Roadside Giant Tour 07

Day 16: On the Route Again!

2007-05-25T19:40:00.000-05:00

Your patience is being rewarded at long last - thanks for sticking with us! Saturday morning we awoke to the sounds of motorcycles in the parking lot, or at least I did. I think I woke Kim up for a change! I am sure we were moving much slower than usual today because we knew it was the last day of our Roadside Giant Tour, but we eventually got ourselves to Jubelt's for breakfast. Our waiter at the Ariston had recommended it, and since it was right next door to the Ariston, we even knew how to get there. What a wonderful choice - not only was it the local hotspot for breakfast, it was a BAKERY, too!

I had a breakfast sandwich - eggs, bacon, and cheese on homemade sunflower bread and Kim had...the usual. We had a grand time people watching - since it was Saturday morning we had everything from farmers to bikers to dads with Little Leaguers and moms with babies. And of course, we elicited plenty of "those twins are not from around here" stares. After eating, we selected a few cookies (to go with the homemade candy we still had from Lago's) for the road. Yum!

Did I mention that we were back on Route 66? Even though this was our third time on this particular stretch of road, there were several things that we had not seen, so off we went. Kim really wanted me to go back to the Whirl-a-Whip, but we pushed onward. First stop was the Mother Jones Memorial in the Union Miners Cemetery near Mt. Olive. Miners killed in the 1898 mining riots are buried here, and Mother Jones, a friend of Labor, was 100 years old when she died.

In Mt. Olive we were able to see the Soulsby Shell station in daylight this time. It is the oldest gas station that was originally located on Route 66 and it was in operation from 1926 to 1993. You can see it at www.il66assoc.org/idx_SoulsbyStation.htm if you like, and of course, it was a Roadside Attraction.

Just down the road in Staunton was Henry's Rabbit Ranch and Route 66 Emporium, and I was thrilled to see not one but TWO original Campbell's Express semi-trailers with the original Snortin' 66 Norton - "Humpin' to Please" Camel. The Campbell Express Trucking Company operated from 1926 - 1986 - there are lots of places I would not have wanted to meet one of these trucks if I were driving on Route 66 back in the day! Check out www.henrysroute66.com and just know that we've been looking for these truck for the whole trip! Henry also really had rabbits - some were VW Rabbits and some were real live bunnies, headed by the Queen Bun, Montana. We had a fun time sharing stories with Henry.

By now it was close to noon and we were still only a few miles from where we started. Our next target was the World's Largest Catsup Bottle in Collinsville, IL. Once we navigated ourselves past the downtown area and found our way back, we could see the huge thing. It's got its own website and fan club - www.catsupbottle.com - fan club???

At this point we were ready to make tracks for Paducah, until we saw a road sign that said Belleville, 9 miles. One of my best friends, former lifeguard pal, and pharmacy school roommate, Barbara, lives in Belleville - how could I not at least call to see if she was home? As luck would have it, she had just come in and was getting ready to leave shortly, so we agreed to have a drive-by hug and be on our way. An hour or so later, we were! It was great to visit with Barb and see her husband, Craig, too. Now we really had to get moving!

Not much more to tell here - we sacrificed scenery for speed and got on the interstate and arrived in Paducah without any more giants or quirky roadside attractions. We went by our old childhood home which was no longer "ours" for the first time in almost 50 years, and then we went to Mom's new house. We took her to dinner (that would be lunch/dinner for us) at the Parlor in Lone Oak, KY (Kim and I split a pizza - first one in days!) and it was here that our trip officially ended. A moment of silence, please.

Kim spent the night at mom's and returned to Memphis the next day. I traveled on to Henderson, TN, to visit with Rex's mom and cousin Jan. I spent the night there and got up early (really!) Sunday morning for my 600+ mile trip back to Durham. Eleven and a half hours later, I was home safely.

And so there you have it - the 2007 Sassy Sisters' Roadside Giant Tour had reached it's conclusion. Thanks for riding along with us and stay tuned for more factoids and fun. We're thinking Appalachian Trail (by car, not by foot!) next year, but as you well know, plans can change!

If you've got any great road trip ideas or if you are inspired to get off the beaten path because of what you've read here, please let us know! If you have any connections - books, TV, magazine, or anybody else who might think we have a future driving around eating and stopping for anything remotely resembling fun and writing about it - by all means send them the link to our blog. A new career could be just around the corner!

Jan (there's no place like home and I can't wait to be back on the road again!)

Day 15: What, more ice cream?

2007-05-22T20:05:00.000-05:00

By now you know that early starts are not a hallmark of this trip and today was no exception. By ten we were rolling though, and in search of a local breakfast spot. When we checked in last night, we asked the woman at the front desk to recommend some places that met our criteria (not a chain, breakfast pretty much any time - how hard is that?) and she told us Perkins and Country Kitchen. Wrong! We got online and found a place called Breezy's Cafe and then we got ourselves there. It was in downtown Dubuque and had been written about in the Washington Post (all that Iowa caucus stuff, you know). Breakfast was okay here - Kim's usual looked good but my eggs Benedict (what was I thinking?) was smothered in some sauce that looked almost like what would go on a Hot Brown. It was tasty, just not what I was expecting.

Since we were already there and it looked intriguing, we decided to explore Dubuque. Located on the banks (and bluffs) of the Mississippi River, it has a beautiful old courthouse with a shiny gold dome and a brand new hotel and civic center on the riverbank. We walked around for a while and found Dottie's Cafe, which we had read about but were glad we didn't choose, since it was very smoky inside.

Our passage over to the river and the Shot Tower was blocked by the highways and the railroad tracks, so we drove over there. We mistakenly thought we could see the Shot Tower up close, but it is on railroad property now. The Shot Tower was built in 1856 to produce lead shot ammunition. Molten lead was poured from the top of the tower and as it fell, it passed through a series of sieves until it was the proper size for ammunition, and then it landed in a tub of cold water. It's one of the only remaining shot towers in the country and the only one west of the Mississippi (barely!). There was a great Riverwalk along this area and the hotel boasts an indoor water park with a huge water slide. We couldn't get inside the Civic Center, but it was beautiful with a wall of windows facing the water.

We made one more stop an the Fenelon Place Elevator, an incline railway that looked like it went straight up the hill (see it at www.dbq.com/fenplco/). It is described as "the world's steepest, shortest scenic railway, 296 feet in length, elevating passengers 189 feet from Fourth Street to Fenelon Place. Magnificent view of the business district, the Mississippi River, and three states." It was originally built for private use in 1892! We rode up with an Swedish exchange student and his family - the mom was afraid of heights so she couldn't look out and enjoy the ride. At only $2 a pop, it easily met our under $5 attraction fee rule!

By the time we left Dubuque, it was after noon, but the only place we had to be today was Lagomarcino's in Moline, IL, and we had until 5:30 to get there. No problem, right? Our route took us down the Great River Road, hugging the banks of the Mississippi on the Iowa side. Our first stop was at St. Donatus, where we stopped and saw two lovely old churches, and then we stopped in Bellevue ("Where eagles soar") and the very quaint and well-appointed Mont Rest B&B (www.montrest.com). One of the proprietors took us on a tour of the inn (even though we didn't have an appointment) and then pointed us toward the State Park south of town.

At the state park, we were almost run over by an inattentive driver who was backing out of a parking place without noticing that we were driving down the road. Even after I laid on the horn, he still almost hit us, then saw us and sped off. How rude! The view of the river from up here was spectacular, but we missed the eagles by a few months. They evidently roost here from November to March, and the photos we saw were unbelievable - eagles perched on every branch! We hiked out to a butterfly garden and then visited a nature center with really great taxidermy and a live rattlesnake that I annoyed when I tried to get an up close and personal photo. Boy, are they loud! Turns out he'd only been in captivity for five days. On our way down to the highway, some large rodent (maybe a badger - we haven't identified it yet) ran in front of the car, but I didn't hit him!

On down the road we passed a silo with a huge fiddle painted on its side, and we noticed the Faithful Pilot restaurant in Le Claire, but we were on a mission by now. In Bettendorf, we saw a grain elevator with an old painting of Mr. Peanut on it and a huge golden sphere next to the train tracks that evidently was being used for coal storage. It was after 3:30 before we crossed the river into Moline, IL, home of Lagomarcino's, which, according to Road Food, has the best hot fudge sundae in the solar system. On a road trip a few years ago, my friend Anne and I had driven (fast) about 200 miles out of our way to test that opinion. Obviously, we agreed, since Kim and I were almost there again! Once we found it, we were not disappointed and yet again, lunch consisted of ice cream. Did I mention that both the ice cream and the hot fudge (which comes on the side in its own little pitcher!) are homemade? Divine! Add wooden booths, Tiffany lamps, and homemade candy and chocolates to the mix and you know we were in Nirvana. They even have one of those old hot nut display cases like our old Sears used to have. Unable to resist temptation, we bought cashews, dark chocolate English toffee, and milk chocolate almond bark for the road, which we promptly hit. You will be sorry if you don't at least look at www.lagomarcinos.com and even sorrier if you don't order something from there! We spent a bit of time involuntarily wandering the streets of Moline and Rock Island before we made it back to the highway.

Now it was seriously time to drive and make time, since we had decided we would spend the night in Litchfield, IL, and see the two or three things we had missed (twice now) on Route 66 in Illinois the next morning. Our only other sighting of interest was an old wooden windmill (like the Dutch ones) that we saw somewhere in Illinois. Dark was falling as we entered Springfield (deja vu) so we jumped on the interstate and pulled into Litchfield in time for another meal at the Ariston Cafe (where good food is served). This time we both had one of the weekend specials - Kim had Chicken Olympia and cauliflower and I had Pork Tenderloin with walnut butter and mashed potatoes. For dessert, we split a serving of Chocolate Delight (our waiter described it as "chocolate pudding with Cool Whip on a crust" - comfort food!)

When we pulled into the Hampton parking lot, it was FULL of motorcycles, except for one space, which was occupied by some cigarette-smoking bikers. When we couldn't find another place to park, we nicely asked them for that spot but NO! - they were "saving" it for a bike that was "on its way." My rear. Not to worry, we found a place right next to our room in spite of the rude people.
We were stuffed and tired, but we had not even downloaded photos for the past couple of nights, so we at least did that before we crashed and burned. Only one more day...

Jan (where will we go next year?)

Day 14: Iowa is corny and what about Bob?

2007-05-21T07:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, confession time. We're back! Yep, we've made it home and I've neglected my blogging duties for the past few days. Rather than leave you hanging, here's the rest of the story. Enjoy!

In Sioux Falls, SD, Thursday morning dawned bright and beautiful - not that we were awake to see the dawn. We had a date with Bob this morning - the "Road Food" famous Bob's Cafe was where we would be having breakfast. The Sterns were right on target with this one! Bob's is a tiny place and when we found it, we were afraid it was closed since there weren't many cars in the lot, but we were in luck! We entered to find a counter with maybe nine or ten stools, a couple of which were occupied. That was it! We were lucky to be able to order breakfast even though it was 11:00, although they were out of the Thursday-only special of caramel rolls. I ended up with the most delicious cheese omelet and hash browns that I've had in a long time, and Kim had her usual, only with REAL ham that looked yummy and she said it was! We talked to BenBob (Bob's is now owned by Ben, as best we could tell) and with some of the locals who came in for take out. Ben had us sign his guest book, and after reading the comments in it, we decided we could not leave without ordering some of "the best broasted chicken I've ever eaten" (a quote from at least a dozen people), so we got some for take out. Ben autographed our Road Food book and gave us directions to the falls (we were in Sioux Falls, after all!) and off we went. At least now we can say we've been to Sioux Falls because we've been to Bob's!

The falls were beautiful! Ben had warned us not to expect Niagara, but we were pleasantly surprised by what we found. The city has done an excellent job of showcasing its namesake! There was an observation tower so that we could see the full glory of the falls and the remains of the old Queen Bee mill that once stood seven stories high next to the Big Sioux River. There were lots of school kids on field trips, and we got a big kick out of watching one group roll down the grassy hill. It was that kind of day! From the falls, we did a drive by of the USS South Dakota Memorial, which was sort of neat. It was like they had buried the battleship until just its bow, stern, bridge, crow's nest, and guns were left above ground. Peppy was enthralled.

Once again we changed our route and instead of taking Highway 20 across Iowa, we opted for the more rural/less traveled State Rt. 3. First we drove south toward Sioux City, IA, which we originally had planned to visit, but since it was well past noon (okay, it was past one!) and we had read about ANOTHER Bob's that we just had to visit, we detoured again. This time our Bob's stop was in Le Mars, IA, Ice Cream Capital of the World. Who knew? Bob's Drive Inn is famous for its malted milkshakes and its 'loose meat' sandwiches. Guess which one we were there for! We both ordered and slurped down the best chocolate malts we've had since our daddy died. He made the best, no offense to Bob. Now it was time to get serious if we were going to make it to our Hampton (this time we had reservations!) in Dubuque, clear on the other side of Iowa.

We pretty much just drove for the rest of the day, enjoying the pleasant scenes of working farms, old and new barns and silos, cows, fields, farm machinery, and windmills. We stopped for gas, a giant Pocahontas, and a Kool-Aid stand manned by two cute kids. We were wanting to get to Dyersville in time to see the real Field of Dreams (at least it was real in the movie) but it was almost dark thirty when we got there. We went anyway, but since there was no corn growing yet, Shoeless Joe did not come out to play with us.

