Sclemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated.

RAIN!!!

I forgot my banana on the dash for an hour in Omaha. This is what cooked banana looks like in the skin.

Finally got rain. Maya and I decided after Davenport to start heading North for a bit. We stopped for carry out fried chicken in Oregon, Illinois and proceeded to head North. Not 40 minutes after that the radio started reporting "if you are hearing this announcement be aware of severe thunderstorms." Within the next hour the sky went completely black and the wind just started whipping. And then it rained. The rain was awesome. The lightning storm must have gone on for at least 4 or 5 hours. Nothing like we ever experience in Vancouver. You could feel the electricity in the air from all that dry heat. 

We awoke the next morning to a nice cool earth.  We enjoyed the leftover chicken by reheating it on the engine manifold. 

Onto the breweries

Its Miller time. 

Thanking our good luck we continued our travels North to Milwaukee! Upon landing in Milwaukee that day we immediately hit the Miller brewery for the tour. Now I am not a huge fan of Miller although the clear bottle is pretty awesome, but Miller town is impressive just due to its size. 72 acres of beer storage that gets moved daily for the East and Mid-West. 72 acres. 5 football fields of 18 foot tall storage. It was impressive. 

After the tour, I hit FestaItalliana. Unfortunately by this time it was actually pouring rain. It was mediocre. So we went looking for somewhere to sleep. I can recommend that you not try and sleep in the town of Grafton, Wisconsin. I got rustled out not one but actually twice in one night. Apparently they have something against people sleeping in vans. Well... lets be honest, something against people who don't 'belong'. I asked the cop "Am I breaking any laws by sleeping in my vehicle?" "No, we just had a report of a suspicious vehicle." "Well its no longer suspicious is it?" "Move along sir. " 

Today I spent working on the behalf of 'the man' doing my work in a county park back in Milwaukee. It seems VW vans are not a common item in Milwaukee. I had people asking me if I was selling fruit, ice cream and what exactly is it with the roof up. Funny.

By the time the afternoon hit the belly was grumbling so I hit the Lakefront Brewery for the tour and fish fry. The tour was pretty fun. I mean once you do one brewery tour, the only difference is the beer and delivery. Both of these were excellent. Refills midway! 

So apparently the two things that Milwaukee and the whole of Wisconsin are famous for are the Friday fish fry and beer. So I got my fill. Everyone I met told me I need to do the fish fry. Now I know what you are thinking... Fish Fry, that sounds so romantic and mysterious. Never had a fish fry. Oh they are amazing. Yeah well it turns out a fish fry is yup you guessed it... fish and chips. Or fish and potato pancakes (deep fried). So all this build up.. for fish and chips. FUN FACT - they have it with applesauce! 

Wisconsin is a strange state. The disparity between races is obvious. I have feeling that when the cop asked me to move along he was expecting someone a different person to open the van door. You can really see the differences in pockets around the town. I don't know if I like the city or not at this point. There are some really nice areas of town that are super funky and full of life. But then to get to them you have to drive through areas you don't want to stop for a red light. Its different.