Interlude #5: 71st and Woodland

On my birthday, I did two awesome things.

First, I ran from zombies.

 

I technically did not survive. But I also didn't literally die as I did the event, so there you have it.

And because I did my first 5k in the afternoon, I figured I earned a bit of a treat later.

Not only that, but Steak 'n Shake on my birthday was also a good opportunity for ...

 

 

... the return of the Brett!

It's true. Brett is done with his program in Wisconsin. So he's back in Indy, and he moved in while I was running for my life.

I had earned a Frisco melt and fries.

And Brett earned a simple shooter.

 

Brett hungry!

 Our stop was pretty quick, as we were all a bit tired from our exertions for the day, so we took a moment for the traditional group shot.

Of course, Brett messed up the first one.

Also, this officially marks the end of Catch Caragher, unless he leaves Indy again before the Quest is complete.

Eventually, there will be an "Answers" post to that game as well. And some of the places I've hidden him will blow your mind.

Stop #56: New Castle (#619)

After our stop in Richmond, Splenda and I left scary-close-to-Ohio territory and made our way to the next stop, and the stop that really motivated Splenda to join me on my trip for the day.

That's right: We went to New Castle.

New Castle, home of many a Butler Basketball player, all of whom Splenda appreciates greatly due to them playing basketball for Butler.

I, too, am a fan, because they shoot many ...

s!

That is, they shoot a lot of 3-pointers, and 3 is my second favorite number. 3 is also the highway you take to get to New Castle, which is where, as I've already mentioned, many Butler players are from.

Once we got there, with basketball on my mind, I got excited by the Steak 'n Shake measuring stick by the door, 'cause according to it, height is measured in Steak 'n Shake characters. I am apparently Goldie Fries tall.

Most Butler basketball players are Milkshake tall, or taller, apparently.

Since we had had lunch in Richmond (close enough to Ohio to warrant worrying about being poisoned, I might add), Splenda and I decided we only needed milkshakes this time around.

Splenda was glad to finally get the chance to try the Nutter Butter milkshake.

 Meanwhile, I was glad to get the chance to have the brownie bits milkshake.

 Sad to say, this is my before face. The shake itself was a bit of a disappointment. If you go to Steak 'n Shake and you're craving both brownie and ice cream, please, don't waste your time on this milkshake.

Get the glorious, wondrous brownie sundae. For reals:

 

 Someone about to take on a delicious, delicious combination of ice cream and brownie.

 Someone about to take on a not-so-delicious combination of ice cream and brownie.

After we finished our shakes, Splenda and I decided to do our group shot with Darnell Archey, Zach Hahn, and Chase Stigall, the very boys who had motivated us to stop by that Steak 'n Shake that day.

Stop #55: Richmond (#235)

In early June, I headed dangerously close to Ohio in order to continue with my Steak 'n Shake Quest.

Dangerously close.

But then, what's a quest without a bit of danger?

And so, Splenda joined me for her first Quest Stop and ventured with me to Richmond, Indiana.

Being as close to Ohio as we were, we decided to tempt the fates, and actually venture into Ohio.

See? That's the bridge over nothing, the path to nowhere, the sure sign that you are headed for ... Ohio.

Confirmation: That's us in Ohio. You can tell, because Ohio is the only reason to be so sad.

Don't believe me? Think we just got close to the bridge and turned around? My trusty(ish) navigator pal, GPSy, can show you.

Think I used my awesome awesome tech skills to confuse my less-than-genius navigator and trick it into saying we were in Ohio?

Not so. Against my better judgment, I went into that gas station we were stopped at and contributed to the Ohio economy by buying gummy worms.

And what did my receipt reveal?

That Ohio somehow thinks they have a new and improved version of one of the top international cities. Pfft. Ohio. You so silly!

And dangerous. So Splenda and I high-tailed it out of there.

But of course, the primary focus of this trip was Steak 'n Shake, and not our death-defying adventures into *shudder* Ohio.

We had come this far east for Steak 'n Shake.

Though we did continue to make fun of Ohio once we got there.

First, I drew some artwork.

 

A look at my interpretation of the states.

Then Splenda tried her hand.

A close-up of the finished product for those who wan to see her awesomeness.

Though we realized partway through our visit that we were probably surrounded by Ohioans. Fortunately, they didn't actually attack us or anything. Though we were getting the evil eye from some fellow customers.

So we called for back-up.

Becca was jealous that she couldn't join us on this quest trip, but I promised we would call her and she could be with us in spirit.

After chatting with Becca a bit, we went ahead and ordered. I got my standard guacburger and fries.

After eating (and getting the stinkeye from what we suspected were several surrounding Buckeyes), we did the traditional "group photo" and headed out.

And, of course, shortly after taking this photo, we stepped outside and confirmed, by looking around the parking lot, that we had indeed been surrounded by citizens of that un-great state, Ohio.

Frankly, you're lucky to be reading this post from me. Having been that close to Ohio, then in Ohio, then surrounded by Ohioans -- that's almost as bad as driving blindfolded with no seatbelt.

Also almost as stupid.

