As many of you are probably unaware, the Starman resides in Fargo, North Dakota. In case you haven’t been watching the nightly news, a weather channel or have come across a national news web site, the city and other surrounding communities have been preparing for an upcoming record breaking flood.
The Red River of the North is the river that runs to the east of Fargo and marks the border between North Dakota and Minnesota. The river begins about 50 miles south of Fargo and flows north into Lake Winnipeg just outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Word started getting out a little less than a week ago that the river would flood and crest between 38-40 feet. The flood stage for the river in Fargo is 18 feet.
Since last Saturday my wife and I have helped fill sandbags to build temporary dikes for both Fargo and Moorhead, the sister city across the river in Minnesota. All in all, the two of us have probably volunteered nearly 24 hours to the flood fight and are now waiting for the river to crest in hopes that our work and the work of countless others at least helps in saving our homes.
City officials announced today that the river should reach 40 feet by Friday and would crest at 41, which would break a 112 year record, on Saturday. As of right now, the river is sitting at 37 feet, over twice the height of the flood stage. By now, I’m sure you are wondering what this all has to do with a wrestling blog. I’ll finally get to the point.
It just so happens that tomorrow night there is a TNA house show in Brookings, South Dakota, that I have second row tickets to. Normally, the 190 mile drive between the two cities would take about 2 ½ hours. Like I said, though, the Red River flows north, which means we would have to go through roads that have already been flooded in the path of the Red River.
According to the ND DOT web site, there is no travel advised on the Interstate and many of the other major highways in the southeast corner of the state. South Dakota, on the other hand, appears to be in pretty good shape, so the problem would lie in getting out and back into North Dakota. With Fargo only being 60 miles from the South Dakota border, you’d think that it would be an easy trip. Depending on the roads, though, it could prove to be a challenging trip.
As of now, we – my brother, my two nephews and me – are all still planning on going to the show. We plan on leaving early, quite possibly really early, in case we have to take an extra long detour to get to the Swiftel Center. By the sound of it, the extra long and cautious driving should be worth while.
According to the TNA web site, the card will be headlined by a match between Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle. Beer Money is also scheduled to face off against the LAX and Suicide will take on Chris Sabin. On top of that, AJ Styles, Team 3D, ODB, Sojourner Bolt and others will be appearing. The three announced matches alone already has this card above the previous house show I went to.
As I have done with the past TNA shows I have attended, I will be bringing my camera, along with some extra batteries, and will be taking a ton of photos. I will also provide a house show recap of the event. All of this, of course, is dependant on whether or not we make it to the show.
Call us crazy, but my brother and I are hardcore wrestling fans and we wouldn’t just allow ourselves to miss it due to an extreme case of flooding. Plus, this would be the first live events my two nephews will have been to in person, so we wouldn’t want to crush their hopes. Not to mention that after all of the flood fighting I have been doing the past week, I think I have earned this.
Wish us luck.