You may be thinking I totally left off the part where we stopped for dinner, but you'd be wrong. Remember that broasted chicken? After smelling it all day, we devoured it (and our pasta and potato salad) after we got checked into our home away from home in Dubuque. A couple of chilly ones were all we needed to complete the meal and we literally fell into bed. It was a great day, and it was my 27th anniversary, too. Thanks, Rex, for being okay with me galavanting all over the country!

Jan (the belated blogger)

Day 13: This is one big bad land

2007-05-17T09:18:00.000-05:00

Today we started our trip back east, so it was a little bit sad. We've put over 3200 miles on the Prius so far, and there are more to go! As usual, we didn't rush off this morning, even though we would be losing an hour as we went from Mountain time to Central time somewhere in South Dakota. Our original plan was to be on the interstate all day except for a side trip to the Badlands. We were going to have breakfast at the famous Wall Drug Store in Wall, lunch at Al's Oasis in Chamberlain, see the Corn Palace, and have dinner in Sioux Falls at the Depot Pub. We were hoping to catch the light show at the falls. So, of course, very little went according to plan. The very minute we got on the interstate, we encountered road construction and found ourselves sharing the westbound lane even though we were going eastbound. Obviously there would be no passing. And you wonder why we avoid the interstate. Anyway, once construction ended, we got going and immediately began to see billboards advertising Wall Drug. For those of you from the Carolinas, think South of the Border with class and no Pedro, at least on the billboards.

Wall Drug is famous for staying open through the depression by advertising for and giving free ice water to tired, thirsty travelers, which is something they still do today. However, I should have extrapolated the SofB connection so I wouldn't have been so surprised and I gotta say, disappointed in what we found. Think Gatlinburg of the Badlands, only indoors, kind of a 'Wall Mall'. Talk about sensory overload! My ADDness goes up a few million levels in places like this and I couldn't wait to escape. Breakfast was okay - eggs, bacon, and hash browns (I use that term loosely - think those 'potato bricks' that you get at McDonald's) and nasty iced tea from the soda machine. I think it must cost maybe 50 cents to make a gallon of for real brewed tea, max. It is beyond me why restaurants (most notably in the west and mountain states) don't brew their tea and instead subject us to this nasty stuff. There's a reason we carry tea bags, water, and a gallon container with us! We've got our own sweet 'n' low (of course, Wall had only Splenda) and lemon juice and as always, a cooler full of ice (and our chilly ones). Like the good Girl Scouts we were, we are prepared! We did stay at Wall long enough to climb up on the 6 foot tall Jackelope to pose for pictures. Peppy was so jealous, cause we had left him in the car again. I'm sad to report that Peppy has suffered a fairly severe cracked tail and he's not been able to get out as much this trip. Get a taste of the Wall yourselves by visiting www.walldrug.com

From Wall (the name of the town) it was a short ride to Badlands National Park. Once there, it was a long ride through the park! I think the loop is about 25 or 30 miles through "America's Most Mysterious National Park." The mystery to me is what there is to do in this park besides drive through it. Unlike our other NP visits, we didn't see many (if any) trailheads, and other than the visitor center and a few rest areas (wouldn't place any bets that they flushed) at overlook sites, there was not much there.

The landscape is very intriguing. Kim thought it reminded her of the Grand Canyon, I thought it looked a lot like a washed out (in color) Bryce Canyon, and we both agreed the Flintstones would have been right at home here. I'm afraid that even if there had been trails, we likely would not have taken them. The absence of much other human presence, especially of the Mr. Ranger variety, and the abundance of "Beware Rattlesnakes" signs were a little off-putting. Don't get me wrong - we are glad we went, and we were equally glad to leave. A little bit of badlands goes a long way.

As we were leaving the National Park, we passed several deserted buildings reminiscent of Route 66. One that we passed was not completely deserted - it had been a prairie dog ranch, and the dogs were still there. They were not barking (more like chirping, really) as loudly as some we had seen in the Badlands, but they were still fun to watch. Also, there was another version of the "World's Largest Prairie Dog" we had seen at Prairie Dog Town (Oakley, Kansas) on last year's trip. This one was painted differently and cuter.

We got back on the interstate and before long, I knew sleep would overtake me soon, so Kim drove for the first time on this trip. I snoozed until we got to a place that we could escape the super highway and get back on a regular road where we might actually see something besides orange cones and big trucks. You betcha (that's a favorite saying out here, for those of you who haven't been here) we ditched our plans and decided to take a detour to Pierre (again, around here it is pronounced PIER - they really want to be at the ocean) and see the state capitol. We were amazed that we could just wander in, un-metal detected and unidentified. We met a very hospitable state trooper who told us some fun facts about the building and invited us to go into the governor's office. So we did! Just walked right in like we belonged there, and no one even looked askance. They had a neat sculpture of the Crazy Horse Memorial that was done by Korczak in there, and I took a picture of it. I had taken a bunch of photos already, and I wondered if Homeland Security would be after me soon. I guess middle-aged moms aren't high on the potential terrorist list, thankfully.

Leaving Pierre, we opted to take a road that would follow the curve of the Missouri River as we crossed South Dakota. What a great decision! The river itself was gorgeous and the countryside was green and pastoral. I finally remembered what the landscape of western Nebraska and South Dakota reminded me of - pictures I've seen of Ireland. Lots of green grasses and funny humps and mounds - really pretty and not like anything we have in NC, certainly not many trees! The poor birds here have to use the highway signs to roost on and they must live in the grass right by the side of the road. Maybe they scour the shoulder for litter - we almost hit a gazillion of them. We're thinking they don't get much traffic around these parts. One thing that was most exciting (at least as exciting as bird sightings get) was that between Pierre and Chamberlain was that we saw three stunning pheasants (live) that simply stood by the road and watched us drive by. I backed up (yes, down a state highway) to see if I could photograph one, and as I walked over to where I thought it was, it squawked and flew off. It was so cool - it made an unearthly sound and it flew just over the top of the grasses and then landed in a safe spot away from me.
Once in Chamberlain, it was supper time, so we were trying to find Al's Oasis, a restaurant we had read about somewhere. To do so, we had to go over a very narrow, very old steel truss bridge. We were thinking the interstate might be a good option for the return. Al's turned out to be the "biggest stop for the next 200 miles" - until Wall Drugs - and while it wasn't as overwhelming as Wall, it was not exactly what we were expecting. We'd both been craving a good steak ever since we'd been in what's supposed to be the good steak section of the country, so we ordered filets. Most everyone else there was having the salad bar, which came complete with turkey vegetable soup and a pizza casserole. We're still craving that good steak.

You may remember that Al's was where we had planned to eat lunch, and since it was getting late and we had a date at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, we hopped into the fast lane of I-90. We already knew we had missed visiting hours at the Enchanted Doll Museum (just across the street from the Corn Palace) and that the palace itself would be closed, but it was a must-see on our list. I had been here before (!) but Kim had not. For those of you with no idea what I could possibly be talking about, check out www.cornpalace.com for sort of an idea. It's one of those things you really have to see. It's a big building with minarets and the outside consists of murals made out of corn (the whole ear, not a bunch of kernels) and other plant materials. The theme changes yearly - this year it is Rodeo 2007. Graduation (high school) will be there on Sunday!

The sun was setting, so we followed our rule and took the interstate into Sioux Falls. This was one of the few places I had not made hotel reservations for, and imagine our surprise when we learned that the Hampton, Homewood Suites, and Holiday Inn Express were all booked (just with business travelers, no special events!) and we felt lucky to get a room at the Fairfield. After we finally found it (it says it's at the mall, and it really is - you drive through the mall parking lot to get there) we figured it had rooms because no one could find it. Whatever the reason, we were thankful and we pulled in the lot about 10 PM. We quaffed our nightly brews and had it not been for Bigfoot, who was in the room above us, we would have fallen asleep immediately. As it was, we were comatose by 11:30 and slept until Bigfoot woke up. Who needs alarm clocks?

Jan (the ADD bird chaser)

Day 12: Things are big here in 'Kota Territory - yabba dabba doo!

2007-05-16T01:07:00.000-05:00

After a heavenly night's sleep, we got up at seven, refreshed, energized, and ready to see what we came for. We ate our pie for breakfast - yum! - and were on the road by 9:30. It was a pretty drive through the Black Hills up to Mt. Rushmore, although at one point we got behind a big, slow-moving (I'm talking about 9 - 12 mph) truck with a sign on the back that said "Wet Paint. Keep Off. Pass with Care." Problem was, we were going down a very steep hill, so we had a double yellow line, and that truck wasn't painting anything and we couldn't tell what was being painted. And of course, he had pulled out right in front of me. There was plenty of room on the shoulder for him to pull over, but no. A couple of cars behind me passed on the double yellow, but I was trying to be a law-abiding citizen for a change, being from out of town and all. Finally I lost my personality and at an opportune time, I passed him on the shoulder instead of against the double yellow. Farther on down the hill, we encountered the paint truck, who of course was painting the white line on the shoulder. We were expecting to see the blue lights any second, but we were spared. I'm sure I have the telltale white paint all over my tires, so they could still track me down.

On the road leading to Mt. Rushmore, we got our first glimpse of the four presidents. Wow! It was just like in the pictures! Mt. Rushmore is a National Memorial, and the town of Rapid City has built the parking garage, visitor center, and viewing area. They have done a fine job! The walk toward Grandview Terrace is lined with the flags of all fifty states and the amphitheatre is huge! We took the half mile "strenuous" hike (with 250 stairs) to see the best view of the monument. We tried to decide who might find the trail strenuous - perhaps the people we saw at the bad buffet in Kansas, people who are over 80 or 90, people who have a hard time walking on a good day, people who are carrying enough weight to be two people - but hopefully not the majority of Americans. Or else we are in real trouble!

While it was only 55 degrees when we started out, the sky was a beautiful blue and the sun was shining. We shed our sweatshirts and loved watching the people who were hiking (?) on top of George Washington's head. Now THAT would be a strenuous hike! We went to the sculptor's studio and learned what an undertaking this project had been, especially given the technology available at the time. What does it say about America today that the really difficult, almost unimaginable building projects (Mt. Rushmore, Hoover Dam, Biltmore House, the Mormon Temple, and the Empire State Building come immediately to mind, to say nothing of some of the bridges built - Golden Gate, Brooklyn, etc.) were built in the 30's and 40's under practically impossible circumstances, and they are still standing, still functioning, and incredibly beautiful, while buildings constructed now capture neither the fine artistic detail nor the skilled workmanship of that time. I don't even think they could be replicated, and OSHA alone would keep them from even being started. But I digress...

Leaving Mt. Rushmore, we took off for the Crazy Horse Monument. We thought they were crazy when they asked us to pay $20 to see a mostly unfinished sculpture, but we did it anyway. Once inside this very inspiring and educational complex, $20 seemed like a bargain. Korczak Ziolkowski started work on this colossal project in 1947 at the age of 38. SINGLEHANDEDLY, he labored for years, refusing to accept even one penny (and certainly not the $10 million the US Govt. offered him twice) for his work. The first year, he lived in a tent, built a log cabin for his home, set off the first blast, and built a 741 step staircase to the top of the mountain. Volunteer Ruth Ross helped with the staircase and in 1950 she became his wife and total partner. They had 10 children and wrote three volumes of detailed instructions about how to build Crazy Horse, since they knew they would not live to see it completed.

Korczak died in 1982 at the age of 74. He was buried in a tomb that he had built near the mountain. Today, seven of his children and his wife carry on with his (and their) life work. It is an incredible story that I can't begin to relate, so be sure you go to http://www.crazyhorse.org/story.shtml and read about it. Although I knew about this memorial in progress, I had no idea it had been being worked on my entire lifetime and before. Unbelievable!

While at Crazy Horse, we took in so much history, not just about the building project, but more Native American history and many fantastic exhibits. It is a lovely, well-planned complex and easily worth the money. We had lunch at Laughing Water Restaurant here - Kim had a taco on Indian Fry Bread and I had Tatanka stew with fry bread. Very good! We considered having the state dessert of South Dakota, kuchen, but our waiter described it as a "light cheesecake thing and the only flavor we have today is prune," so we passed on it and had chocolate cake instead. When we saw it, it looked more like a yummy custard pie. Oh well, there's always tomorrow! After lunch we continued our tour, going into the original part of the cabin Korczak built and seeing his studio. Words fail me here - please go to the website!

It is hard not to feel patriotic here in the 'City of Presidents' where the goal is to have statues of at least 40 presidents on the street corners of Rapid City, and it's a bit hard not to feel guilty for the way our white ancestors mistreated the natives here. From the glory of Mt. Rushmore and the immensity and inspiration of Crazy Horse, we rolled down into the town of Custer. We realized that when an area has a drawing card like Mt. Rushmore, which once you've seen it, you've seen it, there is room for what we fondly refer to as "Gatlinburg of the ______________ (fill in the blanks), in this case, Gatlinburg of the Black Hills, and there are about three of them! All these people have to have something to do, and given the strenuous nature of nature, it can't be just hiking the magnificent mountains. So we went to Bedrock, home of the Flintstones! We had learned from its website (told you we had done our homework - www.flintstonesbedrockcity.com) that it would not open until May 19, but we felt sure Peppy would be mad if we didn't at least try to see something there. As it turns out, we were able to see and photograph a good bit. Ya gotta love it!

