The Big Adventure

Before I begin, I need to tell you that this blog has only a couple of pictures in it, so sorry there's so much writing. I'm allowed to download only a certain number of pics each month on this site, and I just reached my quota for May! However, you can see all the pictures at my photosite at http://semitte.photosite.com. (I just posted 12 new pictures).

The Frozen Tundra

The morning we left Minnesota, it was a brisk 43 degrees. The day before, it got up to 85 in the afternoon; but within 3 hours, it fell to 52 -- a drop of 33 degrees in 3 hours! (A cold front came in). Of course, that morning at the campground, we saw campers outdoors fixing their breakfasts, dressed in hoods and parkas. But being the terminal west coasters that we are, we were out there in our shorts and flip-flops. I'm not sure which of us campers were crazier! Garrison Keilor refers to that north part of the country as "The Frozen Tundra", so that's been our affectionately-given nickname for it!

Beautiful Wisconsin

We rolled into Wisconsin, and it was beautiful. I've consistently been surprised every time we drive into another state that each one has its own personality and its own look. Wisconsin was no different.

The landscape consisted of rolling hills, with all kinds of small-diameter trees -- pines, cedars, birch, spruce, maple. It was beautiful! To add to that bucolic scene, everywhere you looked, there were farms and cows (it is the Dairy State, after all). The barns were all alike -- they sat on a stone foundation about 3-4 feet high. Then they were red, tall and rounded, with a little peak at the top. Then each barn was flanked with one, or two, or three silos. In any direction you looked, you saw several of these settings.

I had to laugh, though, thinking of those Wisconsin cows. I'm reminded of the commercials for California cheese -- the ones that advertise that they have happy cows. There was one commercial that showed the Wisconsin cows shivering in a blizzard, explaining that their cows were not happy cows. I couldn't look at the cows without imagining them shivering! (I know, I'm weird!).

As we drove through Wisconsin, I loved the names of some of the cities -- Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Altoona, Wausau, Menomonie. I found myself looking forward to seeing upcoming road signs.

By the way, also in Wisconsin they have the large, permanent fireworks stores. This seems so strange to me. I'm not sure about Oregon, but I know in California they put up little shacks, and are allowed to have them up and running for about 2 weeks. They're very strict about that. So to think about having year-round fireworks is a strange thing for me.

Random Road Report

I've been amazed at the rest stops in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. They're all very big and nice, with tourism information, nice and varied vending machines, and big clean restrooms.

We saw several advertisements (on signs or billboards) for used cars "with no rust". I thought that was funny until Mike explained to me that they put tons of salt on the roads every winter, and that salt flies up underneath the cars and rusts the metal. So these dealerships will go to the auto auctions in Arizona or someplace and bring back cars with no rust. I've never thought about anything like that.

I reported last time that we passed the road sign to Medford, Minnesota, and included that picture on my photosite. In this leg, we also passed Medford, Wisconsin, although I wasn't quick enough to snap a picture. I think that will be one of my past-times while I travel -- to see how many cities called Medford we can get near! ;-)

I saw several signs around Wausau advertising a ski area -- Rib Mountain. I thought, "Huh? Skiing in Wisconsin?" But when I looked it up, I found out that Rib Mountain is just 1900 feet high! I guess that's high and ski-worthy for Wisconsinites (is that what they're called?), but it's kinda hard to swallow for an Oregonian/Californian! Can you say "Bunny Hill"??

On the West Coast, I'm used to passing fields of alfalfa that is harvested and fed to the cows. Back here, they don't grow alfalfa, but clover. It's very green and grows to about 5-15 inches high. They still cut it and bale it, but it looks very different.

And now, here's what you've been waiting for -- the roadkill report. There have been a few raccoons, but probably over a dozen white-tailed deer. We never saw any in the trees, but we certainly saw plenty in the road (sad).

Packer Country

We finally made it across the state and drove into Green Bay. Of course, we saw Lambeau Field, the stadium of the renowned Packers! But what is amazing is the Green Bay area itself. Probably some of you long-time football fans may already know all this, but I didn't, so I'm going to assume that some of you don't either. The GB area has only about 100,000 in population, and it's totally out in the boonies, yet it supports a major NFL team, with a stadium that sits about 72,000. Think about a city you know that has only 100,000 people, and the ridiculousness of it all becomes clear. Also, the city itself owns the team and the stadium, etc. so that the community can enjoy this team into perpetuity. A lot of the city is very blue collar too, so I just imagined that these people saved some of their weekly pay all year long so they can go support those 8 home games each year. It's pretty mind-boggling!

The rest of GB was not necessarily too noteworthy. We went out to the bay, but it's kinda nasty and muddy and brown (not green at all!), not to mention that that day, it was about 45 degrees. The town next to GB, Ashwaubenon, was nicer -- it had some shopping and restaurants, etc.