For those of you keeping score at home ...

For those of you keeping score at home, you likely know that I'm now at 54 of the 70 Steak 'n Shakes in Indiana -- I have just 16 left to hit, plus my planned victory lap at my favorite location, the one where we started it all: Nora, Indianapolis.

For those wondering why I seem to have slowed recently, the answer may become apparent if you choose to check out my GoogleDoc for Quest Progress. I do still have some stops left in Indy, as I tried to save some for later in the quest so that I wouldn't be spending the homestretch being forced to drive 3+ hours away for every single stop -- but beyond those few, many of the stops left are an hour or more away, and often in geographic areas I don't find myself in frequently (I'm looking at you, east-side-of-Indiana-and-subsequently-dangerously-close-to-my-nemesis-Ohio).

But progress is being made, slowly. Watch for more of my wild and crazy adventures soon!

Happy birthday to me!

Why, thank you Steak 'n Shake! You are SO on the ball with the birthday wishes! I mean, yeah, you're a few weeks early, but that just means I get to bask in this birthday specialness that much longer.

Steak 'n Shake, your e-club brings me great joy with its birthday greetings and promise of free food stuffs.

Stop #54: Coldwater, Fort Wayne (#173); also, Interlude: Rosemont, IL

May has not provided me many opportunities to make progress on my quest. It has, however, provided me an abnormally high number of opportunities to attend concerts -- and for each of those activities, a stop at Steak 'n Shake was involved.

And thus, you have a post featuring both Rammstein ...

... and Lacuna Coil.

First up was a concert in Chicago, Illinois, featuring Rammstein the first Friday of May.

I went with my BBW friend Jen. She was really excited about seeing Rammstein.

I was really excited about stopping by the Steak 'n Shake in Rosemont beforehand.

Of course, I was also relatively excited about seeing Rammstein. I was a little familiar with their music, and I've yet to attend a concert that I didn't at least have a marginally positive experience at.

But mostly, the Steak 'n Shake was what I looked forward to.

And so, we ended up at the Steak 'n Shake in Rosemont with my friend Kathy, where we saw many fellow Rammstein concert-goers, mostly due to the fact that this particular Steak 'n Shake is just down the road from the concert venue.

It was pretty exciting. I noticed that on our placemats, new milkshakes were being promoted.

Specifically, banana milkshakes.

Unfortunately, these were the only two photos I got from that Steak 'n Shake. You'll have to take my word for the fact that I had a Guacburger, side salad with French dressing, and French fries, as well as accepting the following as a "group picture":

Note: This does not qualify as the Catch Caragher image for this post. Too, too obvious.

Because this was not an official Steak 'n Shake quest, I feel very little remorse for missing these valuable, valuable photo ops.

The concert ended up going well as well, and I can say that Rammstein has earned a new, if slightly disturbed by content, fan.

The next Steak 'n Shake stop, which happened on May 19th (and also a little bit in the wee early hours of May 20), was following a Lacuna Coil concert at Piere's in Fort Wayne.

 

Again, I went to the concert with my BBW friend Jen. Because she is awesome. And in this instance, I had relatively equal levels of excitement for the concert and the Steak 'n Shake stop.

 

 Steak 'n Shake stop #54 took us to the location on Coldwater in Fort Wayne. Just in time to hit rush hour by prom-goers. Seriously, there were about thirty billion high school kids in their prom get-ups when Jen and I got there. But having to wait to be seated wasn't a super-huge bad deal, as we were also waiting for a couple of friends, Sean and Paul, to show up to join us.

Sadly, this was not the wait for our table was not the most disappointing part of our stop.

For starters, we were seated without placemats. As placemats are valuable to my Steak 'n Shake stop experiences, I went to the front of the store to pull a variety of mats for our whole table.

This batch included one kids' placemat.

Correction: One used kids' placemat.

I swear on my life, I did not connect-the-dots that Steakburger.
Also, I did not inhale.
Also, I did not have sex with that woman.
Most importantly, though, and most true, I did not connect-the-dots that Steakburger.

Also in the placemat collection I selected was yet another placemat advertising the new banana blended milkshakes.

And so, when our server arrived to take our orders, Sean felt obligated to ask what the difference was between the Ultimate Banana milkshake and the regular banana milkshake.

Friends, I cannot put into words the horror Sean felt at the answer. Indeed, Sean had to illustrate just to capture it.

The following is his artistic rendition not just of the answer, but also of the horror he felt at the answer, and the lack of a soul our friend Paul has that was revealed by this interaction.

Yes, folks, you read that right: Not all Steak 'n Shake banana milkshakes contain banana. Rather than being a banana milkshake containing rather large pieces of bananas, or a banana milkshake that turns you into a banana superhero, or a banana milkshake that comes with a banana hammock, or any of the other various awesome things that an "Ultimate Banana" milkshake could be, the reality is that the Ultimate Banana milkshake differs from the regular banana milkshake in that it is made with real bananas, whereas the plain old banana milkshake is made with plantains fake bananas the tears of children banana-flavored syrup.

