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I started off today intent on getting to see Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline, and I was able to do both at once in Evanston (I’ll upload pictures from today and yesterday tomorrow).

I then headed north to Wisconsin, but before crossing the border, I asked Foodio54’s recommendation system for a place to eat and it sent me to Rosati’s Pizza. This was a carry out/delivery place, and I ordered a calzone with pepperoni. The calzone was ginormous and the sauce and cheese were excellent.

My next task was to visit Wilson’s Ice Cream Parlor where I was under the impression that they had created the first ice cream sundae in the late 1800’s. After ordering, what else but an ice cream sundae (which was delicious by the way), I noticed that they were selling t-shirts that said they were established in 1906. Hmmmm. From my understanding Wilson’s has been in a spat with Ithica, NY over who was first, when I asked them for a comment they had no clue what I was talking about. So, the lesson is don’t believe everything you read on the internet, you may drive 6 hours out of the way but it was still a good sundae, and I picked up a t-shirt anyway.

Next I just needed to get to Duluth, and find something along the way. I started getting hungry a little before Wausau, WI and the recommendation system sent me to Hot Wok in nearby Schofield. I ordered the chicken chow mein and even though they used a bit more sauce than I typically like it was still really good.

After filling up on chicken chow mein (and more importantly pop) I found myself in need of a restroom. I spotted a McDonald’s and raced towards it, which is when I noticed a black Dodge Charger that also happened to be a police car waiting for me. The officer pulled me over and informed me that my license plate “cover” was illegal in Wisconsin. I frankly had no idea what he was talking about, but I was just relieved that we weren’t talking about how fast I was going. After explaining that I was in a hurry to use the restroom he told me he’d just give me a warning, but and that he’d follow me to the McDonald’s. After taking care of business he showed me what he was talking about, it was the car dealer license plate holder that had come on the car. The problem was that it partially obscured the state (not the license number, just the state). He was pretty nice about it, but he did tell me that a ticket for that is $160 and Wisconsin makes out of state people pay on the spot with cash or a check (this is not even including a speeding ticket that I almost certainly would have also received). After he left I went to the nearby BP station and the clerk let me borrow a screw driver to pull off the license plate holders, which will spend the remainder of the trip in my trunk.

Tomorrow I’m headed to Angle Township, MN, which is the furthest northern point in the lower 48 states, and to get there I’ll need to briefly enter Canada because of a lake that divides Angle Township from the rest of America. Then I’ll be off to Fargo, ND.

Tags: Big Road Trip