the United Center where the blackhawks play to find a close by bar to post up at. It wasn’t in the best area and we weren’t exactly sure where the hell to go but luckily while I pulled over to check some stuff out, Bri noticed a place called the Billy Goat straight ahead of us about a block away, which was a place that had been mentioned to me before so we decided to go there. When we pulled in it was pretty much empty so we weren’t quite sure if we made a good decision. Like much of what has happened on this trip, a good thing just fell into our lap again, as we parked, right in front of us we could see a few guys exchanging tickets and since I only got 2 off c list, Matt still needed one cause he wasn’t originally sure if he was going to want to go. Matt asked if they had any cheap uppers and the guy said he had 1 for $40 so he bought it and we were immediately all set for the game. We opened the trunk, opened our last blue lights, threw on our sabres jerseys, cause we’re sweet like that. At least Matt and I are, bri was a little girl about it and wouldn’t wear one. Now as we were chillin drinking our brews, we noticed the parking lot starting to get pretty full, actually really full so we thought it best to head in right away. And it was perfect timing, we headed in only to be welcomed by lots of confused looks due to the sabres jerseys, I don’t really see what the big deal was but anyway we found 3 spots at the bar and posted up. The food there was great, amazing burger joint, and they brewed their own beer which was OK, got better as I drank more. At one point one of the bartenders pointed to my jersey and asked if that was who they were playing tonight and I assured her that it better be since I came all the way from buffalo just to see my sabres play tonight. She had no idea that I was just full of shit. But anyways after our fun we went into the game. It was a real enjoyable game. Chicago won 4-1 and we had a goodtime. People around actually didn’t seem to mind that I would just scream and cheer everytime Brian Campbell would touch the puck. The two guys in front of us were great guys too, didn’t get there names but they have been season ticket holders for years and we talked about how everyone around us was indeed bandwagon fans since the past year. But yea so the game was cool, after we drove back to Bri’s house to drop him off and load up the car again. We then went to chipotle for dinner where when we got out of the car the two people in the car behind got out to talk to us cause we were still wearing our buffalo jerseys and they were from buffalo. Then when we got into chipotle another girl came up to us that was also from buffalo. It’s a small world with lots of buffalo love in it. After our dinner we drove to my buddy Pat Croak’s house right in Madison, WI. We hung out with him and two of his friends for awhile and then went to bed. Woke up around 8 and hit the road to Minneapolis.