Riding The Storm Out

What are the state animals of Florida and Illinois?

One thing I kind of missed when I moved to Florida were the Midwest storms in the summer. Sure, Florida has plenty of storms in the summer but they simply blow up right over you. In Illinois you can see them coming for miles, a long black line on the horizon that slowly moves closer and closer. They are a wall of rain, wind, and destruction that descend upon you with nature's fury. Last night there was such a storm on the horizon, but that did not stop me and Mark from toddling on up to Big Chick's for some quesadillas, beer, liquor, and trivia. Every Wednesday Big Chick's has a quesadilla special along with a beer by the pitcher and Maker's Mark special at the bar. For entertainment they conduct a trivia contest. The trivia contest can be fun... if you're not playing with Mark on your team. He takes it so damn seriously. The emcee reads the question and if Mark isn't able to write down the answer and run up there with it within ten seconds, he gets upset. The fact that Mark can be a mean drunk does not help. At the end of the contest, Mark and I were in second place out of ten teams. If we got the last question right, and if the first place team couldn't Google the answer fast enough, we would win. It was at that last important moment that Mark realized he had lost his new glasses. He suddenly turned into crazy Mark, screaming at me and running around the bar pushing people aside as he looked on the ground for his glasses. It was not pretty.

So, the answer to the question was, Florida Panther and Illinois White Tail Deer. We got it wrong, even though it looked like it was written just for us. In my panic, as Mark was going crazy, I blurted out "Raccoon" for both states. Yes, we lost.