Lunch with K9, Beer Shopping, Cubs Baseball and a LOOONG Drive (Day 31)

My 31st day on the road was going to be a long one. I had approximately 1,200 mi to drive in order to get home and a single day to do it.  I had taken a lot of time off from work and so I really needed to be at work on Monday.  Here I was on Saturday waking up in Minneapolis. I really needed to make some good time getting home, so I departed early.

Since I was in Minneapolis and the direct route home took me through Wisconsin, I figured this was a great opportunity to get some New Glarus beer to bring back to Maryland.  I love New Glarus beer and the only place you can get it is in Wisconsin.  I figured I would do this in Madison, Wisconsin.

I headed east out of Minneapolis on I-94 and linked up with I-90 down to Madison.  There I met a long time friend, Kevin (aka K9) who lives just outside of Milwaukee.  We haven't seen each other for a while, so after working a mid-shift, he actually drove out to Madison to meet up with me for lunch.  What an awesome friend!!!  We decided to meet up at a place called The Parkside Pub. This place is one of those joints that you would expect in Wisconsin. Simple foods that tasted great and plenty of cold beer. I ordered a bratwurst and a couple Spotted Cows. Perfect lunch company, food and brews.  

After hanging out for lunch, I went to Trixie's Liquor to pick up some New Glarus and other beers local to Wisconsin. Then it was on the road to head home.  It was almost 3:00 p.m., and I still had 847 miles to go to get home.  No more delays or detours (or so I thought).

I cruised south and east on I-90 heading through the outskirts of Chicago. There I picked up I-90/I-80 East. I got to South bend, Indiana around 6:30pm and noticed that the South Bend Cubs were playing at 7:00 p.m.  Being the baseball obsessed person that I am, I decided it was a good idea to head to the game. I needed to eat dinner and also stretch my legs before heading back on the road and this was a perfect location.

I will say, for a minor league park, Four Winds Field is one of the best. The ballpark is absolutely beautiful with a lot of fun activities around the park. It was so much fun that I had to do a video chat with my daughters to show them the fountains in right field that kids can play in.

This beer was outstanding by the way.....

The game was a lot of fun and I sat next to some great people. After the game there were some fireworks, knowing that there would be a crowd getting out of there and being that it was 10:30pm, I decided to leave and watch the fireworks as I walked back to my car.

I got into my car and headed east.  I wasn't really tired as I was excited about the baseball game, so I was going to see how many miles I could put on before I needed a rest.  Eventually, I pulled over in a rest stop outside of Cleveland at around 3:00am. It looked like a pretty safe rest stop as there were lots of cars in the lot spending the night. I put up my blackout shades in the car, turned on some music, and went to sleep. It had been a long day, but I had a lot of fun.