Well, it's Day 13 on the "Change Wal-Mart, Change America, Eat Badly" tour. (Eating on the road well is about as difficult as changing Wal-Mart into a responsible company. The choices usually involve "deep fried breaded something with ranch and a side of fries" - but I digress.)

Our stop in Chicago was pretty incredible. After canvassing on Michigan Avenue (Kofinis, by the way is really "confused" and won't stop calling it Madison Ave - someone needs some sleep), we headed to St. Gregory's High School where we were expecting a small crowd for a late afternoon meeting. But, over 200 showed up for our "Better Chicago, Better America" town hall meeting with Representative Jan Schakowsky.

It was a great event. As we go from town to town, it's obvious that folks really understand the whole fight to change Wal-Mart is truly a fight for a better America.

Ok, but the real excitement of the day began after the event.

Here is the timetable (and we may need this for legal reasons, since
Kofinis is thinking about suing Blank) of what we call the "Big Baby Bruised Incident."

5:15 - Wrapping up to leave the event.

5:20 - We get loaded on the bus, but because there is always one straggler, we keep re-enacting the scene from "Last of the Mohicans" (c'mon you know the one, "I won't leave you behind." Ok, not as funny if you're not here in person.)

5:21 - We back up the bus and conduct a three-point turn (actually, more like a 9-point turn in this 45-foot bus!)

5:22 - Kofinis is in the front of the bus giving directions (first mistake.)

5:23 - We start driving down Bryn Mawr away from the school at about 15 mph.

5:24 - Blank stands in the aisle, making another really bad joke or trying to be funny (we can never tell which one it is.)

5:26 - A car pulls out suddenly from a driveway in front of a 45-foot bus (smart move, whoever you are.)

5:26:01 - Smiley engineers a sudden stop (by the way, do you know a bus when it stops suddenly sounds an awful lot like Paul Blank screaming - oh wait it was him screaming.)

5:26:02 - Blank flies two feet in the air and right into Kofinis who almost goes right through the windshield (yes, Edelman/Wal-Mart folks you almost got your wish.)

5:26:03 - Kofinis' left arm becomes the cushion or "air bag" for all 150 lbs of Blank's flying body.

5:26:04 - Kofinis starts his whining - with all this blather about his "bruised arm" or "it really hurts" or maybe "it's broken." (What a big baby.)

5:27 - Kofinis gets tons of faked sympathy from the tour staff (no one really cared, but we felt we had to, just to be semi-decent.)

5:28 - Kofinis heads to the back of the bus and, for the legal record, decides to apply a cold compress (also known as the frozen bottle of Pepsi we have kept in the freezer for some unknown reason) on his arm.

5:30 - Blank starts making jokes about how cool it was to fly into
Kofinis (not funny, but kind of funny.)

5:31 - Everyone gets bored of the whole thing and moves on (except for Kofinis who tries to milk it for another 30 minutes in the back room.)

Anyway, we are now on our way to the Wisconsin State Fair to canvass, and then into the city for a town hall with Joe Trippi.

All in all, another great day in the "Change Wal-Mart, Change America" Tour in what is an exhausting but truly amazing experience.

-Laura