Day 13: July 27: the Midwest College Town Traverse: The Four Colon Title: Madison WI to Ann Arbor, MI

Diner breakfasts never disappoint - especially at the official pregame diner of the Wisconsin Badgers. My main observation about the Badgers is that while most college mascots try to look angry or threatening (Wolverines, Tigers, Timberwolves), evoke the history or spirit of the state (Mountaineers, Volunteers, Tarheels) or are simply goofy (Banana Slugs, Fighting Quakers), the badger, as depicted in Wisconsin publications, is simply a very serious, sweater-wearing small mammal. Anyhow, after a very large cornmeal pancake, we bid Keith farewell and hit the road.

After hearing so many stories of the horrors of Chicago traffic, we plotted a circuitous route around the belt roads of the Second City and avoided any traffic jams until Indiana. The less said about Indiana the better.

At the Michigan border, we set our clocks forward an hour and deviated from I-90 for the first time in almost a week, rocketing northeast towards Ann Arbor. My newest geographical theory is that Michigan and Ohio shouldn't be called the Midwest, but rather the West East.

My reasons are as follows: I believe that Eastcentricity of American regional naming has distorted our thinking. Michigan and Ohio, when viewed from west of the Mississippi, have more commonalities with the Northeast than differences: Climate (humid, well-treed, hillier than Indiana or Minnesota), time zone (Eastern), economy (post-industrial), speed limit (65 mph). I will be starting a campaign to reclassify these states post-haste.

We rocked up to Maureen's cute house in the late afternoon to find a grim scene in her driveway: a wooden table with one chair, a half-empty glass and one ladies shoe were arranged in a pitiable tableaux on the pavement. No explanation was given during the time were in Ann Arbor.

After a walk through the local cemetery, we headed to a middle eastern place for baba ghanoush and shawarma, followed by a tour of U Michigan and more tasty midwestern beer at the Ann Arbor Brewery. We went to bed ready for our longest drive yet in the morn.