From the kitschiness of Bedrock, we went to the serenity of Custer State Park and the Needles Highway. Oh, it was so pretty, and we absolutely could not believe how incredibly QUIET it was. For starters, there were hardly any other cars, and mine makes very little noise. We would stop to take a picture, and there was only the sound of the quaking aspens when the wind blew. The drive through the Needles tunnel (one lane, very narrow, not very tall) was an experience in itself. We had hoped to see some buffalo, but chipmunks were about the only wildlife sightings of the day. The sky had clouded up mid-day but it was pretty again by now and not too terribly cold. We had decided not to try to get to Deadwood and Sturgis, assuming that more Gatlinburgishness would await us. We might be wrong, but if so, don't tell us, because we're leaving the area tomorrow!

Our night in the lodge was rapidly catching up with me, so we returned to the hotel, downloaded pictures, and I crashed for an hour or more. Time to recharge! We had dinner at the coolest place - Sanford's Grub and Pub. They don't seem to have a website just about them, so here's their story, straight from an article about them:

Sanford's Short Story: Once upon a college exam, a few guys got together drinking beer, eating food and watching reruns on the boob-tube and began thinking of what the heck they were going to do with the rest of their lives. So, realizing what they do best - which is drinking beer, eating food, and watching T.V. - they decided to open a place called Sanford's. Now the only thing that stood in their way was designing the decor - itended up being the easiest job, however. After a few garage sales, digging through basements and a couple of junk yards, SANFORD'S GRUB & PUB was born.So what the heck, we did learn something in school!

Those are my kind of guys! I don't know it for a fact, but I'm guessing the name of the place came from a certain sitcom about a junkyard... I wish you could see pictures of the interior, because the ones I took won't begin to tell the story. You can see the menu if you google them. It was extensive and the place is an entertaining museum all by itself. Food is just extra! Not that it wasn't great - Kim had a Blue Moon or two and a salad and a fried chicken, broccoli, and penne pasta dish and I had a Moosedrool (a Montana beer) and "beef chunks in a circle" with mashed potatoes, Cajun corn, and a salad. While we fully intended to have a "fried Oreo sundae" for dessert, we were stuffed even while not cleaning our plates.

So now I've caught up and it's a good thing I had a nap, cause now it's late and Kim has been asleep for hours and I'm still typing. We're not exactly sure what we're doing tomorrow, except we know where we're having breakfast. I think from here on out, we're traveling with Road Food (Jane and Michael Stern) as our atlas. Hope you're hungry!

Jan (the stuffed, sated, sleepy, and caught up one!)

Day 11: Hampton's beds are better and Where's the corn?

2007-05-15T23:27:00.000-05:00

You'll be happy (I hope!) to know that the coyotes did not get us! Believe it or not, we actually slept AND Kim did not roll off the bench AND I was able to get up off the floor after our night in the lodge! We've compared notes and have determined that while the big fluffy beds at the Hampton Inn are primo, the floor of the earthen lodge was better than:

sleeping in a very hot tent on squeaky cots in Katrinaville, Gulfport MS
sleeping in a church fellowship hall with at least 30 other people on the same squeaky cots with LOTS of people snoring in Katrinaville
sleeping in the back of a Suburban in 30 degree weather in Katrinaville
sleeping on the floor of the pantry in Katrinaville
sleeping on the sofa bed at Mom's before we bought the Memory Foam for it

It was not better than:
sleeping on cushy air mattresses in nice warm Unifold huts in Katrinaville
sleeping in a hammock at the beach
sleeping in an overstuffed chair with the sun coming in on a winter day
sleeping in our own beds!

We had no trouble waking up by 6:45 for our breakfast to be delivered (straight to our lodge) at 7 AM. We even had time to trudge (quickly) down to our rest room facility (they flushed!) and get back before Les and Jan arrived. We were still visions in our sleepwear - Kim had on jeans and a pajama shirt and I had on a t-shirt and pajama bottoms, which looked especially lovely with my hiking boots. Breakfast was yummy - a big bowl of scrambled eggs and some link sausage (probably deer), fried apples, banana bread, and apple juice. We ate it like we had never seen food - maybe we had to work so hard to sleep that we worked up an appetite, or maybe it was that we were sitting outside on a hilltop, watching the sun rise and listening to the cows MOOOOOOO!!! Cattle might low at night, but they are flat out noisy in the morning. Perhaps they wanted our breakfast. We also heard a turkey gobbling somewhere not far away.

After breakfast, we had hot showers (also WAY better than our cold outdoor showers at Katrinaville). While I was showering, Kim folded our blankets and rearranged our deer pelts since there would be school groups coming on a tour later this morning. While Kim showered, I regaled Les and Jan with stories of our trip so far and other trips we have been on. They now are sure that I am certifiable.

Once we were ready to start the day, Les took us on a tour of the Dancing Leaf. For a quiet man, he really came alive as he took us in the museum and showed us all of the MANY fossils that he has found right here on Medicine "Crik". We had no idea! Did you know that thousands of years ago, most of the western plains were likely ocean, neatly dividing the current US in half? I guess we thought the whole land mass was under water, but no... Anyhow, that explains the Monument Rocks we saw in Kansas, the Great Salt Lake, the cool sandstone structures we saw in Utah last year, the red rocks of Sedona, the Grand Canyon, the dinosaurs found in Utah and Colorado and then the ones you've never heard of - the many dinosaur fossils that have been found in Nebraska. From just the area where we were, 14 'type' fossils have been discovered. That means that they are the very first fossils of their kind to ever be found ANYWHERE in the world. We saw the jaw of a shovel-tooth elephant, a saber-tooth tiger, and a huge mammoth. One of the really cool things they had found was the vertebrae of a buffalo that had an arrowhead lodged in it. They could tell that the animal was not killed immediately but probably lived six months with the arrowhead in its neck, because bone had grown around it.

After we talked about fossils and climate changes and dinosaurs, Les told us all about the Plains Indians who had lived here long ago. It was so fascinating! They have found many relics from that time and have been able to reconstruct much of what live would have been like then. The lodge we stayed in was the fifth one that Les and Jan have built over the years, but it's the only one on this property. Both of them grew up in this part of Nebraska and are perfectly happy to stay here and be relatively ignored by the rest of the country and the world. From the museum, we went into the lodge and Les explained what the daily life of the natives would have been and how important women were to the family. Kim got a little squeamish as Les explained how buckskin was made. I'll spare you the details unless you really want to know.

After the lodge, we went into the gift shop and paid our bill, which was under $100 for a night's "lodging," two dinners, two breakfasts, and a 90 minute tour. Can't beat the price! Les had mentioned that they had a medicine circle, so I asked if we could see it and we were in for another treat! We went up to the highest hillside around (Les asked if we had room in our car to ride him up there, as it was on our way out, but he was SOL. My little Prius is packed to the gills! So he walked and we met him at the bottom of the hill and walked up. In case you don't know, a medicine circle is really more like a calendar than anything. It is made by finding a hilltop where you can see the horizon for 360 degrees, then lining up a tall rock with the North Star (aka the home fire). From there, a straight line of rocks is laid going north-south. At the summer solstice, the longest day, a rock is placed lined up with where the sun rises in the east; opposite that is the place where the sun sets on the winter solstice, the shortest day. That line makes up the east-west direction. Around the circumference of the circle there are seven rocks in each quadrant (seven days in a week) and the cycles of the moon and the stars can be measured, too. It was very neat and I may not have all of the details right, but you get the general idea. The native Americans were highly intelligent and now I want a medicine circle, too.

We started motoring north on Highway 83 about 10:30 and our first stop was the Fort Cody Trading Post in North Platte. Lots of giants here - a big ole Buffalo Bill out front, a buffalo statue, a Kachina doll, and a Muffler Man Indian out back in the stockade. Inside the trading post there was a huge exhibit of a miniature version of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, all hand carved by one man. It was very reminiscent of the miniature circus we saw in Peru, IN. You can read about it at www.fortcody.com

After gassing up we hopped on the interstate for a short ride to Ogalalla. We have neglected to mention many gas prices, mostly because it's too depressing, but so far the high was $3.50 in Chicago and the low has been $2.98 somewhere in Oklahoma. We did not pay $3.50 and most places it's been right around $3.19. Highway robbery. We were shocked to see at 75 mph speed limit here but we took full (and then some) advantage of it, and before we knew it, we were in Ogallala, Cowboy Capital of Nebraska. We found the local Chamber of Commerce/visitors center and April was very helpful to us. Kim got even more maps to read and we got directions to the place we wanted to eat (I had found it on www.aaa.com - I used their internet triptik to plan this whole trip). On April's recommendation, we did a short walking tour of Ogallala (don't you love that name?) and walked right to Homemade Heaven Sandwich Shoppe, where they have sandwiches, soups, pretzels, salads, and pie's (apostrophe is theirs). Heaven indeed!! Kim had a ham, turkey, and cheese sandwich and I had a steak bomb. Told you I was the risk-taker. Delicious bread, definitely homemade. The pretzels looked great and I regret that we did not buy one for a snack later on. We did get some pie to go - Kim got pecan and I got cherry. On our way out of town, we went up to Boot Hill, an authentic cowboy cemetery (April sent us) and then we were off to Oshkosh.

Around these parts, you can tell when you're getting to a town because there is all of a sudden a big stench in the air. Usually it's a feedyard or a stockyard, and sometimes it just smells like a manureyard. Oshkosh was a prime example of that. PU. Les had suggested that we alter our route to see Crescent Lake and some grass-covered sand dunes, so we found that road and started north. After about one or two miles, the road went from a nice paved highway to a gravel road rivaling any that we had seen on old Route 66. I think 14 mph was our top speed, so after about one mile, sanity overtook us and we turned around (very carefully, as we had about a one lane road and one lane of deep ditches on either side) and went back to civilization. On to Alliance and the exciting attraction awaiting us there.

Carhenge & Car Art Reserve is just a few miles north of the town of Alliance, NE. True to its name, it is a replica of Stonehenge made from old cars. It was started as a family reunion project (must be distant relatives!) and has grown to include other creative forms of car art. We learned last year that as maligned as the South is about rednecks, hillbillies, and junk cars in the yard along with appliances and furniture in yards and on porches, we have nothing on our sister states in the west. These people don't throw ANYTHING away. In Arizona and New Mexico, it was just out in the back (or front) yard and here in Nebraska they have big businesses of collecting and reselling pieces and parts of cars, farm implements (HUGE) and who knows what. Or it's an art form! It's a good thing we had eaten a big lunch or we might have blown away while inspecting the artwork at Carhenge. How people live out here I do not know, although we have found western Nebraska to be beautiful (that started almost exactly at the Kansas/Nebraska state line) and not at all what we expected. It is hilly and green and we have not figured out where all the corn they are supposed to be husking is.

On the road from Alliance to Chadron, we saw a funny rest stop. Hopefully I've posted a picture of it for you. Chadron is the last town we came to in Nebraska, and soon we were in South Dakota. We knew it because there was a casino at the state line. We kept driving. By now the sky was getting pretty dark and pretty soon it started to rain. Our original plan was to go to Hot Springs, then Custer, and then to the real giants - Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore - before going into Rapid City. Due to the facts that it was raining and we were getting pretty sleepy (the night at the lodge was catching up to us) we just decided to head for the Hampton and see the big guys the next day.

The terrain was already changing again, and it was easy to see why the Black Hills are named that. It never rained terribly hard, but it was getting colder by the minute (it had been 93 in Rapid City on Sunday, and it was 53 in the rain on Monday) so our decision was a good one. We got to the hotel around 6 (forgot to mention that somewhere along the way the time changed to MDT, so we gained an hour!!) and worked on the blog and downloaded pictures. We ate dinner at the Firehouse Brewing Company, which is housed in what used to be the Rapid City Fire Station. It was full of neat antique fire equipment and good beer. I had souvlaki, except instead of chicken it was pork tenderloin, and Kim had rancher's pie. Since we still had our Homemade Heaven pie back at the hotel, we skipped dessert. After blogging as long as we could, we set out to test our bed theory. Aaaaahhhhhh!

Jan (the sleepy one, since Kim was already snoozing away)

Day 10: What do you mean, "Did we bring lanterns and sleeping bags!?!"

2007-05-14T23:43:00.000-05:00

Tonight, dear readers, we come to you live from an authentic Native American earthen lodge at the Dancing Leaf Lodge, somewhere south of Wellfleet, Nebraska. No fooling, I am sitting in the dark (except for the light of four candles in our campfire pit) upon my bed on the dirt floor. My bed consists of five deerskins piled up on the floor with a sleeping bag on top of them and a blanket for me to sleep under. I feel a bit silly in my pj’s. Kim has opted to sleep on the earthen benches which line the circumference of our lodge. She has also piled up deerskins and a sleeping bag. We do have pillows, so we’ll let you know tomorrow how these beds compare to those at Hampton!

