wedding road trip

In the Zone

It just wasn’t in the cards to check out the lake on Rebecca and Jason’s super sly boat, given the craptastic weather that Wisconsin decided to deliver us this afternoon. Faced with a dilemma of what to do, Jason suggested that we head to The Loading Zone for a real Wisconsin fish fry later that evening.  Since we’ve been eating so well on this trip, choosing to skip alcohol and sweets in favor of fruits and vegetables, we figured we could cheat just this once.

On Fridays, the Loading Zone is reportedly the hottest place in town. It is so hot, in fact, that thousands of people show up and wait for hours to have a piece of fried cod. Jason let us in on the secret of Wisconsin: waiting until your food is served before leaving the bar to dine at your table. Sure enough, the table next to us was occupied with four servings of fried fish before the requisite people arrived.  Rebecca introduced me to a drink called an Old Fashioned, which basically knocked me on my ass after about four sips.

The highlight of dinner was Geri, our waitress and new best friend. Geri is part of a long line of family members who have made The Loading Zone happen over the past thirty-odd years. She works a floor faster than any server I’ve ever met while still managing to carry on a conversation with each of her guests. A fan of the whole Wedding Road Trip concept, she was quick to offer up some marriage advice of her own: when starting a relationship, become friends first. Geri has been married for more than twenty-five years to the milkman. Yes, the milkman. They now have several kids (at least they know where they came from) and are having a rockin’ good time.

Over dinner, Rebecca, Jason, Chris and I had a discussion about the power exchange  in a relationship. While Rebecca  is the point person as far as the kids go, Jason is now going to work from home one day a week to ease the pressure. After talking to several couples who have come to this same type of compromise, I firmly believe that sharing responsibilities is a key to long-term marital success.

After dinner, we managed to make time to play pool and a little Guitar Hero. I sucked at both, but am proud to say that Chris represented the Case/Hodges clan well. As it stands, we now owe Rebecca and Jason a couple of beers, but we don’t mine ponying up if they promise to be a guest at our home in the near future.