Today after work, I'll be blowing right past Bowling Green on my way down to my hometown of Troy. I don't say this very often (I live there by choice, after all), but I'm glad to be giving BG a miss for a good part of this weekend.
Bowling Green, for reasons unbeknownst to me, is home to the National Tractor Pull Championships, which are taking place this weekend. (Try finding another sentence on the internet that contains both "unbeknownst" and "tractor pull." Go on, I dare you.) This is a great event for the city, as it brings in a ton of people and a ton of money. It also brings in a ton of traffic, and there's a lot of road construction happening in Bowling Green right now, specifically on the main route into town from I-75. That unfortunate convergence of events by itself could make getting around town this weekend a nightmare, but that's not quite all. The tractor pull event coincides, as it does every year, with move-in weekend for BGSU students.
In other words, thousands of vehicles are going to clog the construction-burdened streets of Bowling Green. If I was planning to be in town this weekend, I think I'd confine myself to my apartment. I wouldn't venture beyond walking distance, at least. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the students are back--the town is a lot more lively when the University is in session--but this weekend will not be pretty, especially later tonight and Saturday if any "impaired" drivers hit the roads (and they will).
I'm going to skip the whole scene by motoring straight through BG on southbound I-75 and spending the bulk of the weekend in the idyllic town of Troy. My brother Jim, who normally lives in Kyrgyzstan, is back in the States and staying at my parents' house for a few days, so I thought it would be a good time for me to visit as well. I was hoping Brandi would come with me, but she decided to stick around in BG and have her friend Rachel come for a visit, and then she found out that she had to work on Saturday anyway.
I'm really looking forward to a nice, quiet, relaxing weekend at home. I probably won't do much besides play PlayStation (yes, I'm taking it along). I'll probably make a visit to Troy Memorial Stadium at some point (actually, I just found out that the Trojan football team is having a scrimmage this evening, so I may check that out on my way into town), and I may catch up with some friends (or I may not).
I'm hoping that the traffic situation in BG is cleared up or at least pointed in the other direction, as tractor aficionados and proud parents head out of town. I'll be coming back at some point that afternoon. The BGSU football team is holding a scrimmage that evening at 7:00, and I plan on being back in plenty of time to take it in. I just hope that getting there doesn't prove to be a pain.
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