5 - My second picture of Ryan Gosling

      Here I was on the terrace at the University of Wisconsin's Student Union, overlooking Lake Mendota, savoring a brat and a beer, and watching the boats. How can anyone get any studying done here?

      Two young men sat at the picnic table next to me. One laid on the table with a pitcher of beer and removed his shirt, and the other took his photo. It's not every day you see a Ryan Gosling doppleganger - especially in such a provocative pose - so I asked if I could take his photo as well. Turns out I'd taken his photo before.

      They told me they were in Madison visiting from the University of Iowa. I mentioned I'd been there a couple years ago, for a football game the University of Michigan lost on the last play of the game to the Hawkeyes. The joyful Kinnick Stadium fans rushed the field, and I snapped a photo. "I was there!" said Ryan Gosling. "Well then this is the second photo I've taken of you," I replied.

      I also have my first and second photos of myself from the Wisconsin Student Union terrace. The first time was 40 years ago to the day, and yesterday I tried to recreate my wistful pose.

         I like to think I look exactly the same.

         In 1978, when we left Madison, Bruce and I were aiming for Minneapolis/St. Paul. But the muffler fell off the Giant Artichoke, and after learning there was a Sears in Rochester, MN, we decided to go there in the morning, and stopped for the night in Lanesboro, MN. We were about to crash on the side of the road again, until Bruce spotted a sign that read "overnight camping." I wrote:

         We pulled in and found no one there, so we thought we'd get hit for $ in the morning. It was amazing deal, for free, washroom and bath facilities, cooking and picnic, even duck ponds. We slept 10-12 hours, a refreshing sleep on a cold, clear night. Lots of stars.

         We ate breakfast (cheese sandwiches and eggs). The eggs were not cooked too well, even though the helpful park attendant tossed half a gallon of a gasoline-oil mixture onto the wood. The explosions just missed us every time, yet the kindly park attendant persisted in feeding the flames with the chemicals, exhibiting pyromaniacal glee every time.

        I so wish I had the original, but this photocopy will have to do:

No, that's not the Bikini Atoll N-Test.

        Amazingly, I once again found free roadside camping in Lanesboro. I was the only one there, as the kindly, pyromaniacal park attendant was nowhere to be seen.

         
       Like 1978, it was a dazzlingly clear starry night, so I eschewed the tent. I slept until 8 AM and had breakfast.

Yes, that's one of my monkeys, dammit.

      It was quiet except for the breeze and rushing water; though inexplicably, I did hear America the Beautiful on what sounded like a xylophone.       

      Though I didn't need muffler repair this time, I nonetheless drove on to Rochester, having a delicious lunch at Chester's, in the shadow of the Mayo Clinic. (Before that, for those wondering about my personal hygiene, I have found Anytime Fitness to be omnipresent throughout America, good for a workout, a shave and a shower.)

       I drove on for hours, through northern Iowa, past a farm or two... thousand …. on my way to the Taco Villa in Sioux Falls, SD.

       By the way, in 1978 we took mainly what my brother-in-law dismissed as "bozo roads."      These were the blue highways, the state roads and old US routes that connected towns before interstates. I dutifully recorded each and every road we traveled. 

        This was how we chose to see America back then. Driving the same routes 40 years later, I wondered if any would be familiar. The answer is no, except for certain routes to Evanston and Madison that I have taken more recently. But the countryside is no less beautiful, and the small towns are timeless with their shops, diners and farm supply stores.

         Tomorrow: Sioux Falls, the Taco Villa, and I drive into the reservoir.