Saturday March 31, 2007 we did another mall walk due to potentially rainy weather.  Joining me on this walk were Bob, Pete and Steve.  We went to Great Lakes Crossing mall in Auburn Hills for this walk. 

In the beginning we all walked together as a group of four.  As time went on Bob and Steve seemed to keep getting ahead of me and Pete.  Pete was fighting a cold and his energy level wasn’t real high so he wanted to walk a bit slower. 

At one point Pete stopped to buy a jaw breaker gum ball from one of the many gumball machines located in the main isle way of the mall.  They have these gum ball stations spread out every once in a while all around the mall.  Each gum ball station must have at least ten gum ball machines to choose from, each one with a different flavor.  Pete chose a super sour one and it only took him a few seconds of chewing this sour gum ball before he raced over to the nearest garbage can to spit it out.  When Pete spits out a sour gum ball he doesn’t do it quietly.  He was actually quite loud and animated as you might have suspected.  Pete makes sure everyone around him notices him spitting into the garbage can.  There were a few other innocent bystanders in the area when Pete ran to the can.  They all stopped to watch Pete and they definitely got a show.  I asked Pete why he picked a super sour flavor.  He told me he didn’t think it was going to be that sour.  I can’t imagine ever picking a sour gum ball of all the choices, especially a super sour one.  After his sour gum ball experience he next bought a bottle of water from a vending machine in an attempt to clear out the sour taste from his mouth. 

As Bob and Steve would get a ways a head they would finally stop and wait for Pete and me to catch up.  As you all should know by now, Steve likes to talk and he tells some really funny stories.  As Bob and Steve would start to pull away I could hear Steve’s voice slowly fading away.  As we would catch back up I would start to hear Steve again. 

After waiting for us a couple times Bob and Steve finally decided to just keep walking.  They got so far ahead we lost sight of them.  I think they were planning to pass us to show us how slow we were going.  Pete and I caught on to their scheme and we decided to cheat and take one of the paths that cut the mall circle in half.  We figured this way we could catch back up a little and at least they wouldn’t pass us.  They never did pass us, but they did end up walking at least a full half circle more than us. 

We ended up doing 6 laps at 0.8 miles per lap for a total distance of 4.8 miles.  When we finally met back up at the end of our walk we started talking about where we should go for lunch.  We couldn’t decide on any place in the mall and we ended up deciding to head over to the SageBrush Cantina in downtown Lake Orion.  

I can’t remember who drove, but we hopped in someone’s car and drove over to the Sage Brush.  The Sage Brush gets really busy at night, to the point where you may end up with a ridiculous wait.  This is one of the reasons we like to go there at lunch time, the crowds aren’t nearly as bad.  I can’t remember what everyone ordered, but I got a chicken super burrito.  I ate about one quarter of it and took the leftover home for three more meals during the weekend.  These super burritos are just huge.  After lunch we headed home.  
David Lindquist