I returned to Minnesota on Friday for a much needed vacation from college. Although the drive from Indiana to Minnesota is 620 miles, the trip wasn’t bad. I gave my other [ fraternal ] little brother, Will, a ride back to Minnesota, so I had some company in the car. After getting home, I relaxed for a couple hours before I got in contact with one of my high school buddies, Eric. The plan was originally to see the new James Bond flick, “Die Another Day.” Instead, Eric mentioned that he was flying to Chicago the next day and offered to let me ride along. Not having been to Chicago for many years, I accepted the offer. (Why was Eric flying to Chicago? He needed to fly to Chicago as a component of his efforts to get instrument-rated) Soon after, I drove down to Mankato to be near the plane for the early-morning departure. At 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, Eric, Eric’s flight instructor, one of Eric’s other friends, and myself took off in a Cessna Skylane 182 from the Waseca airport. Destination, Chicago’s Meigs Field.

We had a good tailwind on the way to Meigs, which, combined with the high-performance nature of the Skylane, gave us a ground speed of about 160 mph. After making several touch-and-gos en route, we arrived at Meigs. The weather was beautiful: Sunny skies with a hint of haze. The winds were a bit high but nothing that the pilots and plane couldn’t handle. Meigs Field was wonderful. The view of the Chicago skyline was wonderful, and made for a great photo backdrop. We stayed at Meigs just long enough to refuel before turning around and heading back to Minnesota. Unfortunately, the tailwind that aided our journey to Illinois hindered our trek home. Our ground speed rarely exceeded 100 mph on the way back. Eventually, I got back to Minnesota and drove home. Time for rest? Hardly.

I was home for no more than ten minutes before my sister and I left to go to a Gophers Men’s Hockey game. I hadn’t been to a Gophers hockey game in many years and had never attended one at the relatively new Mariucci Arena. The atmosphere was festive inside the arena. Everywhere we looked, Gophers jerseys filled the stands. Fans of the opposing team, Michigan Tech, were consumed by the native masses of maroon and gold. The Gophers mascot, Goldy, was warming up the crowd with crazy antics. Once the game got underway, the student sections livened up with traditional cheers and taunts. There was plenty of goalie heckling going on, what with cheers of “Ellsworth is a great big sieve, do-dah, do-dah . . . ” (of course, Ellsworth was the Michigan Tech goalie). As another example, whenever a Minnesota penalty expired, the public address announcer, Jamie, would proclaim, “Gophers are full strength.” The fans then replied, “We always were!” At the beginning and end of each period, as well as after every Gophers goal, everybody in the arena stood up and sang/clapped the University of Minnesota rouser. All of the cheers are quite detailed and well orchestrated. Everybody reading this should go to a Gophers game to see what I’m talking about. If you do go, be sure to check the cheer reference so that you know what to say.

The game was good. We ended up winning 2 – 1. I returned home with my sister, and went directly to sleep. So how far did I travel? Between 6:00 a.m. on Friday and 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, I went: 620 miles from Indiana to Minnesota; 90 miles from home to Mankato; 460 miles from Mankato to Chicago; 460 miles from Chicago to Mankato; 90 miles from Mankato to home; and 40 miles from home to Mariucci and back again. That makes for 1760 miles in 40 hours, or an average speed of 44 mph.

I’ll try to slow down in the next week.