On the Road Again

You know what river that is, Russ?
No, Dad.
It's the old Miss. The old man. Deep River my home is over Jordan.
- National Lampoon's Vacation

Just got back from a 11 day tour of the Midwestern colleges with 51 high school juniors and seniors. Feels good to be back home. I felt like the principal from Save by the Bell , always on my guard looking for Zach Morris to get out of line. Never happened. Boys were great. No fights, no major issues. It seemed like everyone had a great time.

I feel like we saw the world in 10 days and I can't remember it all. Thinking back on the college visits, we hit University of Tennessee (550 acre campus), University of Alabama (greeted by Big Al the elephant), Xavier University in Ohio, "The" Ohio State University, Notre Dame, Northwestern in Evanston, University of Chicago (left wing baby), St. Louis University, Washington University in St. Louis, Christian Brothers, and Ole Miss. Not bad for 11 days. Somewhere along the trip we went white water rafting in Pigeon River, hit all the roller coasters at Cedar Point Amusement Park, and sightseeing in Chicago, 2nd Street Comedy show, Red Sox vs. Cardinals game and went to the top of the Arch in St. Louis.

One thing I think I will never forget from this trip despite the tremendous relationships I made with some of our top student leaders was the experience of attacking muffleheads. For those of you who have never heard of these creatures, they are cousin to the mosquito. They serve as a food source for fish on Lake Erie and do not bite humans. The whole catastrophe came down at Cedar Point. Our luck had provided us with the opportunity to stay in some log cabins along the shores of Lake Erie located on the northern tip of Cedar Point Amusement Park. The world's greatest amusement park on the planet the last 7 years. Upon exiting our bus to get into our cabins, we were attacked by one of the 7 plagues to hit modern man. Muffleheads. They come in by the thousands at night and are attracted to the light. They aggravate the living heck out of you because they get in everything and never go away. It's like having Steve Erckel following you around work all day trying to learn your job. They would never leave us and haunt my memory for the remainder of the trip.

Although, I must say I rode the Top Thrill Dragster roller coaster at Cedar Point and was extremely pleased. I have never faced death but I think this is as close as it gets. The ride is ridiculous: 22 seconds long, reaches top speeds of over 100 miles per hour and twist and turns you in your seat while making you pray for all the wrongs you have committed in your life. Perfect way to get information out of a suspect.

The rest of our trip was great. Chicago was fun as we visited Navy Pier, Manchester Fountain, and Second City Theater. I have to say the college visits all went extremely smooth, except for the University of Chicago. They are just a bunch of wierd squirrels. Very liberal. Very sarcastic. Very arrogant. You would have to be very open minded to go to a university that sponsors a Knit and Bitch club. I have no problems with diversity and freedom on campus, but at what expense do you need 350 student organizations on a campus of 8,000 students.
The best university we visited I would say had to be Northwestern University. The ivy hanging off the walls of the buildings and the huge sycamore trees laying shade throughout the pathways was so perfect. It has to be one of my favorite campus'. I am a sucker for Notre Dame with the Golden Dome, the grotto, and the beautiful lakes surrounding the campus.

Like I said before, it's good to be back home. The trip was so good, I am thinking of doing it again next year. We'll have to see what area of the U.S. we are going to cover. As for me, I am resting for the next week before summer school starts. I just hope the first day I walk into class I have Mark Hamil teaching us.