To get into our lodge, we must lean over substantially to enter through the maybe 25 foot long tunnel entryway. Kim seemed to forget the lean over part when she went to put our flaps down at the outside entrance to our tunnel. Ouch! Once inside, we can stand up completely and there’s really room for about 12 people to sleep in here – too bad you aren’t with us! There is a hole in the ceiling above the campfire circle and deerskins line all the benches and around the fire circle. We can hear the crickets chirping, the cows mooing, and the coyotes howling outside, and we can see the lightning through our ‘skylight’. We are enjoying a nice cold beer (we have learned to keep several on ice in our cooler in the car – you never know when you might need one, and we’ve learned that lots of states are really funny about selling beer on Sundays) and it’s a good thing I passed typing at Draughn’s Business College back in the day, because I cannot see the keyboard.

We have had an eventful day today. We slept in until about 9 this morning, did our laundry, and tried to catch up (ha!) on our blogs while we had internet connections. At noon, we had to check out of our Holiday Inn Express (no Hampton in Garden City, Kansas) and then we drove around town for 30 minutes trying to find a local place to eat lunch. Our biggest worry was that we’d have a long wait, what with it being Mother’s Day and just after church time, but that was not the problem. The big deal was that NOTHING was open except for chains and a highly unpalatable (we walked out while they were cleaning off a table for us) hotel (not ours) dining room that was serving a ‘special’ Mother’s Day buffet. I would hate to see normal if that was special! Kim suggested that the President needs to enact a physical fitness law and I think even just making it a law that everyone has to have a full-length mirror at home (and use it) would help. We might note here that if any of you reading are dentists or know a dentist who is looking for a change, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas could use your services. One fellow along Route 66 told us he knew we “weren’t from around here” because we had all of our teeth. FYI, we ended up having a fine Mother's Day luncheon at the local Long John Silver’s. AAARRRRGGGHHH!

Anyway, we finally got out of town about 1:15, heading north on US 83, aka the Road to Nowhere. According to our current guidebook, Road Trip USA, by Jamie Jensen, this road goes completely across the US from Canada to Mexico without once crossing paths with a conventional tourist attraction. Since we are unconventional anyway, we thought it was the perfect road for us. From Garden City we traveled to Scott City, in Scott County, where we visited Lake Scott and Lake Scott State Park. We did not meet Mr. Scott or anybody who even knew who he was. It was VERY windy in Kansas today, but hot, too. It got into the high 80’s/low 90’s most places where we were, but it still looked a little chilly for a swim because of the whitecaps on the LAKE. But Kansans are hardy, cornfed stock. They were swimming, boating, and fishing anyway. Lake Scott was a bit larger that the municipal pool in Garden City, which is the largest one in the US, holding 2.5 million gallons of water. We saw it yesterday, too. While at Lake Scott SP, we saw the ruins of an Indian pueblo which is the farthest north of any that have been discovered so far. We also hiked a bit on a short nature trail, and then we went in search of Monument Rocks.

We were advised to stop in at the Keystone Gallery, “conveniently located in the middle of nowhere” to get directions to these rocks, so we did and were pleasantly surprised to find an open sign on the door. We were greeted by a very large and friendly (thankfully, since she practically got in the car with me when I opened my door) dog. Note to any of you who have plans to travel in Kansas: first, why? And second, do not, under any circumstances, open both of your car doors at the same time. I had to chase our maps and itinerary papers all across the hotel parking lot this morning when I made that mistake and we did not make it again! I am sure it was a vision.

We went inside the Keystone Gallery to find no one there, so we just looked around a bit and then a windblown woman came in and greeted us. Barbara Shelton couldn’t have been nicer and she chatted with us as we looked around. She had been out fossil hunting in her 1949 Suburban and in the gallery were some HUGE plaster casts of dinosaur fossils she and her husband have found nearby. Her husband is an artist and there were lots of neat things to tempt us. Since it was Mother’s Day (I should note here that before we left the hotel, all of our kids had already called to wish us a happy day and thank us for not making them come with us) we picked up a few trinkets as reminders of our Roadside Giant Tour. We did remember to get directions to the rocks, too, and we wished we had room to take Shiloh (the dog) with us, 'cause she really wanted to go and we loved her.

After driving several miles down gravel and dirt roads (just like Rt. 66!) and passing the Pyramid View Cemetery (where we actually met an oncoming car!) we found the rock formations carved by water and weather out of the chalk that used to be ocean floor millions of years ago. We wondered why they have not been completely eroded, as the sandy chalk is very soft, the wind is very windy, and when it rains you can see where the rivers of water go by. We made it back to the paved highway and realized we’d left Garden City four hours ago and we had only gone 96 miles. We had another 100 miles or more to go and we were expected for a dinner of buffalo stew at the Dancing Leaf Lodge! Time to put the pedal to the metal, which is not a problem, being that the road is straight, paved, and virtually untraveled (on Sundays, anyway). We have seen several cars pulled over on this trip, but it would be pretty hard to have a speed trap on this road, as you can see for miles here. We took a bit of time to drive through the small town of Oberlin, Kansas, just south of the Nebraska border. We opted not to visit Prairie Dog Town in Oakley this year, since we were just there last year. Good thing, since it was not open anyway! Oberlin had brick streets in its ‘business district’ but the sidewalks were rolled up today. We attempted, quite unsuccessfully, to order from the A&W drive thru window there. When we finally figured out how to get to the ordering place (it was not your typical set up!) we got to the speaker only to discover it didn’t work and we were just to pull up to the window and order. At least we provided some entertainment for the people watching us.

In McCook, NE, we detoured up Norris Street to see the High Plains Museum (not open, but next to a very neat old Carnagie Library with a BIG buffalo statue (Peppy finally got out of his box for a photo op) and across the street from some cool buildings. Up the road was the only Frank Lloyd Wright designed home in Nebraska (somebody lives there) and there was a museum (closed) for George Norris of TVA fame. They also had brick streets and we would have spent more time there had it not been Sunday evening and if we were not expected somewhere else.

We got to the Dancing Leaf Lodge about 8 and were met in the drive by Les and Jan Hosick, owners, innkeepers, and a fascinating couple who are from this area and love learning and teaching about Native Americans who lived in these parts. Picture this: Les is leading us to our lodge (we thought we were staying in a fully appointed cabin) and I am wearing pink flip flops which show my prettily pedicured and painted toenails and dragging my turquoise blue rolling suitcase along the dirt path. Kim is behind me, intelligently carrying a small overnight bag and wearing sensible sneaks. Les must have thought he had a real high maintenance blonde who would be asking where she could plug in her hair dryer. Oh, but wait, he’d already seem my hair, which was just a bit windblown. We decided that it was a good thing that we were not in a little red convertible, as we would be leaning to the right with our hair standing on end and leaning to the right, too. Unless we wore our head scarves, which of course we do not own.

As we began to enter the lodge, I was contemplating whether or not to leave my cute bag outside, since I thought Les was just showing us the lodge and that we would be continuing on to our cabin, but it soon became clear that this was to be our home for the night. Kim and I were unable to even glance at each other and it is a good thing that we had used the facilities at the main house or we would have needed to do laundry again. You have got to go to www.dancingleaf.com to see where we are!! Once we dropped our stuff off and got instructions about how to stack our deerskins and light our candles and close our door flaps, we were escorted back to the main building for dinner. Even dinner was completely authentic: buffalo stew with corn (almost like hominy), beans, sunflower seeds, sage, and onions, blue corn muffins with local honey, and fruits and veggies that Indians here would have had – cukes, peppers, carrots, watermelon, and grapes. It was delicious! We had fun talking to Les and Jan and telling them about our adventures so far. When they realized we were expecting to sleep in the cabin, they offered to show it to us and let us stay there. We checked it out – very nice with a living area, a kitchen, a real bathroom, and a bedroom – and we still decided to experience the lodge. It was meant to be, so here we are! At this moment (midnight) Peppy is wearing an Indian headdress (Kim has too much time on her hands) and is standing watch by our fire circle. If you never read this blog, the coyotes got us. Sweet dreams!

Jan (the blonde one)

Day 9: I'll get you, my pretty, and your little skunk, too!

2007-05-14T22:55:00.000-05:00

In our last episode, we left you wondering if we'd be able to get our lazy rears out of the bed at 7 AM after only 4 hours of sleep. The gods were on our side (I guess) since we were awakened at 6:42 by an incessant ringing that was neither my cell phone (our normal alarm), the alarm in the room, or the phone. Thankfully it stopped and we were just rolling over to go back to sleep when... it happened again. By now we had figured out it was the fire alarm! One look out into the parking lot showed us that there were no fire engines in sight and no one appeared to be fleeing the building. We smelled no smoke and we weren't hot, but we were wide awake! So we got up, dressed without showering, and were on the road before 7:30, an all-time record. We realized we had missed the "Yukon's Best" grain elevators and we didn't care. We pulled into a parking lot to take a picture of an old sign claiming "Home Cooked Food" and then we realized the name of the place was "J and Kay Restaurant" and it was open and it appeared that everyone in town was there. We took it as a sign and went in for breakfast. Once there, Kim kept asking me what day it was, because everyone that she saw coming in or going out had a Bible and/or flowers. She thought maybe we were a day off and that it was Sunday and Mother's Day. Thank goodness, it really was Saturday. After our usual breakfasts, we were off to see the wizard.

Perhaps I have not mentioned why we needed to get such an early start today. We were looking to get to Liberal, Kansas, by 4 PM in order to see Dorothy's House and the Land of Oz. We could not mess around if we wanted to see it, because it didn't reopen until 1 PM on Sunday. While we were eating breakfast, we overheard our waitress telling some people about the tornado damage the place had received. That explained the TV set in the parking lot and the deserted look that part of the restaurant had. Once on the road, we saw lots of evidence of a tornado, although thankfully nothing like the one that hit Greenburg, Kansas. We passed another airplane, a building with a chicken coming out of the side of it (it was called the Squawk-N-Skoot), a church that advertised free weddings, lots of old drive-ins and gas stations, and a prison that we thought was a fort.

We took a side trip on a really old section of Route 66, and it was here we first passed our friends, the Irish policemen on Harleys. These oldest sections of the original road are so pretty - most are truly in the middle of nothing, passing only gorgeous countryside and ruins of once proud buildings that served the travelers on the Mother Road. We were all alone out there, except for the very occasional farm truck and the Irishmen. We saw several steel truss bridges and the famous Lucille's Historic Provine Service Station from 1927 (the year the road was certified). Lucille was considered the Mother of the Mother Road, and her station was frequently called "Lucille's Hydro" and we somehow went right past it without seeing it last year.

Passing Hydro, we started seeing many more of the gargantuan windmills that populate the Oklahoma countryside (why they are not covering Kansas I do not know!). In Weatherford, we stopped at a park that had one arm of one of these collosal machines, which are part of the Oklahoma Wind Power Initiative. I would swear the Plains states could power the whole country if they could harness all that wind! Our next great giant of the day was another Muffler Man, Howe the Indian. His name is really not Howe, but he advertises for Howe Automotive. Clinton, OK, is home to the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum, which we did not stop at last year. This year we barely did - a quick stop in the lobby and gift shop was all we had time for. We saw many of Jim Ross and Shellee Graham's excellent Route 66 photographs.

In Elk City, home of the National Route 66 Museum, we ran into our Irish friends again and saw Myrtle, the giant Kachina Doll - she is fifteen feet tall. We also saw the Parker Drilling Rig, which at 179 feet tall is the tallest non-working rig in the world. Peppy felt so insignificant! More bridges, more old ruins and we were in Sayre, which was re-enacting the Land Rush of Oklahoma this weekend. You'll be happy (I hope) to know that we were not stampeded, but we did get to see lots of the horses and people in period costume while we were at the city park looking at their pretty rock pool house. They also had a fine courthouse, but the place we had chosen for lunch, Owl Drugs, looked like Mom was having her sidewalk sale there. Are you noticing a theme here?

Moving right along, we drove past more old sections of the road. At one place, we were able to see the old section we were driving on as well as two other even older roadbeds, one with the old wooden guard rails still intact. We sped into Erick, home of both Roger Miller, Sheb Wooley (Purple People Eater), and the Sand Hills Curiousity Shop, which is a Roadside Attraction. It was getting really late and we were not at all sure we would make it to Dorothy's House, so we intended to just take a picture and leave. However, curiousity got the best of us and we were ushered into a scene straight from a movie you would not believe even if you were there with us. The shop is in the oldest brick building in the city and it used to be a meat market. Now it is home to lots of 66 stuff and is run by Harley and Annabelle Russell, who call themselves the Mediocre Music Makers. Harley and Annabelle are hospitable, friendly rednecks who are very familiar - Harley greeted us with a kiss as we came in. Harley has lots of hair and an almost dreadlocked beard and was fashionably underdressed in overalls. Period. We were serenaded by them (they both played guitars while Harley sang Route 66 - he's got a great voice) and Harley has quite the sense of humor. He had a special eye for Kim, who was less than thrilled to be the object of his affection - I mean attention! Perhaps if he had all of his teeth and wasn't married...among other things! Their website is a must-see at www.hometown.aol.com/route66sandhills Let's just say we weren't sorry that we hadn't showered that morning!

