From:  Chris Hoke <mineralrock@yahoo.com> 
Subject:  day seven
Date:  Sun, 15 Oct 2000


oh my dear lord it's eight thirty am i'm so tired all
i smell are horses dad is going yak yak yak. on the
phone he's awake, strong coffee would be good, my
body is cold it's not ready to be out of bed.

drive drive drive.
we're driving to our death.
and we hope it's not soon.
not too soon.
every wheat field is another life lived
in the hot dakota sun, grains for your kids
every wheat field is another man grown
and a red faced man, taken from home.
every morning, it's bach till you drop
a strong cup of coffee, two sugars tops
every little atom, swimming in my mouth
a piece of my father, he gladly gives out


my good goodness, i'm still tired.  eight forty seven
am. enough with the st matthew passion, that's all i
hear in the morning. i want angry guitars, not this
soothing crap.  this sounds like a laxative. i want
something that gives parents nausea.  some minor
threat. ian mackaye, he's one pissed off kid. cows to
the right, wild for the night.  horses on the left,
dryin for some cess. st matthew passion.  if he was a
saint he'd surely put the idea in my fathers head to
listen to something new. it's too damn loud.  i want
guitars, sitars, drums, distorted words, you need
motoviation to get up, and that bach just puts me too
sleep. oh, now the radio. damn i'm a surly bitch in the
morning. politiking on the radio.  no one cares.  we
pretend, but as soon as this stupid election is over,
everyone goes back to bed. like we woke up in the
middle of the night with a full bladder, and november
seventh we get to empty it and go back to bed.

oh i'm still tired.  nine oh one. yesterday we woke up
in an rv park, and i felt fine. today we woke up, and
it's one past nine.

now it's ten fifty one. am.
dad's making some snausages and eggyweggs

yesterday we saw lots and lots of culture.
oh yeah, you betcha.
first we went to st. paul's cathedral in <surpise>
st. paul. really really beautiful glass, really pretty
celings. it took em ten years<!> to make it, but it
was worth it. yup, we did the god thing. then we drove
along summit ave and grand ave, looking at beautifull
houses on these historic roads. then we went to the
minnesota history museam, and that was a hoot. really
cool hands on exhibits, and really well laid out. stuff
on boxcars and grain elevators and meat packing plants
and etc. quite good. during the time we were at the
museum, there were auditions for the minneapolis youth
symphony concerto competition. the kids are allright.
they were my age, about, and playing with passion and
beauty and strength. we heard two performances, one
cellist and one violinist, the violinist playing the
ascent of the loon (lark), or something. really beautiful
stuff. we left, and i thought we were going to the walker
museum, so i navigated in that direction. wrong.  we were
going to the weissman, so after some backtracking and
general idiocy on my dept. we got there. the weissman is
a stainless steel building that is audacious in design,
designed by the same guy who did the guggenheim in
bologna, spain. when i say audacious, i mean that the
building looks like a sculpture, all stainless steel
jutting out in strange sharp points. the permanent
collection consisted of alot of pop art, warhol,
rosenquist, etc.  they have one o'keefe, and it's ok.
there was this crazy piece, a hall of an apartment
building and you could listen through the cracks in
the doors. just crazy.  there was also an exhibition
of native american works, and some of it was
breathtaking. and all of this is on the campus of the
university of minnesota.  those lucky golden gophers.
no wonder they beat the buckeyes.  they were all
thinking of bringing honor to their town, and OSU,
well, we all know it's alot of hot air.

so then it was starting to creep by time wise, us
having seen alot, but still wanting to see more.
i navigated us (alot better, i might add) to the
walker sculpture gardens. i'm not a big fan of
sculpture, but some of the items there were just
insane. a huge spoon with a cherry on top, huge, a
giants spoon. i can't describe much else, it has to
be seen.  there was a huge rectangle, half the size
of a football field, with stone benches. each bench,
granite, had a carved saying in it, and they were...
weird thoughts. there were at least fifty benchs.
wild.

by this time we were starving, having had brunch in
the bounder, steak and eggs. when i get back i'm 
going to adjust my diet, all this red meat is....i
dunno. it's too much. i'll get a heart attack, i'm
sure. but we were starving. oh, i almost forgot.
from the walker we went to the mississippi mile, a
walk along the banks of the mississippi river. i just
like typing mississippi, because as i type it i think
"m-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i" very keen. "the bees knees"
we saw a boat enter the locks, and go through, it was
dramatic and all. and we saw the only waterfalls along
the whole mississippi (see, i did it again) river.
impressive.

did i mention we were hungry?  well, we were.
we were right around the warehouse district, which i
guess is kinda like the cleveland warehouse district,
only bigger. everything in the twin cities is bigger.
i'm rather smitten with that place, i tell you. gonna
have to go back again some time. so we went to this
restauraunt called the parrot or something, it had a
key west kinda theme goin on. the funny thing was they
were playing 40's swing over the pa!  ol blue eyes and
company. bright clear horns busting out the jams, making
us feel cool and suave, huwazza!!!!! "man, he's so cool,
he'll be sittin around doin nothing, but it looks like
it's the most cool thing in the world"
yup.
we had red meat, burgers, and some french fried
shrimp.  it was really good food, and quite
satisfying. but nowhere near the experience of aquavit
or gratzi. we got back to the bounder, and bounded away.
dad decided he could drive till he was tired, so we
drove south to 90, and then west, west, west. we crossed
into south dakota, say it "da ko ta" like the natives
say it. found a rest area, and passed out.
and that's how the day ends.