Nick: Please do. In the meantime, allow me to fill in our readers on the happenings of the following day. It went a little something like this: Lunch with Mama and Papa Ison outside Frankfort, KY at the so-called crack-house, AKA Cracker Barrel. It’s not my favorite, but it’s kind of their favorite, and I think Brian likes the atmosphere, so whateva. After a lunch that was all kinds of olde timey, we headed to Louisville where we would eventually meet Brian’s childhood friend who he apparently hadn’t seen since his childhood. How they found each other and decided to meet up escapes me.
Brian: Suffice it to say I consulted the great and powerful Intermet, and it pointed me in the correct direction. Unfortunately, my friend Peter wasn’t available until around 9 pm and so we had an entire day to kill in Louisville. This was not a bad thing; many of the greatest treasures of this journey have been found when we simply have a couple of hours to kill. See Moxie Museum, Lisbon Falls, ME. We spent several hours at a coffee shop, which Peter claimed was the best cup in town. I have to admit that my mocha was damn fine. We ran a search on Louisville hotspots and found the world’s largest baseball bat, and also the birthplace of the cheeseburger (not to be confused with the birthplace of the hamburger, this establishment was simply the first to garnish the burger with cheese). We walked around downtown, and found a science center that had a free wrap-yourself-in-a-bubble exhibit. It didn’t work very well, but I think we snapped a decent pic.
Nick: It was the best we could do under the circumstances. Next stop was in fact that restaurant that “invented” the cheeseburger. Which was no longer the same restaurant but an Irish Pub. Which there were a lot of in Louisville. Go figure. We ordered some really awful beer that we couldn’t even finish, ate sandwiches that failed to resemble anything that might ever have come from Ireland, then conversed with a waitress who’s general demeanor and conversation style changed dramatically after we explained to her that we were in fact food critics from Maine looking for the best burger in America. Not a bad angle. After dinner, we headed back downtown. Nothing particularly note-worthy there except a real-life St. Sanders rocking out on a street corner. We were pretty entertained.
Brian: Peter gave us a ring and we met him for coffee at what he claimed was the second best cup in Louisville. I guess the guy knows his coffee. It was great seeing him again, and if I end up going to school nearby I’ll be sure to stay in touch. At this point one would probably expect the blog to be reaching a close, but Nick and I had big plans for the evening. You see Wednesday night at a bar in Indianapolis is Retro Rewind, meaning that the music is classic and beer is cheap. We didn’t get back to Indy until around midnight, but we were fully ready to bust a groove.
Nick: Also I felt like I could bust a move as well, which was good. We met my friend Mo at the club as she was celebrating her departure from our fair town. She’s moving to New Orleans. I dunno. Anyway, we hung out for a while, which was definitely fun, and Brian got to experience the awesomeness that the place generally exudes. Por ejemplo, the dancers they hire to do their thing up on the stages throughout the place really commit to the music that’s playing. Like, there are costume changes throughout the night in an attempt to create an authentic connection with the songs.
Brian: During Grease music, there were dancing girls dressed like greasers. During a 70’s set, there were girls dressed like hippies. During the Rocky Horror Picture Show music, there was… a girl dressed like Tim Curry dressed like a girl. She had a slammin’ body, but also there was something that looked like a vegetable shoved into her bikini bottom. I feel like we are all close enough for me to admit that this was a difficult moment for me.
Nick: Crazy. After we felt like we’d kind of done that place, we migrated to a bar called Landshark some of you readers may remember from Brian’s first visit to Broad Ripple on this trip, where we met up with some European Au Pairs. Brian: I wonder if our European friends will be there tonight.” Nick: “Not likely.” Guess what people, Russia was there and now we have a new Facebook friend. The world is crazy sometimes. Most times. The night wore on as all good nights do until at last it was time to go home and sleep in my own bed for the first time in almost 50 days.
Brian: I have mentioned to Nick how bizarrely circular this trip is. Not just in terms of our direction of travel, but in our experiences as well. So many times have we gained knowledge that later becomes useful, or discussed topics and ideas that have a direct correlation to things that happen later in the trip. How better, then, to end the first loop of the adventure than by randomly meeting up with someone we met on day 1. You said it best Nick: the world is crazy most times. End of lap 1, Brian and Nick, out.
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This photo rocks!
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