Minneapolis

Day 1

I arrived into Minneapolis at 3:30 PM.   As I entered the National Car Rental garage their employee told me that most of the 4X4 vehicles were parked in a different row.   It then dawned on me that there must be a reason he is providing me this guidance.  As I loaded my suitcase and backpack into a Toyota Highlander the cold began to seep through my coat and undershirts.   As I was leaving the garage the attendant informed me that a record Winter storm had just started.

I immediately began thinking about the customer visits that would now have to be rescheduled or cancelled. Then started to think if it was even going to be possible to meet with Kevin, the Minneapolis sale rep.    I recalled looking at my Weather app the day before and it had only predicted 1 – 2 inches of snow.    The weather forecast was now showing a snowfall accumulation of 2 feet over the next 48 hours!    This would make the roads very hazardous to drive.  

As I checked into the Hilton Garden Inn in Bloomington the employee behind the registration desk told me she was surprised to see me traveling this week.    This seemed to be theme of my trip.   A lot of people questioned how smart it was to be in Minnesota at this time.   The thing was that this trip had been planned 6-8 weeks prior and it would have been difficult to reschedule.

After getting into my room I began to look for any local tennis clubs that had drills going on that evening.   I found the Minnetonka tennis club.   This is a place that I tried to play at on my previous trip but it was not yet open for the season.    As I drove to the club I found the roads to be really dangerous as the snowfall from earlier in the day was still on the ground.    There were small snow flurries and the wind brought up a lot of snow drift into my line of sight.   This made the drive even more difficult.   After 20 minutes I arrived to the club and was impressed to see 7 other players ready to go.   These people are used to the cold and as passionate to play tennis as myself.    The drill started at 8:00 PM.    After warming up it became clear to me that there were not going to be any drills.   Instead we were going to be playing doubles for the entire session.    After 2.5 hours of great play we were able to finally call it a night.   I returned back to the hotel and basically had the highway to myself.   It was an eerie feeling but was finally glad to see the hotel after another 20 minute drive.

Day 2

The next day I met Kevin early at the Minneapolis Service Center that is located in Chasksa.    We had a couple of customer visits scheduled and drove out to Delano.    After completing the customer visits we went to eat lunch at Brickside Grille and Tap.   As it was Ash Wednesday I decided not to eat any red meat.    To my dismay everything that appealed to me on the menu had beef as part of the meal.   The Margherita pizza had a vinaigrette on it which gave it a sweet taste.   This did not really appeal to me since I am used to eating the real deal out of Naples.   After completing another customer site visit we headed back into Minneapolis.    On the drive the heaviest part of the storm began and we slowed down from 60 to about 40 miles per hour on the highway.

It took 2.5 hours to get back to the Service Center.   As we arrived the snow had began to fall a lot harder and was accumulating.    Kevin and I called it a day around 4:00 PM and we headed our separate ways.

I did have a tennis drill scheduled for that evening but received a notification that it was cancelled due to the storm.   I remained at the hotel for the evening and watched season 5 of Better Call Saul.

Day 3

The next morning I worked out at the hotel, took calls and responded to emails.   I had scheduled lunch with Kevin at the Cov restaurant which was located at the Galleria Mall.    The was a very nice location and the mall came with a lot upscale stores.    Kevin later told me that we were in Edina which is considered an upscale part of the city. 

I had a lobster roll but the meal was pictured different in my mind than when it came out.   There is no doubt that the best Lobster roll sandwiches are found in New England.    Afterwards we headed back to the hotel where we concluded the day in a conference room.

I was able to work for a couple of hours before going to the Inner City tennis center.    We had a total of 6 players on a single court.    Somehow the trainer was able to make it work.   As I was leaving the facility I was preparing myself for the cold.    As I ran to my car in the cold it wasn’t apparent that a pair of shoes were left behind at the Tennis center.    I didn’t realize this error until the next morning when I was looking to put them on prior to leaving for the Minneapolis airport.

As I left the airport on Friday morning I reflected on the previous 3 days.   It was good that the storm did not produce the two feet of snow that was predicted.   Instead the city only got 1 foot of fresh powder.   I was happy to be heading back to 80 degree weather in Houston.   Experiences like this help you notice the things you at times take for granted.   I’m looking forward to returning to Minneapolis when there is green on the trees and blue in the sky.