In a couple of other states we had seen a store called ShopKo, and had wondered what it was. So when we saw one in Ashwaubenon, we decided we would go in. I had imagined by its name that it was kinda like a Winco (for those of you who don't live in the West, that's a discount, bag-your-own grocery chain). But actually, it was more like an upscale Fred Meyer (for those of you who don't live in the West, that's like a ShopKo) ;-) I actually bought 3 pair of very cute shorts that were on sale, of course. Oh, and ShopKo had fireworks in it too (althought I didn't buy any of those).

Up to the U.P.

From Green Bay, we decided to travel up and over Lake Michigan, through Michigan's Upper Peninsula (the "U.P." as the natives call it -- native Michigonians, not native Americans -- and what DO they call people from Michigan? Sorry, I digress).

Michigan quickly established its own personality as well. It was very beautiful, and was 76 degrees the morning we left -- although there were definitely signs that this was some cold country. In Escanaba, we say a sign that was advertising the "Ice Fishing Extravaganza" that took place in February. Darn it, we missed it! But maybe we can come up next year! (NOT!!) Also, as we passed the Escanaba High School, we saw that they were the "Home of the Eskimoes". Then in Nahma, we saw a sign for "You drive/you ride dog sleds". Hmmm.....

What was the prettiest of all, though, was that Lake Michigan (LM) was to our right just about the entire trip. After seeing that Green Bay was brown, I was expecting more brown. But I was surprised to see that LM was a beautiful blue, and even a bright turquoise near the shore, like the beaches in Hawaii. Wow! As we drove along, it felt like it had many times in our experience in driving along the Oregon or California coast, but something felt different. It wasn't the terrain -- in fact, the area kinda looked like Monterrey with the trees and hills. We finally realized what it was -- there were no waves crashing onto the shore! That body of water was so huge, and looked more like an ocean, so it was hard to imagine that it was actually a fresh-water lake! I got out in Brevort because I just had to put my feet in the water. It was definitely cold, but it was nice and clean, not sticky and salty.

Random Road Report, Part 2

We saw many, many log trucks along the road, but they were very different than those we see in Oregon. The Oregon trucks might carry 4 or 5 fat, long trees, and carry them lengthwise in the truck. But all the ones we saw carried a much smaller diameter cedar tree. They had been cut into about 8 foot lengths and packed in the back of the truck sideways. And since they were so small around, they could pack in dozens of logs.

I saw a couple of interesting signs: one was in front of a little shack and said "Honest Injun's Tourist Trap" (ah, I love truth in advertising). The other was at a "Dairy-Flo" just past the Tacoosh River: the sign said "We now have monkey sticks." Now I didn't stop to find out what monkey sticks were, but I certainly pondered it over the next few miles (but with no success).

I haven't talked previously about gas prices, but I must comment here in Michigan -- these are the highest prices we've seen yet! I started keeping track of the highest price I would see (which was, of course, for the "supreme"), and the winner was in Michigan at $3.85/gallon! UGH! Now we haven't had to pay that since we use diesel, and that's lower now than gas. In Michigan we were generally paying about $2.89. The lowest price we've seen so far is in Oklahoma City at $2.60. The highest we've paid so far was in California (a tie between Northridge and Turlock, of all places) at $3.10. (After I wrote this, I just found out that gas is over $4.00 in Medford. That diminishes this paragraph, but I'm leaving it in!)

Crossing the Bridge

We reached the end of the U.P. and came to the Mackinac Bridge, which connects the U.P. with the L.P. (the lower peninsula). It's a pretty suspension bridge, and it's very tall (about 200 feet above the water) so that ships can pass under it. It reminded me of the Golden Gate Bridge, although it's green instead of orange. As we were crossing the bridge, all that cool wind was coming off the water, and it was 46 degrees. By the time we had driven 30 minutes inland, the temperature had increased by 30 degrees.

We were ultimately heading to Traverse City (TC), the home of my Medford friend Margie. She had told me so much about the area that I just had to see it for myself. It was indeed a beautiful area. All around that area they grow cherries, so we saw a lot of cherry trees.

When we got to TC, we saw that it WAS a wonderful place. There's a big bay there which is divided by a long skinny peninsula called the Mission Peninsula (MP). It separated the bay between the east bay and the west bay.

We drove out to the end of the MP, about 18 miles, where there is an old lighthouse at the end. All along the way were beautiful homes, vineyards and wineries. After that, we drove over to the much larger Leelenau Peninsula (LP). It's also full of beautiful homes, wineries, and lots of cherry trees. We found this one winery called Black Star Farms that made its own cheese (from happy Leelenau cows!). We sampled the one and only cheese they make, a Switzerland-inspired cheese called raclette -- we tried the newer 3-month-aged cheese, and it was really good. But then we tried the 8 to 10-month-aged cheese and OHMIGOSH it was absolutely the best cheese I've ever tasted in my life! We bought 3 chunks, and took an order form with us. It's kinda spendy, but definitely a luxurious experience!

