Disclaimer - I do not own anything even remotely related to The Mighty Ducks. I only wish I had thought of them first…
Italics indicate character thought.
Traveling south on 35 Beau turned around in her seat, her knees pressed against the center console, her hands playing lightly on Charlie's arm and waved her free hand at Rachel.
"Rach, check the book!"
Charlie's eyes met Fulton's in the rearview mirror. Reed rubbed his newly shaved head and grimaced. "The book?"
Rachel was bouncing in her seat, her mousy brown bangs falling in her eyes as she pulled a thick colorful book from her huge shoulder bag. "We're on 35, right?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Beau leaned forward anxiously as her friend flipped through pages murmuring to herself. Suddenly Rachel smiled. "We're headed into St. Paul, right?" Nods all around. "Score." She grinned up at Beau, punctuating each worth with giddy enthusiasm. "The World's…Largest…Stucco…Snowman."
Beau clapped her hands like a little girl. "Score, indeed!"
Fulton grabbed the walkie-talkie. "Banks! Pull over…over!"
They pulled into the first gas station they came to and Adam and the others jumped out, looking a little frantic. Fulton scrambled out of the Blazer, having snatched the book from Rachel. She was after him, calling for him to give it back and by the time Beau and Charlie made it out and into the sunlight, Rachel was on Fulton's back, trying with her petite frame to reach the book where Fulton held it high above his head. He squinted up at it, reading aloud.
"The Great American Book of Roadside Attractions." He handed it back to Rachel and she promptly jumped to the ground, huffy.
"That's right."
Adam was sitting on his bumper, amused. "What on earth is going on?" Beau lowered herself to sit beside him, slinging her arm around his shoulders companionably.
"The Largest Stucco Snowman in America, Adam. We're gonna stop and see it." Her grin was unmistakable, just daring anyone to say they weren't going to see it.
Fulton stood, feet wide apart, arms crossed defiantly. "You're kidding me, right? We are not stopping to see this crap."
Rachel calmly opened the book, running her finger across a page. "The World's Largest Stucco Snowman sits at the southeast corner of MN highway 36 and Margaret St. in North St. Paul. The North St. Paul Jaycees used to build a snowman each winter to celebrate Sno-Daze. They were built on the northeast corner of the same intersection. Apparently after a couple of lean snowfall winters they decided to build a permanent icon for the city."
Averman patted Goldberg's shoulder. "Cool! We're so there!"
It took one quick look from Fulton to silence him. And it took only one quick look from Beau to tell Charlie that there was no way in hell that Fulton Reed was winning this one. Her voice was sweet.
"This is Road Trip 2006, Fulton."
He was disarmed by her voice, thinking how cute she and Rachel were as they pouted at him. "Yeah, but you guys invited us. And you…" Beau interrupted.
"Yes, we did invite you so that we could enjoy your lovely company. But you agreed to the rules." She looked at Charlie who shrugged in his friend's direction.
"We did agree to the rules, man."
Fulton only glowered. "This is nuts. What kind of vacation consists of driving somewhere based on a coin? Don't you want to know where you're going?"
Beau shook her head blandly. "I know where I'm going every day of my life Fulton. The point of our road trips is to be surprised, to be spontaneous, to just have friends being together." She flashed him the winning grin again, knowing she had him. "I promise you you'll have a good time. Aren't you having a good time already?"
He rolled his eyes, also knowing he was hooked. "Yeah, of course I am." He took a long drink of his soda and gestured back to the car. "If we're going to see this giant-ass snowman in daylight we better get moving."
They all cheered and as they were heading back to the Blazer Rachel bumped her hip into Fulton's and fanned the book in front of his face. "Did you know there were 25 pages in here just of Minnesota roadside attractions?" When he rolled his eyes again she grinned, ignoring him. "That's twice as many as most states!"
"Wow. All I can really say is…wow." They were standing below the snowman as the sun started to set over North St. Paul, their heads tilted all the way back to see the black hat atop his head. "It's sort of like a giant scary Frosty." This from Averman, who, hands on hips, was really taking it all very seriously."
