After an overnight in Springfield, Illinois following the Giants-St. Louis game, on Saturday morning we headed north and east toward Detroit, almost 500 miles away.
There is a lot of road construction along this route that caused us some frustrating delays, and on top of that, the rental car overheated.
Somewhere around Gary, Indiana the temp gauge on the 300 suddenly shot upward. Doug quickly exited the tollway, and we popped the hood at the first gas station. The problem was obvious: there was no radiator cap in place.
Fortunately, even though the cap had somehow popped off, it had landed on top of the coolant overflow reservoir, where it remained in plain sight. After giving the cooling system a fresh drink of coolant and water, we were on the way again, none the worse for wear.
We soon were passing South Bend, and Doug said, “We’ve gotta see ‘Touchdown Jesus.’” It wasn’t long until the massive Notre Dame football stadium loomed ahead. We stopped to take some pictures.
“Touchdown Jesus” is a full-wall mosaic opposite the stadium entrance depicting Christ with his arms raised toward heaven (and also approximating the signal for a touchdown). It is pictured at the top of this post.
Looking at the main entrance to the football field (above) brings to mind the many historic memories contained within those walls. Knute Rockne, George Gipp, the Four Horsemen, Paul Hornung, Joe Montana, and on and on. The school’s storied football past almost invokes awe.
As we left the hallowed grounds of Our Lady, we talked about all of the tradition and history of the school. It could just be the most significant college sports institution in the country.
After the radiator experience, we decided to turn in the car at the Detroit airport and get another one for the remainder of the trip. We got to the Detroit area just in time to accomplish the trade and get to Tiger Stadium for the evening game with the Red Sox. That’ll be the next post.
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