Also, apologies here to Sean, who didn't know until reading this now which of those shakes was syrup and which was real bananas, and had said he would rather keep it that way. The server's actual answer to the question was as Sean displayed above, just a statement that some milkshakes are made with real bananas and others are not.

As a result, Sean opted not to get any banana milkshakes. Given that I'm not a banana fan in the first place, unless it's artificial flavoring that comes in candies such as runts, was not tempted in the first place. Instead, I opted for a brownie sundae, and was not disappointed.

Pictured: Real cherry, real whip cream, real ice cream, real brownie, real fudge.
Real delicious.

 All in all, this trip to Fort Wayne and Steak 'n Shake stop were enjoyable, even if in some cases disillusioning. And I got to bring home a piece of artwork, which I promised would be hung on my refrigerator as examples of what my four-year-old step-daughter should aspire to.

Because I'm nothing if not a terrible stepmother.

And so thanks, Steak 'n Shake #173! 

Stop #53: Lloyd Expressway, Evansville (#4804801)

Now, of course, Jen and I didn't drive down to Evansville to hit up a lone Steak 'n Shake. Evansville contains a second Steak 'n Shake, on Lloyd Expressway.


But we couldn't go straight form lunch at one Steak 'n Shake to dinner at another. So Jen did some advance research and suggested we play minigolf to kill time between the two. She had found a place called "Adventureland."


And this is where we began to have problems.

Because as we approached the entrance, we saw a sign declaring that Adventureland could not accept debit or credit cards. Which was a slight problem, as that was how we were paying for most things on Saturday.

Jen whipped out her handy-dandy Smartphone-that-shall-not-be-named to locate another minigolf option. Fortunately, Evansville has a few, and within moments we were on our way to ...


... Midget Links, which ALSO did not take card.

Seriously, something is wrong with Evansville, that no one takes a damn card. At Midget Links, the employee explained that if they were to start taking cards, they would have to nearly double the price to afford the technology.

He said this, as I read the signs on the window, advertising that they had WiFi.

Seriously. If you can afford WiFi, I would think you should be able to afford a credit card reader.

So Jen and I were off again. To our last hope for the night: Walther's.


And, great success, they take cards! AND charged the same price as Midget Links! Take that, Midget Links! And Adventureland, who charged a dollar more than both other minigolf entities!

And so, Jen and I finally got some minigolf in.


Walther's didn't only have minigolf, though. There were also ... arcade games! With tickets! And prizes, prizes, PRIZES!

So we got some tokens to get some tickets, to get some prizes.

We made some attempts at SkeeBall ...


... and then a game called Jumpin' Jackpot.


But the highlight came when we discovered the DDR machine.

And preemptively worked off our dinner.

Although you wouldn't be able to tell it from the photos.


We actually did a video, but it was too long to upload, and besides, you don't really want to watch us jump around awkwardly while some guy says, "You're doing great!" and a crowd says "Boo!" (not simultaneously) (when Jen is the primary dancer and when I'm the primary dancer, respectively). So you will have to settle for screenshots of part of the video.


Once we were done with DDR, we hit the prize counter to maximize the benefits of the tickets we had earned (though, sadly, none of them came from DDR).

And from the prize counter, we then headed to Steak 'n Shake to re-energize.


Where we showed off our fabulous, fabulous prizes, prizes, PRIZES!

Jen walked away with ... a new car!

No, not really.


Jen was rewarded with a fan, dolphin stickers, pink vampire teeth, and a little green army man, presumably an escapee from the set of "Toy Story."

And me?


My winnings also included a fan, as well as bee stickers, green vampire teeth, a smiley face eraser, and a total loss of self-esteem.

... Okay, not really. I'm clearly pretty proud of myself.

We noted that, once again, we had come upon a Steak 'n Shake lacking a crane game. Strange things must be afoot in the Evansville, that all the crane games were taken (come to think of it, I don't remember seeing one in the Walther's arcade, either ... strange indeed, Evansville).


Additionally, we noticed that the tables and booths all seemed to be new.

Pictured: New tables and booths.

Also pictured: Goofy girl trying to be subtle
in acquiring a photo.

Turns out, the new furniture is because last winter (right around the time I started my quest, in fact), an SUV drove through this Steak 'n Shake. Not the Steak 'n Shake drive-thru -- through the walls and windows and into the dining room.

To be fair, it didn't drive all the way through. Just, you know, far enough in that the entirety of the vehicle was inside the restaurant.

A waiter gave us some of the "deets," including the fact that that was partly why all the furniture is a different style than most Steak 'n Shakes' furniture.

After enjoying our surroundings a bit, Jen and I finally got down to business: food.

Specifically, a 3D Grilled Cheese for Jen, and a Guacamole Steakburger for me.

I vant to suck your blood!
But first, I vant to eat your delicious guacamole.

We didn't stay at this Steak 'n Shake long, as we did still have a few hours' drive to get us back to Indianapolis, and (a surprise, I can assure you, to us) a time-change to consider.


Thanks for the fun times, Evansville! P.S. Seriously, invest in some credit card readers! We may want to come visit again.