We still needed a bite to eat, and right across the street was a restaurant called "Sisters" - just like J and Kay, we took it as a sign and ran in. Mister Sister (sorry, we didn't get his name and this one works for us) fixed us up with a cheeseburger for Kim and a Philly steak for me. Although it was not your usual Philly steak (it was on Texas toast and the peppers and onions were diced in tiny pieces) it was delicious! Plenty of cheese and flavorful beef - Kim's burger was good, too. Anyway, we had a witch to see so we were out in a flash, laughing all the way to Texola and the state line. Once in Texas, we did a drive by of the totally cool U-Drop-Inn and Tower Conoco Station (1936). This art-deco building now houses the Chamber of Commerce and a gift shop. It has great neon and was one of my favorite places on the route - just wish it was still a functional soda fountain. See it at www.shamrocktx.net Sadly, this was as far as we were taking Route 66 this year, but now we can say we have done it all! I'm sure there's more to see, and we may be back someday.

Dorothy was waiting for us, so we hopped on US 83 (still a real highway - the road to nowhere) and were thrilled to see it was straight and had a 70 mph speed limit. We were off to see that wizard after all! Kim was so excited to be able to dump her lapful of maps, guidebooks, and other Rt. 66 stuff and just have one book and one map to look at. It did not appear that we would have many things of interest to see on the way to Kansas, as the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles are not very inhabited. We saw a giant dinosaur on top of a big rock outcropping just south of Canadian, TX, and we saw a big spur at a city park in Canadian. We called 911 to report a woman with car trouble (she broke down right in front of us but we were going too fast to stop safely!) It was almost 4 PM and we still had a ways to go, so Kim called ahead to see if we could still see Dorothy's
House even if we got there after the last tour started at 4:30. It didn't sound promising, but we were intent on seeing it! We passed the towns of Wheeler and Perryton in Texas and Gray and Turpin in Oklahoma, and at 4:40 we were racing out of our car into the museum in Liberal. After a short conversation, Dorothy agreed to take us on the complete tour (we just asked to see the house!) so off we went!

We started out walking on the yellow brick (really) road to Dorothy's house. Along the way we passed the scarecrow, the tin man, and the lion. The house itself was way more educational than we had expected - we learned all about what a typical day was like for a homesteader on the Kansas prairie, from work to leisure activities. Dorothy (complete with blue and white checked jumper, white top, white socks, and ruby red slippers) did a wonderful job being informative and entertaining. From the house, we entered the Land of Oz, and Dorothy got immediately into character and took us from her altercation with Miss Gulch to meeting Professor Marvel to the cyclone, Glinda, the Munchkins, the yellow brick road, and her meeting the scarecrow, tin man, and cowardly lion. We saw the witch watching us in her crystal ball, and we were almost attacked by flying monkeys. We watched the witch melt before our eyes, and then we entered the Emerald City. Everyone got a makeover, the witch's broom was presented to the wizard, Toto exposed the sham, and the balloon took off for Kansas without Dorothy! In a magic bubble, Glinda appeared to tell Dorothy she had had the power to go home all along, because we all know there is no place like home!!

We took a bit more time to see some memorabilia from the filming of the movie and then we let our nice Dorothy (aka Cheyenne) go home after thanking her profusely for staying late to accomodate us. We had time to take some pictures outdoors - you'll especially like the one of all three of us as munchkins. We couldn't find any local hot spots, so we resorted to McDonald's for ice cream (even breaking our "no eating at chains" rule - horrors!!!) and then set off for Garden City, where they actually have hotels.

We rolled into Garden City a little after 7 - an early night for us! We were not hungry, so we checked in to our Holiday Inn Express, answered emails, tried to catch up on these blogs, and did laundry. By the time we were hungry, it was 10 PM and we had very few choices for dinner, so it was Arby's take out. We had hit a gastronomic low!!

Jan (off to see the sandman!)

Day 8: Oklahoma is OK, cont.

2007-05-13T10:15:00.000-05:00

After leaving Afton, we were now so far behind schedule that we breezed through the small towns of Vinita and Chelsea and stopped in for our "morning snack" (I think it was about two in the afternoon) at the Top Hat Dairy Bar in Foyil. We had passed it but not stopped in last year, because we were in such a rush to get to Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park and the world's tallest totem pole (it's 90 feet!). All of the totems there are made from concrete by one man (Ed) and it was by far one of the oddest places we've seen. We opted for ice cream this year - we'd had enough of the totems. At the Top Hat, we were a bit confused about how to order, so after we sat at a table for about 5 minutes, the 'helpful' cook told us we could come back there and order if we wanted something. We did not feel the need to tip, but our sundaes were good! The best part about the Top Hat was the community bulletin board, where we read about a stolen tractor (big one) that was last seen heading west on Highway 20. We are pretty sure Towmater got him.

I neglected to mention before that our National Geographic moment of the day involved me getting up close and personal with a BIG snapping turtle (a live one!) we saw on the road in between Baxter Springs and Riverton. Kim was hoping I would be able to outrun it, but there was no need. I scared him. Still way behind schedule, we flew past some of our favorite places from last year - Claremore, home of Will Rogers; Verdigris, where the Nut House (no, not for people like us) is; and Catoosa, home of the Blue Whale (one of our very favorite spots last year - it's a giant at 80 feet long) AND the largest inland seaport in the US (no kidding - and WHERE is the closest ocean to Oklahoma???) It is part of the McClellan-Kerr River system, and the answer to the trivia question is it's 445 miles to the Gulf of Mexico from here. Who knew?

Roaring into Tulsa with a list of things a mile long that we wanted to see and do, we could hardly wait to see if Elvis would be eating with us at the Metro Diner. We drove right past Tally's Cafe with plans just to stop in for a coke and a pit stop at the Metro but when we got to the driveway of one of the best diners in the country, it was being turned into APARTMENTS. Oh, the travesty of it all! Returning to Tally's, we discovered that the Metro was owned by the University of Tulsa, which evidently has no sense of history, architecture, or Americana. Money talks, I guess. Since we were so sad, we needed a plate of fried okra to cheer us up. And it did, 'cause it was nice and fresh and hot. Keep in mind, it's now almost 4:30 and we have not officially had lunch...you never know when your next meal is coming!

Once fortified, we continued on our giant search in Tulsa, and boy, did we hit paydirt! We found the Golden Driller, who was TITANIC!! He dwarfed the building he was in front of at the expo center. We loved seeing some of Tulsa's fabulous Art Deco architecture (of which the Metro Diner had been a prime example) and we fumbled our way to the Blue Dome Gulf Station and Garage (1924). Sometimes I long for the days of Art Deco gas stations instead of the ones that look like they are all built from the same design, just with different decals applied. On our way out of town, we passed the mother of all Goodwill buildings - it looked like a Costco or something.

On the road again, we had a bead on the Rock Cafe in Stroud, but first we saw the Happy Burger in Sapulpa (which also has one of the last brick-decked bridges around) and we passed our funniest surprise from last year - a house on the road near Kellyville that has one very large and one small boat sticking out from it. In Bristow we found a neat old Chrysler Plymouth sign, a brick-lined street and a quaint depot. We didn't take our funny detour to Depew this time and finally we made it to the Rock Cafe, where we were to have LUNCH (it was six o'clock!). Were we ever in luck - it was Catfish Fryday, so of course we had catfish. You gotta love a place where the small plate has three huge pieces of very lightly breaded and very tasty catfish! We were stuffed when we left. I am not supposed to tell that Kim had more fried okra, but it was Fryday, after all. The Rock Cafe is where the guys who wrote and animated Cars hung out and got lots of their ideas and inspiration. Last year there was a "Sally" blue Porsche cutout under the Roadside Attraction sign, and this year there was also a Lightning McQueen and the Hudson Hornet. We may have forgotten to mention that in Indiana, we passed two vintage Hudson Hornets on the interstate... Read all about the Rock at www.rockcaferoute66.com and you'll see why we love it. People watching is one of the best things about traveling, and we loved the local woman who came into the Rock carrying a metal bucket for her purse.

Heading for Oklahoma City we pretty much decided we did not have time to make any more stops, as it would be getting dark soon and Stroud is 63 miles from where we were spending the night, so we amused ourselves with sights like the three horses who were "mowing the yard" in someone's very small front yard and the bright red hearth and chimney out in the middle of someone else's front yard. We did stop to see a neat little old (1933) Texaco station in Davenport and to see how much work had been done to an old (1930) Phillips 66 station we saw last year in Chandler. The Seaba Station at Warwick was a Roadside Attraction so we had to stop there... we are not very good about minding even our own rules, so you know our mom had her hands full. Kim would tell you that was only with me, as she was the good one. I can't argue, and I'm the one who's driving and therefore stopping...

Then we read about an intriguing little detour we could take between Luther and Arcadia, and since I was feeling guilty, I did not stop when we passed a house with several cars sticking out of it and other Route 66 memorabilia in the yard. What restraint. After a few missed turns, we found the detour, took it, and lo and behold, we ended up in front of that same funny house again. I can only be good for so long, so I stopped, even though Kim was yelling that there was a man in the yard watching us. I said that was fine and I'd ask him if we could look around. What a treasure we had uncovered! John Hargrove has got to be one of the most interesting and talented people we have met along the way. He is single-handedly making his own museum/monument to Route 66. An ex-pilot, he can flat do anything. He builds cars, welds, can make anything, upholsters, and has incredible vision. I cannot begin to describe all of the things we saw (he let us go in for a full tour!) in his workshop and building. Suffice it to say that I got to sit in the VW bug that was sticking out of the house while Kim stood on a deck and took my picture. John's goal is to have models of all of the famous Route 66 icons, and he must have 75% of them already!

You can read about John at www.roadsideamerica.com (and see some giants, too.) He also told us that the person who lives in the house we took the detour to see is Jim Ross, who drew the maps that we used on the Route last year! Wish we had known that and I would have knocked on his door, too! He (Jim) also takes incredible photographs of Route 66. We are glad we used his maps for our first trip, since they were very true to the old road alignments. This year's EZ 66 Guide for Travelers, by Jerry McClanahan, has been perfect this time as we are playing catch up and see what we missed. And Jerry loves roadside giants, too!

So now it's pitch dark and we still have to drive 25 more miles, so we semi-followed our "no Rt. 66 after dark" rule and tried to take the interstate. At any rate, we got to Yukon, OK, at about 9:30 PM after putting 304 miles on the car - about par for the course for us. We were so far behind on our blogs and emails that we stayed up til 3 AM working on them, and we needed to get an early start the next day! Our alarm was set for 7 AM. Will the Sassy Sisters even hear the phone ring? If so, will they actually get out of bed? For the answers to these burning questions, tune in tomorrow!

Jan (the bad one)

Day 8: We ARE back in Kansas and Oklahoma is OK!

2007-05-13T10:13:00.000-05:00

When we spoke to our innkeeper, Amy last night, we agreed on a breakfast time of 8:30. We had come in so tired and so late that we had paid no attention to our surroundings. Since we weren't quite sure where we would find breakfast, we stepped out of our suite and found we were just across the hall from a small kitchen and dining area that had two plates of hot food sitting on one of the tables. Assuming (hopefully correctly) that this was our breakfast, we devoured our ham and cheese omelettes and toast, took a few photos, and slipped out as quietly as we had come in. After all, we had major back-tracking to do! First we walked around this area of Baxter Springs, which is the third of three towns on Route 66 in Kansas.

The Little Brick Inn is located on the second floor of an old (1870) bank building above a restaurant called the Cafe on the Route. Both are Hampton Rt. 66 Roadside Attractions and the Crowell Bank was robbed by Jesse James on April 13, 1876. The short section of Route 66 that curves through the corner of Kansas was famous for high speed car chases of noted criminals like Jesse James and Bonnie and Clyde. One of the places we were hoping to visit in Baxter Springs was a restaurant in another old bank where the ladies room was in the bank vault and there were old checks under the glass tabletops. Alas, it too was closed. There were several businesses open downtown, and all of them had printed histories of the buildings posted outside. We were right next to the police station and of course, the jail. We're pretty sure all the popos know we are coming their way! We met a woman walking a dog who was looking for a place to eat breakfast (no luck here!). She was from Arkansas and was camping (!) and waiting for some estate sale to take place. Mom, don't even think about it!

We reversed our tracks and went in search of the Eisler Brothers Grocery and Deli in Riverton, the middle Kansas town. Last year we had detoured around Riverton to see the Rainbow Marsh Arch Bridge, which is the only bridge of this type left. When we found Eisler's we wondered how we could have missed it last year - it was right out in plain sight and there isn't much else there! The owner, Scott Nelson, was very nice. Check out his website at www.hometown.aol.com/eislerbros
On the way to Eislers, we passed what we thought was the same group of motorcyclists we had passed in the rain in Springfield the night before. They had just ridden past Eislers and were turning around to come see it. Turns out they were part of a group of fifty Irish policeman who were touring Route 66 on Harleys as a fundraiser for Unicef. One of them was filming a documentary and we had a good time talking to them. We were sure we would cross paths with them many more times before we left Route 66.

