Well, here we go with detailing the trip to Illinois that happened over the weekend of 10/10/09.

Greg and myself left work around 2pm. Our goal was to make it to Cambridge, OH for the night. We knew it was an easy goal as we had driven to the same hotel last year, and last year we left much later.

This year we rented a SUV, as my van had some miles on it. We just figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

The SUV had a 1/2 tank of gas when we picked it up. This got us as far as Cumberland, MD before we needed to get gas. Right before our gas stop we also stopped at the Sideling Hill Exhibit for a windy adventure. See the video on one of my sites for an example of the wind and the moronic adventure.

Greg and I were making great time, even behind the fudge trailer (also see video). The SUV had the premium XM Radio service so we were enjoying Howard Stern and Playboy Radio, which made the time fly along. I tried to get Greg to listed to "Out" radio but he was not enjoying that, so.................

Meanwhile we were getting hungry so we decided for a health food stop at Long John Silver's in Morgantown, WV. I can't think of a better way to clog your arteries. The clientele was awesome as well. This was a quick stop and we were soon back on the road.

Between Morgantown and Wheeling (by way of Pennsylvania) we listened to an amazing and riveting interview of Bai Ling on the Stern show. It was amazingly entertaining and soon we were pulling into The Wheeling Island Casino. We were way ahead of schedule so we decided to play some slots. Although we stayed briefly I won a bit so it was a good time. It is a pretty nice casino and is one of our mandated stops on this trip.

Our hotel in Cambridge was only a short drive up the road. It was relatively early so Greg and I decided to look for a bar. And boy did we find one.

Liberties is the "bar" at the local Day's Inn. One beer on tap, but cheap Samuel Adams Oktoberfest, so how bad can it be? The clientele here was unique to say the least. We may have been the most sophisticated people there and that is not saying much at all. Greg got talked at by a crazy karaoke lady, but he missed most of what she said. Lucky him. But the strange thing is that we really enjoyed this place. It was comfortable and cheap. We were looking forward to bringing Doug here a few days later on our return trip. Stay tuned for that.

We didn't have to hurry too much the next morning. We were picking Doug up as he flew into the Columbus Airport at 11am. So we took a bit of time and relaxed in East Central Ohio. I even got Greg to jog around the K-Mart parking lot. Not the most scenic run but it was what it was.

We stopped briefly at the not-opened-for-the-day Zane Grey Museum, as well as the combined campus of Zane State College/University of Ohio-Zanesville. Both stops were interesting but soon we were in Columbus waiting for Doug.

Doug was not delayed and soon him and his lobster shorts were in the SUV as well.

By this time the free hotel breakfast was wearing off. So once again the healthy choice prevailed as we found a White Castle to enjoy. This was actually one of the friendliest and most competent White Castle locations ever.

Back on the road we started to plan our Stucky's adventure for 2009. Last year we tried to buy the most disgusting food item at the Stucky's just across the border into Indiana. It was a bit of a bust as the most vile looking item was found to taste pretty okay by some us. So this year we decided to honor our colleague Adam, who could not make the October trip. We decided to buy him presents. Doug found a perfect parking sign for him,  I found box of stink bombs and Greg bought him an appropriate key chain.

We pulled into Indy as the rain started. We decided to stop and try the Indianapolis Motor Speedway tour. Even though it was rainy the tour was pretty cool. An amazing place.

After the track we were hungry. So it was on to Gray Brothers Cafeteria in Mooresville. We found this place last year, and we will likely go back every time we can. The food can be expensive as you pay for each item. But it is so worth it.

After dinner we had a bit of an adventure. I wanted to go the back ways towards Illinois. But the GPS had it's own ideas. I somewhat acquiesced to the GPS. But this led us to drive in some weird circles. So I eventually said "screw it" to the GPS and took my own direction. After getting back on track we eventually pulled into a rainy CU area. Check in at the craptastic and "jenky" Microtel went smooth and soon we wanted to get out on the town. Spurred by an ideiot fan from the previous year we decided to go to Jupiter's. The new one, not the old one.

Jupiter's was much better than I expected. There was good entertainment at the bar, a diverse friendly crowd and some yummy choices on the beer menu. We didn't stay too late as we were getting pretty tired, so eventually we made it back to the jenktastic paradise.

Friday also started out pretty rainy. We drove and around and sight see a bit before deciding that we were hungry. After an ill-fated attempt at food in Campustown we ended up at Garcia's off of Mattis. Garcia's is frankly not so great but I decided that Greg and Doug should at least experience it once.

After lunch we kicked around a bit more and also shopped for the Saturday tailgate. Lucky the rain was starting to slow. My sister Sue and brother-in-law Tim rolled into town around this time and we ended up all going to Steak and Shake for dinner. Steak and Shake is always good even when it bad. This time it was exceptionally good, so that was a nice surprise.

We all headed downtown to Bentley's where we were to meet Matt and Bobbie. After a usual Tim parking adventure, we parked and then ran into Matt and Bobbie outside. We spent a good deal of time at Bentley's enjoying some stories and good ale.

