Scav Road Trip: SD

Item #249:
Criminelvis plays the Palace, joining the ranks of Raven-Symone, LeeAnn Rimes, and that dude from Riverdance. [5 points]

I was dressed as Kevin Costner's character in 3000 Miles to Graceland, which the Judges referred to as "Criminelvis."

"The Palace" was the infamous Corn Palace, the World's Only, A-Maize-ing, Corn Palace. It's in Mitchell, South Dakota, maybe 30 miles west of Sioux Falls. Certainly it's a feat; they replace the corn every year except for this past year, because of the drought. Inside, though, there's little reason for it to exist, other than a large auditorium. I was expecting some kind of celebration of corn, or corn museum, but really there is one wall with a series of pictures and captions.

Now, the auditorium was why we were there, at least. I had to sing (I chose Hound Dog, since it was the one I knew without having to listen to it again) on stage. I have no ability to sing. I have less ability to dance. I have even less ability to dance like Elvis. So, it was with some trepidation that I got up on stage, aware of the tiny red light on the video camera that one of my team mates was holding.

The good news was the place was empty. Except there were a few maintenance workers I noticed on the way out. They gave me quite a look.

Item #233. The Clan Costner loves cheese balls. Loves ’em so much, they’re going to try to eat them in as many states as possible. [5 points per state, maximum 8 states]

It took us a while to find cheese balls in the first place - we had to go to a grocery store in La Crosse, WI. Once we found them, though, we had to get out in each state we could and take a picture with the orange puffs in our hands and big grins on our faces.

Which is why we were going to Wyoming. Well, there was one other item we needed to complete there:

53. The Mariner: IN WYOMING!!! [20 points] (The Mariner being Kevin Costner's character in Waterworld)

But also we needed to eat cheeseballs.

It was late when we left Kevin Costner's casino in Deadwood, SD, so we decided to get food in Spearfish, SD, a couple miles from the Wyoming border. We stopped at a Quizno's sub, arriving at 8:40, 20 minutes before close.

When we got there, the chairs were already up on the tables, and the two people who were behind the counter were packing up the veggies and sliced meats. It was Spearfish, SD, after all, so it was not that unreasonable to not expect anyone else to come in after 8:30.

But not only did people come in, people came in dressed like Robin Hood, a Chicago Black Sock, the Mariner from Waterworld, and a criminal Elvis. Which the two kids behind the counter clearly did not expect. As we looked up at the menu boards, trying to decide what to get, they moved into the back and started laughing. Theoretically they were trying to get out of our field of vision, but they were laughing so loudly we couldn't possibly not hear them. One of them came out to take our order, and immediately went right back again, unable to hold it in.