Day 2: You can take the girl out of Domtar...

Kaye B., John T., Stanton S., Roy R.
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9:00am Well that didn't last long...wide awake and ready to start the day. A little anxious for the Domtar tour too - another stepping stone that must be passed before convincing myself that I'm on vacation.  Jumped in the shower and threw on my stretchies to go for a jog.

9:30am Holy Hanna - for 9:30am it was an absolutely gorgeous day already!! For fun, thought I'd check on any geocaches in the area so I'd have a goal for my jog.  Conveniently located nearby and along a bush trail I tracked down the first cache of the trip - the Blackberry did a fantastic job zeroing in on it & didn't need the data transfer so was very happy.  Guess what I'll be doing in Minneapolis and Des Moines and ...  On my travels, I was passed by a helmet-less motorcyclists and thought "I've heard of states like this - but believe me its not the law that is MAKING me wear a helmet on my bike".  Crazy nut!  Heading back from the cache I ran over to the Walmart SuperCentre hoping to find some Sexy Mother Pucker (if you don't know, don't ask) - but no luck.  Will have to check with Sandy on where to score me some!

"The Map"
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11:00am Back at the Sleep Inn to get dolled up for the Domtar visit.  I found it odd that Deb would schedule the bratwurst lunch from 12:30 - 2 so checked on the calendar entry.  12:30 - 2 was EST!!  11:30 - 1 was CST!!  So kicked it into gear and arrived downtown for 11:22am.  Course we went to the NewPage building next door since we couldn't find 214 Grand Ave. W but we were quickly rerouted and arrived in time to catch the fantastic spread of brats, salads, veggies and mmmm brownies!!

Deb K., John A., Dan K., Bill H.
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11:30am We were also presented with a 6 pack of Deb's husband's favorite microbrew beer (as promised) and some legendary Wisconsin cheese.  It was great to finally meet the Rapids (relocated Port Edwards) and Nekoosa I.T. gang and I believe they enjoyed the chance to get together themselves.  Chatted over the next 1.5hr about Dan's map mostly =) (ok, maybe a few other things).

1:15pm Al & I parted ways as I jumped in with Kaye for the Nekoosa mill tour.  She swung by the Port Edwards mill as it stretched out cold & quiet before us - quite sad actually.  Then off to Nekoosa with Roy just ahead of us.  Got a chance to get acquainted with some of the key Optivision users and get an idea of the layout of the mill - although don't ask me to go anywhere unattended, I'd still get lost in a heartbeat!  No hardhat or Visivest required (in the warehouse) which took me a little offguard but it was so bright and open, lit partially by natural light which was a refreshing change compared to Espanola.  Another difference - no broke hustler needed since all trim fell away to the the floor below to get repulped automatically - very cool!

R.I.P. Port Edwards
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3:00pm I'm fading very quickly at this point trying not to be rude and nod off in my chair while talking with the Opti users so had to get moving.  Ended the tour with a run-through of the functionality of Reporting Services

4:45pm Being on her way home, Kaye offer to drive me back to the hotel (wasn't sure if Al would find the way to Domtar anyway).  We drove past my first glance at a cranberry blog on County road 'Z'. As soon as I stepped in the door, out came the brats and other leftovers from lunch - no sense in spending money at a restaurant when we had all that fantastic food in the fridge so we dove in!  And Al followed up with a snooze while I updated the blog.

Survivor Nekoosa
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7:00pm Time to get moving.  Headed to Walmart to pick up some Bumpits (don't ask) and highlighters (to map out tomorrow's route).  Then walked next door to El Mezcal for 2 of 1 margaritas and at $3.95 it was a steal!!  The bill came to $10 (with tip included) for 4 drinks!! Tried the peach, mango, strawberry & original 'ritas and headed over to GameStop on a full stomach and a slight wobble.

8:30pm Got in my RockBand fix at a station set up at GameStop advertising Beatles RockBand while Al shopped around.

Kaye - hard at work
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9:00pm Al tended to his Farmville farm while I mapped out our route to Minneapolis with our new highlighter =)  Didn't last long - eyes quickly closed and I was out.

Plan for tomorrow:  Go for a swim, hit the road for a 5 hour drive to St. Paul/Minneapolis, check in at our B&B on the tug boat, eat at our first triple D restaurant (Diners, Drive-ins & Dives), go to a Twins game and hook up with either Dale or Dwayne for some cocktails!