Sir Grump Munch

June 02, 2005

Visitors and a trip to Minneapolis

*NOTE: I'm posting this in a haste, and experimenting with some new photo gallery software, I will make more links with photos as soon as I'm able...*

Christ, it's been a busy last few weeks for me. Saw my old friend William from PETA just before the Madison rally and hung out with Jean a lot while in Madison. Had a scooter breakdown on the way back from the Defilers rally in Madison, thanks to Patrick for picking me up out near Woodstock. As soon as I got back I was scrambling to get two bikes on the road in anticipation of Tal's visit later that week; I ended up putting my brand new Stella engine (from the bike that's been at the paintshop for the last year) in the Second Chance Stella while I address the old engine. Not sure if I'll keep the old engine as mine and build it up since I'm splitting the engine cases (upgear, Pinasco kit, etc), I do love that upgear action.

Anyway, barely got both bikes working (both with badly-adjusted cables of course) as Tal rolled into town for a conference, but unfortunately he was sick and wasn't up for riding until the last night he was here. Regardless it was great to see him and hang out for a while, I hope that he and Robyn will come back to visit soon so that we can do some proper riding. Maybe they could even bring Winnie and his trike?

The same day that Tal left, Brad Berling and his girlfriend Genevieve came into town and they stayed with me. This was another great reunion and we had a couple evenings' worth of bar-hopping, fight-picking, movie-watching, reminiscing and LA-style Tanning with them and their friends Jake and Beth from Madison. Nice to see all, thanks for visiting.

The day that Brad left (Mem. Day weekend Friday) I departed in the evening for Minneapolis, since Ryan was having a big birthday get-together deal and I hadn't seen the sonofabitch in a long time. Vanessa has been out of town for the last two weeks (DC and then NYC), so it was a good opportunity for some "dude time." Unfortunately Memorial Day weekend traffic is hellacious, and it took the better part of four hours to get to Madison. I did a Craigslist rideshare with a cool girl named Karina who needed a ride to Madison and enjoyed some good conversation along the way. Thankfully she wasn't insane or dull, you never know meeting someone online... We didn't get to MadCity until 11:30 or so, I dropped her off and I decided to crash at Jean's place and drive the remaining 4-5 hours in the AM. Unfortunately Jean was nowhere to be found and didn't come home until about 4:30am, so I had a few sketchy hours of sleep in the car while I waited. After a brief visit with him in the AM, an oil change and a stop for vegan baked goods, I was on my way.

The drive through Wisconsin is boring because it's interstate, but of all the interstate driving in the midwest, Wisconsin is right up there in terms of scenery and roadside attractions. Not as flat and featureless as most states, it offers pleasant vistas for the eyes, lots of promise of CHEESE and ANTIQUES and a general sort of "north woods vacation land" feeling, with lots of references to wildlife, native american stuff, and pine trees, all of which I like. I tried to snap photos of some of the signs I've driven countless times by for the last 12 years or so, please excuse the poor quality of some shots.

Finally rolled in to the twin cities in the mid-afternoon, stopping first to check out Scooterville, Minneapolis' great scooter shop and a Stella dealer. I'd been there before when they were closed but wanted to see the shop, and it's a great one. Bob and the crew there are selling a lot of scooters and that's good news for everyone.

I got to Ryno's house at about 3:30 and helped him clean up and set up some stuff. Some of his co-workers arrived later and then more people came as the night grew on, mostly co-workers and ball-players who I didn't know. I tried to take a lot of photos to document the festivities, I got shots of most of the people who showed up but no shot of myself at any point in the trip, with Ryan or otherwise. Oh well, I look about the same as ever, use your imagination. That party went until about 3:30AM and I crashed out before that.

Next morning we broke fast at Seward Co-op Cafe, one of my all-time favorite breakfast places in the world, great for vegans. We then spent some time driving around the city and then parted ways as gringo Ryno had to go play ball. I took a drive through downtown towards northeast Minneapolis, wanted to see what had changed up there and maybe get a look at the Ideal Diner. Got lost by taking Hennepin rather than Central for a ways, then came back and took Central. Cruised through the former "warehouse district," which is now a suburban condo and townhome village, densely populated and barely recognizable. Amazing what can change in a few years. Fortunately much of the city is as I remember it; Sexworld is still basically the same but of course they've done some rearranging. Drove back south and around Uptown a bit, then met up with Ryan again for some dinner at Quang Noodle. It was kind of disappointing. After that we went to the Hexagon bar to see some country-n-western music, and after that to Hard Times for a little reminiscing and more great vegan baked goods. Watched parts of some movies back at Casa Simonson, some good, some bad, some worse. Ryan's got a pretty decent collection.

In the morning we had some grub at Pizza Luce where I saw old Paw Paw buddy Andy Hefner, he's looking well and seems to have a decent life in Minneapolis, and I'm glad for that. The food was outstanding, of course. On my way out of town I stopped at Vanessa's parents' place to pick up a few things for her and chat with them a bit about their recent trip to NYC, then it was south to meet up with Hwy 10, which I took for an hour or two over to Osseo where it met the interstate. Some good stretches of road and small towns, always nice to be off the main highway. Ryan let me borrow a 4-cassette set of the Merle Haggard autobiography (spoken by Merle) and that was just what I needed to get me home. Amazing life story that guy has had, and a fantastic storytelling voice. Got home late and was glad to see the cats.

Now that I've been back for a couple days, I'm going to the airport to pick Vanessa up tonight and then it's off to Cleveland tomorrow at 7am for Amerivespa. I'm not really ready for it, but it should be a fun weekend anyway. We're taking our bikes out in a rented van. Will post photos/stories later on if there are any good ones to share.

Sorry for the lack of updates and slowness of communication, but it's been insane recently and I haven't had much time to do much of anything.

Posted by pj at June 2, 2005 09:31 PM