Hiding From Winter at the St. Paul RV Show

 

Hiding from Winter at the St. Paul RV Show

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for January 18, 2026

Monday night we celebrated Abby’s birthday at Kona Grill in Eden Prairie. We like sushi, but not at full-price, mortgage-payment levels. The night completely turned when we discovered it was all-night happy hour. Suddenly everyone was relaxed, ordering freely, and feeling smarter than we actually are. Miss Sheri still hates seafood, but even she appreciated the financial victory.

Wednesday night took us down to Lonsdale with Luke, his roommates, and the Walters, which is always a reliable recipe for things getting louder than planned. It really went off the rails after Miss Sheri and I both won bingo, at which point we were yelling “Bingo” and “Social” like we were best friends with everyone in the room.

Friday night was a different kind of bingo at the Shakopee VFW with our Euchre crew. Music Bingo, where you play for random T-shirts and stray beer glasses behind the bar, which is exactly our level of prize ambition. The twist was finding out it was all country music, which listening to normally makes me throw up in my mouth a little. Still, with this group, it was impossible not to have a good time.

This past weekend we braved freezing temperatures to hit the St. Paul RV Show, one of Minnesota’s favorite winter traditions where hundreds of RVs are packed indoors so we can all pretend summer isn’t still months away. 

I also ran into my old buddy and former coworker Rob Bauer, who I hadn’t seen in years. Seeing him alone was worth the price of admission, which, conveniently, was free.

Nothing wraps up the week quite like discovering a fully operational trout pond inside a convention center. It’s wholesome, a little redneck, and somehow makes perfect sense in the middle of winter. The kids made memories. The trout requested legal representation.