As we drove back through Galena, Kansas, on the state line with Missouri, we took note of things we would take pictures of as we drove back through, but first it was back to Joplin to see a giant coke bottle and a giant crayon we had missed the night before. As we drove into town, we passed a beautiful rock waterfall that looked terribly out of place, and then we realized it was on the grounds of this gargantuan estate we had been surprised by last year. Truly in the middle of nowhere, between Joplin and Galena, is a gorgeous HUGE private residence with massive gates guarded by big horse statues and the above mentioned man-made river and rock waterfall. Go figure. Anyway, we stopped to photograph 66 Carousel Park and Schifferdecker Park in Joplin and we found the giant coke bottle sign at a bbq place we had noticed the night before (clearly it is not a neon sign) and the giant crayon (and ruler) were on a sign at an elementary school (Go Joplin Eagles!)

Back in Galena, we saw a tank, a train, a helicopter, and a big gun at the volunteer fire department. Little did we know then that tanks and airplanes were to be the theme of the next two days. If there is a shortage of tanks in Iraq, it's because they are all in the heartland of America! Galena used to be a major lead and zinc mining town, and now we wonder what the people that live there do. It was like a ghost town that didn't know it was a ghost town.

Ready to move onward, if there had been an interstate to hop on, we would have, but Kansas boasts that it is the only Route 66 state entirely bypassed by an interstate. So we have now seen all of Route 66 on Kansas four times! Entering Oklahoma, we found the same chat pile (old mining leftovers) there that we saw last year. We had wanted to search out the Spooklight in Quapaw the night before, but given the rain we wimped out. Commerce (home of Mickey Mantle) is the next little town, and then we entered the relative metropolis of Miami (pronounced my-am-uh) and the awesome Waylon's KuKu Burger. Peppy got a new car (a yellow mustang) which is a good thing, since Kim sat on his 57 Chevy earlier. We stopped at the beautiful Coleman Theatre, which sort of looks like the Alamo from the outside. It was open this year and the nice man told us we could go anywhere we wanted (even the basement) and look around. It was built in 1929 and is being restored (it's in great shape and being used now) and it is home to the original "Mighty Wurlitzer" organ. It is a Spanish Mission Revival styling, gargoyles and all, seats 1600, has had some unbelievable talents showcased, and has a great red and green neon sign. Worth a look at www.colemantheatre.org. The Boller Brothers Architects designed it, and I think they may have done the KiMo Theatre in Albuquerque NM, too. We had fun going on stage, backstage, and into the star's dressing room.

Kim wanted to revisit the 'sidewalk section' of Route 66, so we set off to find it. Unfortunately, our mapped route was blocked by high water. Let's just say that Riverview Park could pretty much have been called River today. The water was almost up to the top of the speed limit sign. Since we had to make our own way, we weren't sure we would pick the right farmland to drive down to see the really old road. Amazingly enough, we guessed right and soon found ourselves on the nine foot wide section of old Route 66. This road is situated on the original Ozark Trail and was first built in 1922 and was used as Route 66 from 1926 to 1937. It really is only nine feet wide on the straight sections and twelve feet on curves. Very hard to imagine traveling on it with a carful of hot and cranky kids with big trucks and oncoming cars sharing the same space!

Our next stop was Afton and a cool old gas station that has been turned into a Route 66 visitor's center, small museum, and home to a collection of fantastically restored vintage Packards. Were we ever bummed that it is not open on Fridays!!! Be sure and look at www.postcardsfromtheroad.net and see owner Laurel Kane's postcards and David Kane's cars.

As I write this, it's really Sunday, May 13, and it's time for us to hit the road, so I'll post now and finish when I can. Happy Mother's Day to all you moms!

Jan

Day 7: What Missouri Showed Us

2007-05-12T20:02:00.000-05:00

Thursday morning was mostly sunny when we got rolling out of St. Louis. We had a place all picked out for breakfast, and since we had gotten a bit turned around in St. Louis last year, we chose to take the interstate to the town of Pacific and see the Red Cedar Inn Restaurant, which is a Hampton Inn Roadside Attraction. We found it with no trouble, but were disappointed to see that it was closed and for sale - no longer a Roadside Attraction. Good thing it was not where we were planning to eat breakfast! We followed 66 into the town of Pacific, which took us past some gigantic columns and caves formed from the silica mines in the area. From Pacific, we went to the town of Villa Ridge, which used to be the home of the Gardenway Motel and the Diamonds Restaurant. These were replaced by the Tri-County Truck Stop, which Kim wanted to go into this year. Imagine our surprise to find it closed and abandoned, too! By now we were really crossing our fingers that the Lewis Cafe in St. Clair would be open, or we might be going on empty stomachs again.

It has been funny to retrace our steps from last year, because we either took a different route or we have really short memories, since lots of these places were new to us. We have photographic evidence that we were in St. Clair in 2006, but we sure didn't hit the "downtown" area or the fantastic Lewis Cafe, where they not only do their own baking but they also raise their own beef. Our usual breakfasts (scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns for Kim and an omelet of some variety for me) were tasty and filling, and the biscuits had certainly never seen a freezer. We got stuck in our parking place by traffic waiting for a train to pass, so I took the break time to call David and wish him a happy 24th (!!) birthday. Once we were rolling, we were headed towards Stanton (home of Meramec Caverns). Again, we found more places all closed up - it looked like the Antique Toy Museum and the Jesse James Wax Museum were just not open for the season yet as hours of operation were by chance or by appointment. We felt no compulsion to see the Caverns again - once was enough! We somehow missed the Riverside Reptile Ranch - again - too bad! Guess it was not meant to be. It is worth noting that even though we are encountering much more Rt. 66 traffic this year, many more businesses have closed since last May.

We breezed right by Sullivan and we loved the water tanks in Bourbon, although we thought one should be Bourbon and the other Water. Also got a kick out of the Circle N Malt Shop - most everyone in town was there. We were in for real treats in Cuba as they have commissioned artists to paint a series of twelve murals all over town. There is an old Phillips 66 gas station (1932) that is being renovated, and when we found it there was a man there cleaning up some paint and supplies. It turned out he was the artist who had painted a mural on the three garage doors of the station, and they had just been unveiled on Monday. His name is Ray Harvey and you can see his stuff at http://www.rayharveyart.com/. Turns out he knows all about the flood wall murals in Paducah and about Paducah's Lower Town artist colony. Maybe he'll move there someday! We had already taken pictures of one of his other murals and he posed with his newest ones for us. The nostalgic Wagon Wheel Motel is also in Cuba and was featured in one of Ray's murals. A few things were on our 'must see' list for Missouri this year - Stonehenge (replica) in Rolla, the Trail of Tears Monument and John's Modern Cabins near Devil's Elbow, and a whole list of odd giants. We missed most places between Stanton and Devil's Elbow last year because we spent so much time at Meramec Caverns that we let it get dark on us. We spent some time at the Mule Trading Post hoping that the impending rain would pass us. It was just like being back in Paducah cleaning out Mom's house - lots of 'stuff' and some for lots of money! On our way to Rolla, we found the A&W Hamburger Family and the giant neon dripping faucet (which was dripping rain) but were dismayed to see that Rt. 66 Motors and Gift Shop was barricaded and closed. We could not believe that it poured down rain as we passed through Rolla, but we got some rain-splattered photos of the Stonehenge replica there and thanked our lucky stars that we were not moving kids out of their dorms there that day!

The rain let up as we made our way to a section of the road we never saw last year, which led us to Vernelle's Motel and the remains of John's Modern Cabins. These were especially interesting for lots of reasons. The original log cabins (maybe 8' x 10') are in terrible shape, having not been used since 1971, but they were in far better shape than the three newer cabins with white siding and asbestos shingles. The interstate effectively removed both Vernelle's and John's from everything - we had to WANT to be there. Ramona Lehman, proprietor of the famous Munger Moss Motel (where we stayed last year) had tried to tell us how to get there last year, but we never found them. We were a bit apprehensive about getting to them, as Ramona told us last year that "our car would be in fine trouble going over those roads." As it turned out, the only trouble we had was finding the right road!

By now we were wondering where we were last year. Even though we were intentionally not revisiting most of the sites we saw last year, we were seeing things we didn't even know were there. One of our surprises this time was the former town of Arlington. We had been seeing these signs for a river resort, we didn't expect to come upon it here. We had been on a section of the old road that was on the banks of a river. When I-44 was constructed, the existing Route 66 bridges (built in 1952) were commandeered as interstate bridges, and the really old (1923) bridges across the river were destroyed. This rendered Arlington pretty much dead, as there was no way for locals to cross the river since there is not an interchange nearby. The town consisted of a hotel, a general store, and maybe six homes. It's now an RV campground, complete with pool, small general store, playground, and of course, river access. The road down was very rough and because of all the rain (you may have heard there are floods across most of Missouri this week) it was a bit dicey going down a pretty steep, gravelly hill. But we did. The huge slabs of concrete which used to be the old bridges were just dumped along the sides of the river and the mosquitos found the open window of our car and attacked Kim en masse while I was taking pictures. As navigator, she has her lap so full of maps and books that it's hard for her to get out for every photo op! We were killing bugs for the next half hour and we both have more than a few bites!

Time for a celebratory toast - at 1:53 PM we located the elusive Trail of Tears monument that we had searched for in vain last year! It's not really on the Route and is at the end of a private driveway, built by the property owner to honor the Cherokee who were forced to migrate from the Carolinas and Tennessee to Oklahoma. The builder, Larry Baggett, died in 2003, but his story was fascinating. The actual Trail of Tears passed through his property, and he had built a stone wall on his land. After that, he would be awakened in the night by knocks on the door. A Spirit asked him to build stairs over the wall so that the Cherokee Spirits could get over it. Once he complied, the knocking stopped, and the result is a unique collection of cairns, arches, fountains, and stonework. Just down the road was a house with a sign "School for Chip Carving" in front of it. We didn't sign up for any classes...

On the road near Waynesville we saw the "FROG XING" sign we had noticed last year because we almost hit a huge frog that was jumping across the street right at that spot, but what we hadn't seen was a huge frog head shaped rock sticking out from the boulders above. The town has painted the rock green and celebrates with an annual Frog Fest, which we just missed last weekend! Small town humor at its best. On the other side of town we snapped a shot of a giant bowling pin (right in front of a huge adult bookstore sign) and then we were off to say hello to Ramona at the Munger Moss in Lebanon. After a quick visit, we stopped by to photograph the old Wrink's Market, which was a Roadside Attraction that has closed since Mr. Wrink died a couple of years ago.

We passed fairly rapidly through the towns of Niangua, Marshfield, and Strafford on the way to Springfield and we saw lots of ruins of old gas stations, cabins, and motor lodges. One of the most surprising things we saw was our National Geographic Moment of the Day - a rooster and a peacock cavorting alongside the road!

We missed the Niangua Junction Store (where we thought we might have lunch - ha - it was about 4 PM when we passed through!) because it was closed, and then it started raining and we didn't even look for the miniature Hubble telescope as we drove down Hubble Road in the town of Marshfield, home of Dr. Edwin Hubble. We managed to avoid being tempted by the Exotic Animal Paradise but by the time we hit Springfield the sky was looking so threatening that we tried to find a radio station in case there was a tornado coming. The clouds were so dark, heavy, and low to the ground that it looked quite scary. Soon it was POURING down rain! We passed a group of about a dozen motorcyclists who were having to get into raingear - we sure felt bad for them.

Since it was getting pretty late and the rain was making driving and navigation difficult and we were still miles from Kansas, we opted for the interstate from Springfield to Joplin. On the way, we called the innkeepers at the B&B we were staying at to let them know we wouldn't be there by 8 PM, so we got instructions about getting our room key from the mailbox and letting ourselves in! Just as we were about to succumb to eating dinner at a place called Lumpy's, Amy the innkeeper called us and was able to recommend a couple of places she likes in Joplin. We easily found the first one she named, Club 609, and had a delightful dinner there. Kim had a charbroiled chicken salad and I had the Bombay salad, which had romaine, apples, Gorgonzola, spiced pecans, grilled chicken, and flash-fried onion rings with a homemade Balsamic dressing. Cold Blue Moons took the edge off and we were able to say no to dessert for a change.

From Joplin it was just a few dark miles across the southeast corner of Kansas to get to our B&B. There are only 13 miles of Route 66 in Kansas, but we missed all of them in the dark and stormy night. Looks like we had another day of back-tracking in our future... We easily found the Little Brick Inn in Baxter Springs, retrieved our key from the mailbox, and lugged our stuff up the stairs to our suite and some shut-eye.

Except for the rain, it was a great day and Missouri showed us lots of things we missed and then some! Can't wait to see what Kansas and Oklahoma are hiding!

Day 6: GIANT state, cont.

2007-05-12T00:26:00.000-05:00

Great news - we are back with technology, so I can update you on the myriad of adventures that we've had in the past three days! As previously reported, we began our day Wednesday (May 9)bright and early; we just left without eating breakfast because we had a plan in mind. You know what they say about the best-laid plans...

We took off on Joliet Road (aka Route 66) from Chicago about 8:30 (that IS early for us!) and one of our first giant sightings was at the White Fence Farm and it was a giant chicken. We took a quick detour into Joliet (after passing the first of our many correctional institute sightings for the day) to see the grand Rialto Theater. It was magnificent! We could not get in, but you can check out its website at http://www.rialtosquare.com/ if you'd like to see it. While in Joliet, we found their minor league baseball stadium so we could see the first of the 'official' Illinois giants - Jackhammer Jake. Back on the Route, we were simply enjoying the views of endless flat cornfields when suddenly there appeared a HUGE stadium, then another and then even another! We finally figured out that it was the Illinois Route 66 Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway - you can see them at http://www.route66raceway.com/ since we were going too fast to take pictures.

