Day Four--Monticello, IN to Peoria, IL

May 29, 2006

Last night, Dawn and I went to Wal-Mart...yes....Wal-Mart after we left Indiana Beach. We needed a few things. Throughout the day, my throat had started to tickle. I felt really, really drained and I think I'd finally hit my first travel wall. After wandering through the store for a minute or two, I trapsed off on my own.

"Where are you going?"

--I need stuff.

"What do you need?"

--I'll show you when I find it.

I needed beverages of all kinds and types. I picked up a gatorade and then I really wanted a beer. Alcohol sometimes really helps me feel better and helps me rest better--I think it really does a number on sore throats in particular, so I tried to track down a beer.

It was Sunday.

Dawn reassured me before we left and has often sung the praises of how "you can always get alcohol on Sunday in the midwest."

Not.

S i g h. Oh well. I was grumpy. Dawn was a bit putzy and I was goofy/funny/grumpy...

(While searching the store for Benadryl)
"Oh look, its a Barbie camping set, I always wanted one of these."
"I don't care, unless she's got some Barbie Benadryl!!!"

All this to say, on Monday morning, as we started he drive to Peoria, I didn't feel well.

So what better time to meet Dawn's friends, Melinda and Sharon!

We left in a fairly timely fashion and arrived in the Urbana-Champaign, IL area around 12:30.

This was my first meeting with two of Dawn's bestest friends, Melinda and Sharon, and I was definitely nervous. Feeling a little gross didn't help, but--I just did the best I could.

It was Memorial Day, and we found our dining options limited. Dawn had a pizza place in mind, but unfortunately, when we arrived there, it was closed. So we went to this other pizza joint that was pretty good, too and ate lunch and had good conversation for a couple of hours. Sharon currently works in the communications industry and it was neat hearing about her job, her most recent reading, a new book on the Beatles. Melinda does graphic design for some dirty Illinois republicans, but insists that we shouldn't hold it against her.

After a relaxing lunch, we set out to find somewhere to enjoy a drink and more conversation, and an area where these lovely young professional women could take pictures, because that's what women do when they get together.

The first place, sort of a college town, pool hall, game room area was, of course, cloesd. The second place--a fairly nice chain mexican joint was open and we had margaritas. Ahh the alcohol I needed was finally available to me. Yay! The combination of alcohol and citrus really soothed my throat. I had two drinks. Whee!

After drinks and pictures, we all parted ways--Dawn took time to drive me around the places she'd lived in Urbana-Champaign. She'd lived in some neat residence halls there. The University of Illinois is typically "Big 10" in its appearance...it isn't as pretty a campus as Michigan or Wisconsin, nor as large, but it's still a very nice campus. Dawn had a great story about the opossum that used to live right outside her door.

At last, the Morrow Plots. We ran by the University of Illinois Library, most of which sits below ground. I've alluded to this earlier, and the great song sung by the a capella group the Other Guys... "you can't throw shade on the corn...no sir, we don't mess around our liberry's underground...."

So we took some pictures and wrapped up Urbana, then off to Normal, IL to see where Dawn went to college at Illinois State University. The Illinois State campus is very nice, too. Normal is a cute college town. I got to see the world's largest residence hall, where Dawn lived for a number of years. Later in the trip, I'd get to see the second largest at the University of Illinois-Chicago. It was nice to listen to Dawn explore memory lane as we drove around the campus and the town.

At long last, off to Peoria and Dawn's mom's.

We arrived in the late afternoon and enjoyed porch conversation with Dawn's mom Lori, and her husband Lou(is). As the evening progressed, Lou broke out the Karaoke machine. Everyone sang and had fun, even me--I had to be talked into it. Lou made me realize I needed to not be a stick in the mud.."it's just for fun" he said...

So I sang through a couple of country classics, "Okie from Muskogee" and "Stand by Your Man."
Of course, my rendition of "Stand by Your Man" brought the house down, and then we could all go to bed.

Dawn's "Loco-motion" was probably the biggest hit of the evening, though.