Beau backed up a few steps and snapped a picture of her friends, backs to the camera, taking in the glory that was the stucco snowman. She laughed, knowing it would be a great addition to the scrapbook. When Fulton backed up beside her she looked at him knowingly.
"How thrilled are you that you've now experienced this great wonder?"
He turned around, looking up at the monstrosity again. "I admit it. It's cool."
At Highway 14 Guy and Goldberg fought over the coin and finally flipped for them to head west. As they started down the road Rachel pulled out the book and waggled it at Fulton.
"C'mon Fulton. You know you want to be the one to find the next big discovery." His hand snaked out and snagged the book from her, gently bopping her on the head with it.
In the front seat Charlie tightened his grip on Beau's hand and gave her a little surprised look. When she looked confused he looked pointedly in the rearview mirror and shrugged a little. Beau shrugged in response. There was no telling what was going through Rachel's mind.
It was a day later and they had made a u-shape through the state of Minnesota and were north of Minneapolis near the city of Menahga. The nine of them stood below another massive statue, squinting as the sun bounced off of the bronze.
Goldberg sounded skeptical. "Why does this guy have a big grasshopper on a pitchfork?"
Charlie opened the well worn book that Beau slapped against his chest. "Menahga, honors St. Urho the patron saint of Finland, with a bizarre statue recreating his mythical battle with giant grasshoppers. He is reputed to have used his 'splendid and loud voice' to chase the grasshoppers out of pre-Ice Age Finland (when the climate was much milder) and save the grape harvest. The Finns love him. At least, the ones in America do. St. Urho was reportedly invented in the 1950s by a couple of Minnesota Finns as a joke. Today it's taken seriously enough that St. Urho Day (the day before St. Patrick's Day) is officially recognized in all 50 states."
"Never heard of it." Goldberg was still unsure.
Averman backed away slowly and leaned against the car. "So, this guy was some sort of freakish Finnish myth?"
Charlie sat down beside him. "Looks that way."
Beau and Rachel shrugged at one another before mugging animatedly for a picture taken by Guy.
Later that night, just past dinner time, the motley crew pulled into a small town called Devil's Lake, North Dakota. There was a large billboard that touted the picturesque town as the country's snowmobiling capital. Rachel and Beau looked at each other and Rachel lifted the walkie-talkie to her mouth.
"This is it boys. The point of no return. Over."
Charlie just looked at Beau. "Huh?"
She spoke as if everyone knew what they were talking about. "The point of no return. The place we stop and stay for a night or two before heading back." As an afterthought she pushed the talkie button again. "Over."
Guy's voice was excited. "Great! I love snowmobiling! Where do we stay?"
Where they stayed was the surprisingly affordable Great American Inn and Suites, the snowmobiling capital of the snowmobiling capital. Within an hour of the girls unpacking in their two bed room and the boys checking into their three bedroom suite, the boys – minus Jesse and his ankle - already had snowmobiles rented for the next day.
The following late morning and they had already been out for hours. Beau, Rachel, and Jesse explored the small town and all that it had to offer in the way of quaint charm while the rest of the boys explored the more challenging snowmobile trails.
As they sat down at a mom and pop restaurant, Beau couldn't help but pick her friend's brain. "Well, Rachel. Spit it out. I know you're dying to tell me what you think about Charlie."
Jesse let out a low whistle and Rachel looked at him skeptically. Beau waved her hand in dismissal. "Jesse is cool. What you say stays with us."
"You got it, girl." Jesse went back to his sandwich, secretly very interested in what the girl would have to say.
Rachel took a big bite, considering, and after what seemed like forever she swallowed and grinned. "I love him, Beau. He's perfect for you. Absolutely perfect!"
BellaLou: I'll see what I can do about Banks and Guy. No promises though! I have some other ideas about Guy and Connie and might explore them in another fic. If you have any suggestions, send them my way and I'll work them into this sotry. Thanks for the compliments!
Cc: Give Rachel time. She's cute as can be when she wants to be!