We decided to wander around some of the other fine drinking establishments that downtown Champaign offers. After a phone call to Matt's brother we decided to try out the new Blind Pig Brewery. They are still brewing their first drinks so we drank some other brews that had on tap. It started to get really busy so we spent time in the slightly chilly beer garden.

Tim and Sue, our ride for the night, decided to call it quits pretty early. We were now without a ride. I figured that we were all adults and could figure it out later.

Finally we got to the point where beer was getting "old" and some late night food was needed. We walked over to Merry Ann's Diner. The grumpy pregnant waitress took care of us nicely. It is amazing that breakfast food tastes so good late at nights and after some beers...............

Matt and Bobbie were nice and drove us back to our humble abode. Good..........because that walk would not be a fun one.

We were up early on Saturday to tailgate. First we picked up Matt in the SUV and then on to Memorial Stadium. Then we set up our lame little attempt at tailgating. I blame it on the fact that we had to drive from Maryland and could not get all our supplies in order. We had a little portable grill and a cooler. We were smart and bought only food that was precooked and really only needed to be reheated. That was probably good as Doug's initial attempt to start a fire was not cool. Luckily Tim stepped in and fixed the situation. We did have to sacrifice the Long John Silvers hat I had been holding onto since West Virginia.

The tailgate went pretty well even though it was much cooler than last years event. It was not cold, but definitely sweatshirt weather.

Eventually we headed into the game. We were spread all over the stadium. Matt and myself were in my season tickets in the horseshoe. This was the first time I have actually used my own tickets. Doug and Greg were opposite side from us , also in the Horseshoe. Tim and Sue were in the east stands in his father's seats. The game ended up sucking as the Illini looked miserable. Tim and Sue even left a little after halftime. The rest of us stayed until pretty much the bitter end.

After the game we drove Matt back home and then picked up Tim and Sue in Campustown. Then we all rested up at the Microtel for awhile.

Tim and Sue went to visit an old friend. I ended up doing the same thing, as I visited my old neighbor and Boy Scout buddy Tim Gaines (Greg and Doug tagged along as well). We ended up eating dinner at Culver's and catching up a bit. It was not a long time as we had planned on meeting Tim and Sue back downtown at the Esquire Lounge. After dinner we did get slightly sidetracked by the awesome Friar Tuck liquor store in Savoy.

The Esquire Lounge was enjoyable as always. But Sue wanted to check Mike and Molly's which was nearby. We had never been there before and we were glad we went this time. They had a nice whiskey collection. I enjoyed a rye and ginger and Greg once again schooled Doug on some finer points of whiskey. The last lesson had been at The Reservoir Bar in Greenwich Village, NYC, back in August. Tim and Sue ended up leaving before us, but even we were getting tired. This was not going to be a late night. Especially after the early start.

Sunday morning was our check out day at the Microtel. We all slept until close to checkout time. Sue and Tim left first with us close behind. We did run into them again one more time at Wal-Mart.

I decided to drive a bit around CU one last time. By the time I got to Urbana I just kept driving east and skipped the interstate. Eventually we ended up in Indiana, by way of Danville. We did hop back on the Interstate at that time.

We stopped at the Mug N' Bun in Speedway for a late lunch. Food was good as always, but the homemade root beer drew the love of the local bee population. Doug seemed to enjoy killing the little buggers a bit too much. After the slaying session we were soon back on the road.

We decided to take the slightly longer route by way of Cincy. It was just different. Interstate driving can be pretty tiring so we figured a change of pace was a good thing. A little south of Indy we saw signs for the Indiana Live Casino. We had to try it out.

The casino took some of my money right away. But we had signed up for a players card, which had entitled us to a free buffet. So even though we ate less than an hour before, we decided to jump right into the buffet. We figured that this would be our dinner for the night. And even if we just ate some dessert we would make out okay. We actually ate much more than that as the buffet was quite good. It was small but Vegas-worthy.

Soon we were back on the road with no more stops until Cambridge. We did enjoy looking at the Cincy sights and some other new views along the way, but didn't stop at any of them.

After checking into our hotel, we decided to take Doug to our new favorite watering hole Liberties. But it was Sunday night and apparently everything in Cambridge is shut down for the night. We looked all over for a drinking spot. (Check out our search for Bud's Pub video for evidence of this fruitless adventure.) It ended up being a night of warm Leinenkugels and DVD's for us.

Monday morning meant we had to drive the rest of the way home. We made a couple of stops. First was Cabela's in Wheeling. This large sportsman store was pretty amazing to see. We didn't really end up buying anything, but looking around made a nice diversion for the day. We also stopped in Morgantown, West Virginia to look around and eat lunch at The Boston Beanery.

We finally got into Maryland in the afternoon. Along the way we enjoyed listening to Playboy radio's Afternoon Advice, an afternoon call-in show hosted by Tiffany Granath.

Doug was dropped off at the Bethesda Medical Center Metro stop. Greg and I were home about an hour later.

The trip was quite good and we jammed a lots into such a short time.