This story ran 10/28/2012 in Isthmus (web only).

It’s not even 9:30 p.m. and Kirk, a 50-something UW alum, with his quieter friend Mark have been drinking since before the Badger game earlier in the afternoon. “We’re glad to see Madison is still cool,” he says.

During the 20-minute ride to the Essen Haus, Kirk never stops talking – about his daughter, about the costumes we pass, about the cold weather he’s no longer used to after years living in Arizona. “I haven’t had such a hard time getting a cab since I was in Tijuana,” he says.

I’m riding shotgun with Becky Wheeler, an eight-year veteran of Union Cab, on one of the busiest nights of the cabbie’s year. Saturday is a collision of parties with UW’s Homecoming, including a football game, and Freakfest with its 33,000 ticket holders converging on State Street along with costume parties and nightclub celebrations taking place all over town. Becky’s in costume, with elaborate sugar-skull face paint, and is offering candy to passengers…

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