Our next stop at about 9:30 was supposed to be our morning snack stop at the Launching Pad drive in, which was allegedly open for breakfast. NOT! We were able to get a photo of official Giant #2, the Gemini Giant. He, like Jake, was originally a 1965 Muffler Man, but now he is green, wears a huge 'space' helmet, and carries a blimp (http://www.launchingpadrt66.com/) The Polka Dot Drive In (http://www.polk-a-dot.com/) was our next attempt at food. No luck, but we did see lifesize models of Betty Boop, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, and Jake and Elroy (freshly out of Joliet, I guess). It was an eclectic crowd and Peppy loved being in the company of celebrities.

We were flying down the road so we only got a blurry shot of yet another nuclear facility and we drove right past the Riviera Roadhouse, so we had to turn around. This turned out to be a theme of the day, but it was worth it this time. This old speakeasy has been in operation since 1928 and was a hangout for Al Capone. It was built over an old coal mine, so the kitchen and dining room were on the main floor and the bar was downstairs, served by a dumbwaiter system. One of the owners, Peggy, was just leaving as we pulled in. Out back was a very cool streetcar diner which is being restored. It was originally a horse-drawn streetcar that was turned into a diner in 1932. The small town of Gardner was just ahead, and who could resist following signs to the "two cell jail"? Alas, although there was a poster of Barney Fife, Aunt Bea was not serving breakfast... Ambler's Texaco Station in Dwight was built in 1933 and was a Marathon Oil station. We saw a couple from from Nevada there, but have not run into them again. Just down the road was a real jewel - the Odell Standard Oil Station, which was in operation from 1932 to 1975, sometimes as a Sinclair and later as a Phillips 66. It is being completely renovated and has its original asphalt shingles (outside) and stamped tin ceiling in the garage bays. It was open and we talked to the man there for quite some time. All of the volunteers and people we've met along the Route love to talk about the history of their area and they are so nice! We also bought a book about Rt. 66 in Illinois. Kim was thrilled to have more to keep up with. It was after 11:30 when we left here and we were starting to regret our decision to leave without breakfast!! We saw one of the only two remaining Meramec Cavern barns and then finally we found the Old Log Cabin Inn outside of Pontiac. After a light lunch (considering we were starving!) of sandwiches (BLT and onion rings for me, grilled ham & cheese and fried cauliflower for Kim - see, we ate our vegetables!) we splurged on a piece of homemade peach pie. Yum. Once fortified, we were able to enjoy the neat little town of Pontiac. We visited the Rt. 66 Illinois Hall of Fame museum (http://www.il66assoc.org/) and got our own private tour. From there, we attempted to walk off some of our aforementioned fruits and vegetables by touring the courthouse, the jail (they are big on jails in Illinois!) and the park, complete with a swinging (not very) bridge. It was pretty hot by the time we made our way back to our car. Onward!

We stopped at a bridge with its original "Illinois 4" marking on it, and then we stopped to see the old IL State Police HQ which was built in the shape of a pistol (one of the many facts we learned a the museum). Soon it was time for a trip down Memory Lane - just outside the town of Lexington, the 66 Association has made a walking/bike trail out of a 4 mile section of the 1926 - 1940's roadbed, complete with old billboards. We're walking again! In Towanda, we survived Dead Man's Curve and found yet another place to walk - the Historic Route 66 Illinois "A Geographical Journey" path. This one was only 1.6 miles. We maybe walked 0.1 miles of it. That was enough and we were getting hot and hungry again. Where is the Whirl-a-Whip??? Not in Bloomington or Normal, which we couldn't get through fast enough. Frustrations come easily when hot and hungry, and when the guy writing the map guide is directionally challenged (who doesn't know that I-55 does NOT go east-west???) and you're driving around in the middle of cornfields in search of a place called Funks Grove and their famous maple SIRUP (their spelling!) it is not a pretty sight. Kim and I decided to be mad at the map man instead of each other. She is a great navigator and definitely has the harder job. She has learned to accommodate my ADD very well and only gives me one direction at a time and then makes me repeat it. Repeatedly. I still manage to have to make a lot of U-turns...

Anyway, the maple sirup was yummy, especially the maple sugar candy dipped in dark chocolate. Good thing we did not have room to pack a scale with us. We also bought a fantastic book, Images of 66, by David Wickline. It has proved to be an invaluable travel aid! We made a quick stop at the Dixie Truckers Home in McLean. There were way too many truckers who acted like we could come home with them! Our next side trip was to Atlanta, which was very quaint and cute and home to Tall Paul, the Bunyon's Giant Hot Dog Man, who used to live in Cicero (near Chicago) but moved here in 2003. He is the third of the Muffler Men cousins in Illinois. The library here was cool - it is a Neo Classical octagonal building with a forty foot tall clock tower. Atlanta also had a happy face water tower. The unhappy fact is that Atlanta is the halfway point of Route 66 in Illinois and it was almost 5 PM when we left...

We passed another correctional center in Lincoln as well as the Ghost Bridge between two cemeteries. It was getting late and the Whirl-a-Whip was calling us, so we breezed through Broadwell and the recently burned down Pig Hip Restaurant Museum and we finally made it to Springfield. Here we saw a giant figure of Abe Lincoln (not a Muffler Man and even more unattractive than old Abe probably was. We were too late to see all the 'stuff' at Shea's, but since much of it is outdoors, we took lots of photos of OLD Rt. 66 memorabilia and junk. We saw another giant in Springfield - the Lauterbach Tire giant, who looked suspiciously like a Muffler Man. Shallow gene pool I guess.

Now that we had officially completed ALL of old Route 66 in America, from Chicago to Santa Monica, we felt we could take some short cuts and we were off for Girard and the lure of Whirl-a-Whip. Never heard of it? Neither had we. The one in Girard is one of only two remaining of a once booming chain of ice cream stores with 50 flavors! We were so intrigued, and we had missed this spot last year even though we were looking for it. We called for directions and to make sure it would be open when we finally limped in. At a little after seven we hit pay dirt! I got a cinnamon twist cup and Kim got a chocolate walnut (this after we were supposed to be adventurous - I ask you, is chocolate walnut ice cream a risk??) My cinnamon twist was not at all what I expected. It was sort of pinkish, and it appeared to be soft-serve vanilla ice cream that had been whipped with crushed up red hots and whirled into the cup. It was fantastic! Kim's looked to be chocolate soft serve with walnuts. Duh. She said it was yummy, too. Darkness was approaching (now you know why we are running behind on this blog stuff - it takes me as long to write about it as it did to drive it!) and we had more to see before dark. Just south of Girard (which we reached by way of the Farmersville black top) is Carlinville, which is home to the largest group of Sears and Roebuck Catalog mail order homes. Standard Oil purchased 156 of them for its Carlinville Coal workers and 152 of them are still standing (and being lived in!) Three burned down and one was moved. They just don't build them like they used to! Standard Oil must have brought a lot of prosperity to this small town. The town square has brick paved roads and the courthouse is unbelievable! It's called the Macoupin County "Million Dollar" Domed Courthouse and supposedly cost $1.34 million to build in 1870!! It's built of limestone in the Renaissance Revival style and is the largest courthouse in the US with a 4500 square foot courtroom. Who knew? Too bad it was well after hours when we passed through. Right across the street was (you guessed it) the jail, in Gothic Revival styling and made with cannonballs in the cement walls.

By now it was pretty dark and we still really wanted to see the Soulsby Shell Station in Mount Olive. And we barely could. It is the oldest station originally located on Route 66. Off to Litchfield (which is north of Mt. Olive - we were intentionally backtracking) to eat dinner (all this traveling makes us hungry) at the famous Ariston Cafe, which was unexpectedly closed when we tried to eat there last year. Check it out at http://www.aristoncafe.com/ and it was worth the wait. Kim had spaghetti and salad and I had a gyro. We shared some homemade potato chips (great!) and a delicious pie called Fruit of the Forest. It had strawberries, rhubarb, blueberries, apples, and blackberries. And a double crust, of course. At this point, we hit the interstate and sped off for St. Louis. We rolled into the Hampton parking lot about 10:30 PM, fourteen hours and not even 400 miles from Chicago!! It was a gigantic day! And as I'm writing, it's 2:30 AM on Saturday and we have a BIG day tomorrow. Night night!

Jan

Day 6: Illinois is a GIANT state

2007-05-09T23:55:00.000-05:00

For a change, we started our day while it was still morning - we were on the road by 8:15! We broke our breakfast rule again and paid for it - more about that later. For now, just know that we walked into our hotel room at 11:11pm and we only traveled about 400 miles. It was a long day. When I am no longer brain dead, I will write about our many adventures and giant sightings. Off to dreamland!

Jan

Day 5: Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

2007-05-08T23:58:00.000-05:00

After enjoying one of our last "lazy" mornings, we finally got mobile around noon. Once we mobilized, we were on the go for the rest of the day! We drove down to the train station at the closest town to us, figured out where to park without getting towed (not an easy trick!), bought train tickets into Union Station, got on the right train AND got off at the right place (that was easy, since Union Station is the end of the line!). From there we walked (more like RAN) to the Art Institute of Chicago, which we had been informed via multiple websites was FREE on Tuesdays. NOT - as of a year ago. FYI, it's now free only on Thursday evenings. So, we bought a ticket for the institute and for the special exhibit of Cezanne, Picasso, and other famous artists whose patron was Ambroise Vollard. However, our first order of business was FOOD!!! We broke our own brand new road rule of "Breakfast - don't go far without it!" and since it was after 2:00 and we had not eaten, we were really hungry! We had heard good things about the cafe at the Institute, so we got someone to escort us down there (it's like a maze in that place!) and just in time, since the kitchen closed at 3:00.

The food was fabulous! I had a spicy shrimp appetizer on avocado puree with a fresh fruit salsa and drizzled with cilantro oil - it was excellent! Kim had a penne pasta, asparagus, ramps, and parmesan cream sauce dish and I had risotto with applewood bacon, English peas, pearl onions, Parmesan cheese, and pea shoots. Both were very delicious and we were able to skip dessert since we knew it wouldn't be long before we ate again! I have to be honest and say I enjoyed the food way more than I did the art, and I think we even enjoyed the people watching more, too! We had one "canoodling" couple (my word from People magazine!), a pair of Asian women in for real kimonos, and a couple who seated themselves well after 3:00 and then couldn't figure out why they seemed to be wearing a double cloak of invisibility. We were practically howling watching the waiters and busmen studiously avoid them, even as they got more and more agitated that they were being ignored. They finally got smart and left. Duh.
We didn't see a whole lot - we checked out the American Decorative Arts from 1901 to present, the hall of armor, the Vollard exhibit, the Thorne Miniature Rooms, and the Photography galleries. We loved the miniatures - totally cool! Lots of Ansel Adams in the photography collection so that was good, too. We were about culturally saturated, what with our ride on the train from the suburbs and our artsy day, but we had way more Chicago culture ahead of us.

We took off for State Street and the Red Line train. Before we could even buy out tickets, a nice man gave us a couple and even helped us figure out what to do with them. Y'all know we don't do trains in the South!! Anyway, he was too good to be true, as he followed us down to the tracks and then held out his hand... We weren't stupid, though, and only paid him face value for the tickets. More wonderful people-watching on the train. Remember how when your kids were little they would close their eyes and say "you can't see me!"? I think that's what people think when they stick those damn earbuds in their ears. Guess what - we can see you and HEAR you!!

We were pleasantly surprised to see we had gotten on the right train and we got off at the right stop - Addison Street is practically on top of Wrigley Field! Wrigleyville was a hopping place, as the weather was perfect (it had been almost 80 here and sunny all day!) for an evening spring ballgame. We strolled around and talked to a nice cop and found a fun place to eat (yes, again!). This time we were in Goose Island Brewpub, so we had to have some beer and we just had some appetizers. Soon it was time for the big game!

We quickly learned that it was NU night (Northwestern Univ) at Wrigley, and I'm pretty sure all of the students were sitting in our section. Or perhaps I should say they were all playing musical chairs in our section. I think it was some sort of drinking game, too. Anyway, it added a little spice to our evening and we even worked off some of our calories as we stood and sat many, many times so that people could go in and out of our row... As for the ballgame, I've seen better fielding at many a high school game. When we left with one out and no one on in the top of the ninth (we had trains to catch!), the Cubs were up 3 to 2 over the Pirates. Imagine our surprise when we learned the Cubs lost 4 to 3 after 15 innings!! Good thing we didn't stay until the end - we would be thumbing about now!

While we were debating which train to hop on to get back into Chicago, a very nice young man (and nice looking!) named Brennan told us which one to take. He thought our trip sounded like more fun than going to work tomorrow, but we told him our car was full this time... We had a long conversation with another man on the train - we have found people to be very friendly here, and unlike in NYC, they actually look at you and talk to you! And no one has knocked us down, either! As we were walking from the Red Line station to Union Station, a group of men asked us how to get to... (we were just getting ready to tell them we didn't know how to get ANYWHERE in Chicago) Wrigley Field!! And we could even tell them! If only we had known which direction Union Station was. Not to worry, we found it, and here we are, safely back at our hotel. I just now heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like rain, and it was! Really good thing we left the game when we did - we had lots of walking to do to get here!

