I'm a terrible Eagle.

Today I left Detroit and headed to Ann Arbor.  I had lunch, got my car washed (Yea! No more Bison spit and sand from C&A's trip to the Hamptons months ago!) and walked around some of the University of Michigan.  It was a beautiful, if cold, day and the students were out in force.  I loved that they are having a blood drive competition against Ohio State.  I guess once a rival, always a rival.  I stopped in the bookstore to buy some paraphernalia and almost got suckered into a gortex blue jacket with a small, but bright, yellow "M" on the breast.  It even had fabulous sleeve extensions that covered your hands. I kept thinking how warm it was and how much use I could get out of it on my journey.  But then I remembered that once I go back to my real life, I will never wear it. After trying on everything in the store (and constantly going back to the jacket) I settled on a $7.95 tee-shirt. I feel terrible for the staff that has to follow my path of destruction and refold/rehang everything in the store. They always say you should never go grocery shopping when you're hungry; I guess that applies to clothes shopping when you're cold.

Before my parking meter expired, I got back in the car to figure out what to do with the rest of my day and figure out where I was going to sleep.  A quick glace at the map and I was thinking of heading to Kalamazoo -- it's off of I-94 en route to my next stop, Chicago.  Then I saw South Bend and realized I could make a day of visits to college bookstores!  I quickly called the switchboard at Notre Dame to make sure that I wasn't going to arrive past closing time, because otherwise what's the point? "Oh no, the bookstore closes at midnight," the helpful operator said.  "Is there a game this weekend?" I asked.  "Of course," she replied with a tone of disgust.  "I'm sorry, I meant a home game." (I was worried about finding a place to stay if there was a big crowd in town.) At this point the operator was no longer helpful and was sure that she was dealing with an absolute moron. She answered with a succinct, "Yes, a home game." "Who are you playing?" Now I was just intentionally annoying her.  I'm sorry, but the ND football schedule is not the most important thing in my life.  So much so that I can't even remember what her answer was. Tulsa, maybe?

I arrived just as the sun was setting, so I knew that walking around campus was out.  I headed straight for the bookstore.  During my drive, it had occurred to me that this was the perfect place to buy something warmer to sleep in -- it's mf-ing cold at night! I bought a pair of ND pajama bottoms and a long sleeve tee-shirt in the biggest, ridiculously crowded bookstore I have ever been in.  It was nice that the maze leading to the cash registers made you walk past some books.  Otherwise, I'm not sure that I would have spotted any of them.

So now I am about to go to bed in a full Fighting Irish outfit.  I am a terrible, terrible Eagle.  But at least I am a warm one.  I took a helpful (and oh so flattering) picture so that you can get the full image.