Hunt for the Packer Game in the Ozarks

I woke up the morning of the 5th in Ellington.  I had stayed at Wayne's house from warmshowers.org.  It turns out he is an adventure racer and a 4 time Ironman.  He was in Madison for the last Ironman, so that was a good topic to chat about.  He told me about how people with stories about overcoming disabilities or medical challenges in their life can sometimes get into the Hawaii Ironman, which is really hard to do otherwise.  So who knows, I might try that if I can learn to swim (long distance)

As I was getting around that morning I thought, "How cool would it be to just come across a sports bar where I knew the Packer Viking game would be on?  That would be nice."  I took this day off from any programs just so I could watch this game of monumental proportions, especially since Favre is now suiting up in Purple.  I never thought I'd see that day.  It was such an obscure thought that it never even crossed my mind as a possibility.  I wanted to stop in Centerville, ditch my stuff at a motel and find somewhere to watch the game.  I got to centerville only to find out it was far to small and had nowhere to stay or watch the game.  I met an old man at the top of a hill, cyclist, and he said I could camp there.  I was hoping that he'd say he was a foot ball fan and I could watch it at his house, since he was a friendly guy and we had good conversation.  nope.  oh well.  I just kept on going.  I met two cyclists headed for the west coast.  And people think I'm late.  They are way late and are going to freeze their royal tushes off in the rockies.  I hope they've got warm bags.  One of them told me about how rude drivers had been in the Ozarks.  They shout as they pass F&$* You!  And I said, that was funny cause I hadn't got that.  I kid you not, 30 seconds later someone passes yelling that out their window.  "It just must be some vibe you give off" I told him.

I continued onward on my mission to find the game thinking I'd have to go 40 more miles to Ironton.  I went about 25 and the hills were good but not as insane as the previous couple of days with all the false summits.  Those are what really get to you, when you think you've arrived at the top and you wiped out and you see 2 more hills to climb, so you do it and you see another little one still to go up.  The hills and I have exchanged some words....or...just kind of a one sided conversation I suppose.

I was crossing the county line and I looked to the left and there was a campsite.  I looked on the end of it and as if it was put there just for me, just for this night of the most anticipated monday night game ever, a sports bar AND Grill!  I was in luck cause I was was starving.  I walked in just to make sure they were playing the game and I was met by an overtly friendly campground manager and he was like "well baseball is over, so yeah, we'll have the game on."  Had I gotten there only to hear him say, no we're watching base ball....I'm not even sure what I would have said, but I was in luck.  I wasn't sure how I was going to react to this game until I watched it.

I watched the pregame and they were lovin on Favre which is nice concidering there have been so many favre haters since he switched or can't make up his mind...cut him some slack, he's getting old.  I wasn't happy at all with Ted Thompson or Mike for not letting him come back.  He was the face of the packers franchise (they didn't like that)  you let him come back.  So for the first time in my entire life I found myself rooting for the team opposing the packers.  I still hopped the packers did well cause they are a great team.  But Favre is my favorite athlete who has ever played any sport, so as long as he's manning a ship I'll be on his crew.  He's one of the greatest competitors to ever play the game, no matter what color he's wearing.  He had an amazing game too!  as did Rogers, but I was glad to see Favre come out on top.  It was an action packed high scoring game, so it even kept the Missouri watchers intrigued.  They had their southern accent and some of them were drunk on top of that.  These two guys sounded like Boomhower on King of The Hill.  You couldn't hardly understand a single word they said.  There's no way that was english.  Favre said it wasn't that much sweeter than anyother victory, but he was playing the good sport cause there's no way it wasn't so sweet to get back at the team you served for so long that rejected you in the end.  That had to feel good.  He put up career high numbers for his last game in his 30's.  That guy is amazing.  Go Brett Favre!!