Main Page > 2008 Go Big Dead !!!
A Mission Impossible Start to the Trip !
The trip started with high drama. Bone was suppose to meet Mike at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (Bone from Charlotte and Mike from Grand Rapids), then fly together to Omaha at 5:10 EST. There were two BIG snags. 1. the Game tickets were at Bone's house in Berkley, which meant Bone hadda land, drive to Berkley, and then back to Detroit Metro in Rush Hour. 2. Bone's flight was forty-five minutes late, landing at 4:10 !! In best of times it takes 35 minutes from Metro to Berkley, Bone hadda go round trip including changing clothes and getting the tickets in 50 minutes !!! Bone raced on foot and in his BMW'er to Berkley and was able to turn around but it was already 4:35 when he headed into Southfield. Calling Mike he made Mike aware of the situation. Bone was already formulating a secondary strategy, ain't no way he was gonna make it, or was he? By breaking land-speed records on the Southfield Freeway, Bone was able to park at 4:55. He was able to convince a Gate agent to give him a Boarding Pass and bolted to Security, he lucked out at got through Security in less than two minutes, and raced to Terminal C. Bone raced up to Mike as they issued the last Boarding call and both made the Flight !
Omaha to Lincoln: It ain't that Exciting !!
After the excitement on getting on the flight, the ride from Omaha to Lincoln was quite uneventful and unless you are enamoured with cornfields, there isn't really much to see. Upon arriving in Lincoln the Boys thought to drive around Lincoln and reconnoiter the scene.
There ain't no Scene ! Driving around, the Campus is very utilitarian and the surrounding neighborhoods are very dilapidated and depressed. Despite having a University and State Capital, there didn't seem to be anything to maintain any sort of community or vibrancy. It was a tour of 1950's America, certainly not Ann Arbor !!!
As the Boys parked at the Cornhusker Hotel (yep, no kiddin'!) they noticed that at 6:00 on a Friday night, that there was NO ONE walking around nor partying ! A situation that Mike and Bone fully intended to rememdy
The Fabulous Cornhusker Hotel !!
The Hotel was a Marriott Property and was only blocks from the Campus. So the Boys were able to run out and buy some Husker gear as to ensure that they would be able to assimilate with the locals.
Gearing up and very Geared-up !!! The Boys headed out to sample the Husker Nite life, Remembering that the College party spot was O Street, Mike and Bone headed to the street with every intention to make any Cornhusker they met say "Oh!!", where they hit the first Bar they found, which was a Brew Pub, and gustily imbibed with gritty Stouts and great chicken wings.
Then, unfortunately for Lincoln,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, the Boys began the twin terrors of Guiness/Bushmills! With at LEAST one round of each in every bar for the rest of the night.
Obama, McCain, Popcorn and more Guinness !!
By 9:00 (CST), Mike and Bone were well-lubed and sidled into a Grunge/Post-Punk Bar on O Street that served Guinness, Bushmills, and free Popcorn ! Being a politically astute set of Grunge/Huskers, the second Presidential "Debate" between John McCain and Barack Obama aired. Hurling popcorn and invective at Barack, "the Socialist" Obama, proved unpopular to the left-leaning Bar denizens, which just made Mike and Bone grow louder and do more shots !!!
By 12:30 AM they were in a very loud and grungy Bar that had the University Nebraska-Lincoln female Rollerball Team conducting a bake sale (truth is stranger than fiction) !!! After rubbing their tired and drunken eyes, they confirmed that "yep this was no hallucination", so Mike and Bone loaded up on chocolate chip cookies and staggered the six blocks back to the Cornhusker Hotel. Half-way back, they considered grabbing a Gyro at a local diner, but once they saw the long line to get in, they lost interest, and staggered back to their Room and quickly crashed.