So now we're hoping the rain passes us tonight and we have clear skies and good roads for the rest of our trip! Cross your fingers!

Jan

Day 4 - "Just because there's sand and water, that doesn't mean it's a Beach" and "It's my way or the Segway!"

2007-05-08T08:09:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed another night at our home away from home - Hampton Inn - and are pleased to report that they actually do stand by their 100% guarantee. We had a few issues that did not please us, and they very graciously comped our room. Can't beat that for customer satisfaction! Thanks, Hampton Inn!

We didn't have far to travel today, so we didn't get going until a little before ten. We were sure that we would find a great local breakfast spot on our way to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Alas, we were wrong. Guess we're a little early for the season here... We somehow found our way to "Central Beach" which must be one of the most deserted and unknown national "treasures" around. It was very desolate and we were glad there was no banjo music dueling in the background - it sort of had that Deliverance feel to it as we got out of our car to go to the dunes.

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of climbing Jockey's Ridge or any other big sand dune - it is HARD work! We could already tell exactly what muscles would be sore as we trudged up the sand. Once we got down to the beach, we were rewarded with an interesting view. Lake Michigan is huge - it was almost like seeing the ocean, only without waves, people, and with the hazy view of Gary's steel mills, Chicago's skyscrapers, and an up close and personal glimpse of the nuclear reactor cooling tower that we had seen in Michigan City the night before. There were three young ladies and a dog there. We made up that they were skipping school - good choice, as we doubt anyone would look for them there. They had a cooler with them, but Kim and I decided we would not be drinking much at that beach - Lake Michigan is COLD and it was a long trek up a sandy hill back to the rest rooms!

After looking at a map of the dunes, we realized we were not at the main beach areas, so we went off in search of a more popular area. We found the main entrance to the beach and allegedly to the visitor's center and we followed the road through a lovely (probably WPA) entrance to the lakeshore. Lots of construction was going on but we soon found ourselves in front of a huge two-story beach pavillion. There were more people here - maybe ten in all. The restrooms in the pavillion were open, but not the cafeteria or gift shop. There was a huge culvert with water pouring out into a "creek" (definitely not what we southerners would call a creek) that emptied into Lake Michigan. It was a little off-putting to read the sign warning us not to swim or play in the "creek" due to frequently high bacteria levels... With all the construction, we never quite found the visitor's center, but we were underwhelmed and hungry, so off we went to Gary.

Even though I was sure we could find a local dive that served breakfast, Kim would not let me get off the main road in Gary and was glad when we got on the interstate there. We passed several steel mills and just skirted the fringes of Gary, where the citizens welcomed us (according to their water tanks and other signs). Before we knew it, we found ourselves in the wrong lane at a toll plaza - I seem to have a bit of trouble at toll booths and border crossings. Without causing an accident or a traffic pile-up, we made it safely and legally onto the tollway and soon we were approaching Chicago.

Kim did an excellent job navigating and we finally found ourselves at Navy Pier. Add parking garages to the above list of things I have a bit of difficulty with! By this time, we were starving and it was not only after breakfast or brunch time - we had even managed to miss the lunch rush. We went to the Billy Goat Tavern (of cheezborger, cheezborger - no fries, chips! fame - remember the good old days of Saturday Night Live?) and had....cheezborgers, what else!?! Not nearly as good as the ones we had at Redamaks the night before, but at least we had food in our tummies.

We spent a good bit of time exploring Navy Pier, even places we probably were not supposed to be. Did you know that at one time, streetcars drove people all the way through the pier to the ballroom at the very end of it? It is a huge place and we had fun imagining what it would have been like back in the day. Since we needed to be somewhere else in the city at a certain time for our evening Segway tour, we decided to find our way there and just explore the area until tour time. Good thing, since we spent way more time in the parking garage than we needed to - once we finally found our way into the parking garage!

We were parked under Millennium Park, so once we found the Segway office, we went exploring. We were still a little hungry (that sand dune was hard!) so we walked up and down Michigan Avenue in search of a place to eat and have a beer. We wound up at Pizano's Pizza, where we enjoyed a beer, some yummy garlic cheese sticks, and the most delicious dessert - Holly and Little Rudy's Chocolate Chip Cookie. It was a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie prepared in a pizza pan with a layer of vanilla ice cream, topped with chocolate syrup and whipped cream. TO DIE FOR !!!! And for some reason, our waiter, Darius, told us our cookie was on him, and it was!

Now that we were fortified, we walked back through the parks to learn a new life skill - how to ride a Segway! Kim was not at all looking forward to this, and I was having a few thoughts about how well my bad balance would work on some gyroscope powered moving object. As it happened, we were the only ones on the tour this evening, so there was no one we had to make a fool of ourselves in front of but each other and John, our guide. Oh, and of course everyone else we passed on the streets of downtown Chicago. After watching the "what not to do" video, we were sure we'd be able to master all of those skills! Unbelievably, John had us up and rolling in under five minutes! Our tour lasted a couple of hours, and we went all around the park, past the Art Institute, through Buckingham Fountain park, and to the museum campus that houses the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium. From there we rolled all the way around Soldier Field and then we returned to the office on the lakefront. Even though our kids think the Segways are the antithesis of 'cool,' we had fun and didn't break any bones or have to pay for any Segways or Segway parts! By the end, even Kim was enjoying it, although she had earlier told John she was not loving it!

John also works as a concierge at the Hyatt, so we took his recommendation and went for a light snack and a hefty drink at the Park Grill. I had a wonderful roasted beet and goat cheese salad and Kim had a Bibb lettuce salad that looked great. Our drinks hit the spot, too, as did the really good desserts! Kim had a strawberry napolean and I had a chocolate-peanut butter-banana tart thing. Life is good!

We found our way to our hotel with no problems and we promptly crashed for the night. Who knows what adventures await us today!?!

Day 2 and 3 Formally Trained and a Michigan drive-by

2007-05-06T22:01:00.000-05:00

We got up early so we could make it to graduation on time - Ball State is in Muncie, about 20 miles from Anderson, and ceremonies started at 10 AM. We made it to the site of the outdoor ceremony just as the graduates were filing in, and as luck would have it, we were right next to the spot where Kerry would be walking by. I had no sooner gotten my camera ready than she walked past us, proudly wearing her "sombrero graduation helmet" (translation: since it was Cinco de Mayo, Kerry decorated her mortarboard with dangling red pom-poms, which made her very easy to spot even though she's on the short side!) We yelled at her as she went past and got a fine thumbs up from her. After a good bit of careful navigating and negotiating, we made our way to the seats that were being saved for us by Kevin and Colin (Kerry's brother and her boyfriend). The weather was perfect - sunny blue skies, no wind, and just the right temperature (if you weren't wearing a gown over your clothes). The ceremony was typical, except much more sedate and serious than those we are used to in the south. Even outdoors, the graduates and the audience were quiet and respectful.

Once the main ceremony was over, we reconvened at a building across campus for the departmental gathering where the graduates actually crossed the stage to receive their faux diplomas. From here we went back to Kerry's apartment to load up her dad's car with some furniture and boxes. By the time that was over, we were all starving, so we had a fantastic family celebratory lunch at the local Steak and Shake. After lunch, Kevin left with his dad and stepmom and Kim and I went back to Anderson for a much-needed nap. We woke up just in time to see the Derby (my horse won!) and then we went back to Muncie for yummy pizza at Greek's with Kerry, Colin, and our cousin Gary and his wife Jill. After we left the pizza place, Kerry took us to Timbers Lounge to see one of the TWO fiberglass lumberjack giants in Muncie. It was a wonderful day - the only downside was that I accidentally re-formatted one of my cameras in the middle of graduation, which resulted in my losing all of the images captured up to that point... I will not make that mistake again!
Today, we slept in and met Kerry and Colin in Muncie for brunch at Eva's Pancake House. After we said our goodbyes to the now "formally trained" Kerry, we went in search of even more Muncie giants. We found a purple hippo and a big mailbox just for mailing letters to David Letterman (BSU grad) and then as we got on the interstate to go north, we found the other lumberjack! Who knew? They're on the Giant photo list on the right side of the blog. We were on the interstate for about 25 miles and then we were back on highways for the remainder of the day.

We enjoyed the ride through the small towns and very flat Indiana countryside, and of course we found several oddities and photo ops along the way. We took a side trip in Kokomo (home of the Koko Mo-tel) to see Old Ben (the world's largest steer, who is now stuffed and in a park) and a huge sycamore stump (right next to Old Ben). We then stopped off in Peru to see the International Circus Hall of Fame, which was unfortunately closed. However, the nice man told us we could go look anyway, so we spent quite a while in a big old barn full of very cool old circus stuff. Peru was Circus Capital of the country from the early 1800's - it's amazing what you can learn by getting off the interstate!

Our next stop was at Notre Dame in South Bend. We walked around campus and saw the famous golden dome, the church, the grotto, and of course, Touchdown Jesus and Notre Dame stadium. We are hoping that school is out for the semester, because the campus was like a ghost town! Only a few people were out and about - very strange for a college campus and town.

Since we were practically at the Michigan border and Kim had never been to Michigan before, we continued north to Niles and then went west toward Lake Michigan. We ate at a famous local landmark, Redamak's, which is known for its hamburgers. Man, were they ever fantastic!! I wanted one for dessert, but was able to show a bit of restraint. It was a great old restaurant - you can check out their website at www.redamaks.com if you're interested.

By the time we crossed the border back into Indiana, the sun was setting over Lake Michigan. So beautiful - the perfect ending to a perfect weekend! We'll check in again tomorrow!

Oh, forgot to mention that Peppy was photographed with the sombrero graduation helmet, the hippo, Dave's mailbox, and at the Circus Hall of Fame. When I have time to figure out how to add photos to this blog site, I will and you can see for yourself what fun we are having! Happy trails.

Jan (proud aunt to the Formally Trained One, Kerry)

Day 1: Yes, Indiana, there IS a Santa Claus!

2007-05-05T23:46:00.000-05:00

As our daddy used to say, we were off like a herd of turtles - we didn't leave Paducah until 11 AM Friday. Our plan for this day was to stop in Santa Claus, IN, see the giant Santa there, and continue on to Anderson, Indiana, where we'd be stopping for a couple of nights so we could attend graduation ceremonies at Ball State University in Muncie. As usual, plans changed - we decided to take the old road (Hwy 62) across Kentucky Dam, since it and the lake it makes are pretty giant things. Although a barge was locking through when we got there, we were disappointed not to be able to get down to the lock to watch the process. One of our earliest childhood memories is watching the barges lock through and being both terrified (K) and thrilled (J) by the thought that we might fall in as Daddy held us up on the railing above the water. We did go down to the Powerhouse and Peppy posed by the giant turbine on display there - you can see them on the Giant photos on the right side of our blog.

From the dam, we drove across the West Ky Pkwy and the Green River Pkwy to Owensboro, stopping for lunch at the Purple Onion in Central City, KY (home of the Everly Brothers). We crossed the Ohio River in Owensboro and went straight to Santa Claus. We passed a neat little building called the Candy Castle, pulled over to snap a photo or two, and then drove on. As we left, we noticed a sign advertising Frozen Hot Chocolate and decided that could be worth a stop...but we went on. Just up the road, on a hillside, we almost drove right past the original giant Santa Claus. I hung a quick left and we walked up through the long wet (it had evidently just poured down rain) grass to see Santa. After taking some pictures, we voted to try the frozen hot chocolate - were we ever glad we did!Not only was the frozen concoction delicious, the Castle's owner, Kevin, gave us a fantastic tour of the castle and told us the whole history of Santa Claus, Indiana, and Candyland, Toyland, and Holiday World. We met a friendly local family and just had fun finding out about Santa Claus and other area attractions. From here, we went to the town hall and the famous Post Office and then we drove out to Abraham Lincoln's Boyhood Memorial, near the site where Lincoln and his family lived in a pioneer community from 1816 to 1830.

We got to the Memorial just before it closed, but we had time to see the highlights there and then we were off for St. Meinrad. Founded by Benedictine monks in 1854, St. Meinrad is one of only two archabbeys in the United States and one of nine in the world. The church is gorgeous and offers a place for spiritual and peaceful retreats; it is also home to Abbey Press. You could also order and buy a custom-made casket there, but the casket factory had closed by the time we arrived. Hopefully we'll not be needing one any time soon! We got there just as dinner was being served to the people who were there for a retreat; unfortunately, we were quickly spotted as not being one of them! So we loaded up the car and got on the road to Bloomington, home of Indiana University.

It was graduation weekend in Bloomington, too, but we had no trouble getting a table at Opie Taylor's and having great sandwiches there. We saw what we could of the university in the dark - the downtown area was lots of fun - and then finally got going around 9:30. It figures that just after getting on an interstate for the first time all day, we got stuck in traffic and it took us over an hour to travel six miles. It was after midnight when we finally rested our heads of the incredibly soft pillows at the Hampton Inn in Anderson, IN. Long day, but tons of fun and 440 miles covered.