KENT had told me that he and ZERO, based in Amery WI, intended to play Buzztime in a town which doesn't exist. I'd forgotten this enigmatic remark when I took a look at the in-state, Minnesota results of Thursday Six, Week 4 of the Mudee Challenge, and sure enough, there they were, KENT and ZERO, with scores reporting from the Last Turn Saloon in La Crosse MN.
La Crosse WI is one of those leafy little cities with a population of 40-100K which dot the Wisconsin countryside. It's the largest city between Madison WI and Rochester MN. Perched above the Mississippi River, it doesn't extend into Minnesota. Across the river, there is no West La Crosse MN, just a dot on the map known as La Crescent. "Aha!" say I to myself, "The bar manager who signed up for Buzztime absent-mindedly put down his state of residence rather than that of his place of work." Mystery solved.
So I clicked on the Last Turn Saloon's home page (in Buzztime) and discovered that the site is located at 214 So 8th St, La Crosse MN 56401. The zip code for La Crosse WI is 54601. 56401 is the zip code for Brainerd MN, 285 miles north. Here I went to AAA's website to create an ad hoc Trip Tik, and no sooner had I punched in Last Turn Sa... than I was presented with the Last Turn Saloon, Brainerd MN as my first option.
Brainerd is so far north it might have been included in GYPSY's trans-Canada tour. Anyone travelling along I-90 across the southern border of Minnesota and wanting to stop in La Crosse MN for a game of Countdown at the Last Turn Saloon might chose instead to cross the river and check out Neuie's Vogue Bar and Grill in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It'll save you a few miles.
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