America 2023 – Day Thirteen

Come on ladies, it’s time to pop that top
And fellas, I know you’re ready to rock
We went crazy cooped all winter long
And school is out, so let’s get it on
Flip flop tans and some white sand, I know the perfect spot

Well, the sunset better set soon
So we can get in the mood
Things start getting all heated up
When it starts getting cool, yeah

Summer nights, everybody, are you with me?
Let that Igloo cooler mark your piece of paradise
Summer nights, everybody’s feeling sexy
Holler if you’re ready for some summer nights

– Rascal Flatts

Tuesday 30 May, 2023

Lucky day thirteen on our tour across America.

Our first morning in the Chicagoland suburbs. I took full advantage of our house being so close to the famous – well, Midwest-famous, anyway – Illinois Prairie Path, which is a network of around sixty miles of paths, most of it on the route of the old Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad. An entrance to the path is only a few meters up the road from us, and you can turn left to head towards downtown Wheaton or right towards Glen Ellyn. This morning I went right into Wheaton, past some of my favourite parks, restaurants and bars. Pretty sure I had a huge grin on my face for the entire hour I was out – so good being back!

(It was also nice to sleep in a little. I didn’t go out until around 8:00am. Although it was warmer and stickier by then, getting a few extra hours’ of sleep was important after the big weekend we had in Indianapolis. A few relaxing days here is just what we need!)

We drove downtown around lunchtime to meet Jamie and her kids. For the uninitiated, when she was in university at Indiana, Jamie came to Australia for one American summer – and then came back a second year because we were so awesome – and stayed with my auntie and uncle to the north of Sydney. My auntie called me up because she knew I already had a mild fascination with America. A few hangs later, Jamie and I are friends for life, and life honestly would not be the same had our paths not crossed.

After buying take-out from Shane’s Deli, a Wheaton-famous eatery, on W Wesley Street, we went up to Memorial Park and sat on the big picnic tables, and I played catch with Connor for a while afterward. Jamie’s parents, Brian and Debbie, were also with us. They all wanted to know about the controversial Indy 500 finish and – well, you know me – I don’t miss a chance to talk IndyCar racing, so that was fun. So good being back amongst these wonderful people. Midwestern hospitality is a thing. I’ve been fortunate to experience it this past week in Indianapolis and now in Chicago.

A few hours of downtime in the early afternoon after a trip to the Wheaton Popcorn Shop gave me a chance to work on my blogging, then it was off to Mike’s, where we met thirteen other guys from Wheaton, piled into three cars and headed downtown to Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the MLB’s Chicago White Sox. Three other guys – including Sam, all the way up from Indianapolis, which is commitment with a capital C! – met us there, and we tailgated in the parking lot for a while before heading into the stadium.

It was an inauspicious beginning, with the Sox trailing the LA Angels of Anaheim early, but somehow they clawed their way back into it, mostly kept Angels star Shohei Ohtani quiet, and found enough offense to snatch a 7-3 win. That means my all-time White Sox record is at 9-1 since I started seeing them play live in 2015. Last year’s loss was the only blemish.

We’ve been doing these Sox nights for a few years now, but this year will be hard to top. We had a bigger group than ever, it was $5 Modelo beer night, we saw some big-time stars on both teams, and, best of all, we were somehow chosen to be on the Miller Lite “Cheers Cam” that went up onto the big screen. That said, our opportunity nearly fell by the wayside when one of the group suggested he might remove his shirt for the camera. The hardest of hard no’s for that one. Somehow, despite the numerous beers we had all consumed by that point, seven innings in, we seemed quite coherent.