We wandered around the perimeter of the LP and found the beautiful sandy beaches. I imagine that area is really nice in the summer -- pleasant, not too hot. I was surprised, though, because it was 83 degrees on a beautiful day, and no one was there. I don't get it!

Baa Baa ZuZu and Other Treats

Along the way, we saw an out-of-the-way little shop called Baa Baa ZuZu (don't you love it?). They buy old wool coats from places like Goodwill, then cut them up into a random patchwork and make new trendy coats. It was a very cool concept. But the cutest thing we saw there was the "shop dog" -- she was a Golden Doodle (a mixture of Golden Retreiver and Poodle). That was the cutest, most mellow dog I've ever seen. We hung around there for a while just to play with the dog. A picture of her is on the photosite.

We also walked across the way to what we were told was a coffee shop, where we, of course, planned to get a cup of coffee. However, they didn't sell retail, but were coffee roasters and distributors. We talked with the young girl there for a while, and found out about the coffee roasting process. She had open bags of raw coffee beans there from Mexico and Sumatra, so I asked her if I could taste one (she said yes, of course). It was interesting. The beans were tough and relatively tasteless. After chewing on them for a while, I could eventually taste the coffee taste a little bit, but it was a stretch. It's amazing just how much the coffee taste we enjoy comes 99% from the roasting process.

Lake Michigan Circle Tour

We decided to head south by going down the lakeside highway. There were signs along the highway as we headed up from Green Bay that said it was the "Lake Michigan Circle Tour". So we decided to head south by taking the same Circle Tour route. I was disappointed, though, because the southbound highway was just far enough from the Lake and separated from the water by hills that we never saw the water. That's ok, though. I've now just about circled the Lake, and considering that we've already seen the Lake around Chicago, I just have a few more miles that I'll have to drive in the future to complete the Circle Tour!

Notre Dame

Our next stop was South Bend, Indiana. I had always wanted to see the Notre Dame campus, so that's where we went. As you can imagine, the city of South Bend was extremely loyal to their Fighting Irish, but the city itself wasn't too impressive. Then we drove onto the campus. Wow! We got out and walked around the campus, since it wasn't really very accessible by vehicle. It's the most beautiful campus I've ever seen. I also saw certain buildings and yard areas that I had seen in the movies before, which was fun. In the middle of the campus are all the old original buildings, first built in the 1800's. Among those was the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, built in 1870. It was a very beautiful cathedral with lots of stained glass.

RV/Truck Accessory Mecca

After visiting Notre Dame, we drove a few miles east to the city of Elkhart. You have to understand that since Michael has been in the RV and truck accessory business for probably 35 years (and we've been married 26 of those), I've heard of Elkhart for years. Elkhart is the place where dozens of the top RV and truck accessory manufacturers are located, along with the additional dozens of their sub-contractors and suppliers. I was amazed at the massiveness of their industrial parks and was imagining just how low their unemployment rate must be (I know I'm weird for thinking about such things). Anyway, I'm glad to have seen it after all these years, so now I know what Michael is talking about.

Revised Plan

We were originally intending on going on down to Tennesee from here and look around before heading to Louisville in September, then up to the Northeast and work our way down. Since we're (way) ahead of schedule, we decided to take a different approach, so we decided to go over to Indiana then Ohio, and head off to Pennsylvania, then work our way down the east coast before heading to Tennessee. (Did you follow that??) ;-)

Anyway, we decided that we would go down and see Indianapolis, to see what's there. We just about figured out what we were going to do and where we were going to stay, then Michael remembered that Memorial Day weekend was the time for the Indy 500. We certainly weren't going to find a place to stay anywhere near the city! So we decided to go on down to Lebanon, Ohio (near Cincinnati) to see Mike's neice, Candi (which we WERE going to do in September anyway). We're going to drive over to Indianapolis and just look around -- although we're going to stay far away from the Speedway. I figure everyone will be over there, so the downtown and other areas should be relatively empty!

Random Road Report, Part 3

In Southern Michigan, we stopped at a rest stop, and pulled up next to a trucker who was up on a ladder fixing something on top of his cab. We both went in to the restroom, then came out and went on down the road. When we arrived at our campground about an hour later, we realized that our ramp was gone. Michael had built this very awesome wooden ramp that helped us level out the fifth wheel. He always threw it into the back of the pickup, never worrying that anything would happen to it -- after all, it was very heavy, and you really couldn't even see it -- that is, unless you were on top of a ladder next to the pickup. We've commented many times along this trip that that was one of the best things we brought along, so I was really bummed that this bum took it. We're making do with other stuff we have.

On a happier note, we were driving through the country and saw the coolest thing. This big farm house had an oval pond out front, and this kid was riding a jet ski around in it, doing "rooster tails" to splash his friends. How cool would that be, to have a jet ski in your own pond?! I had already mentioned to Michael that my ideal house would have a pond, so if I get that, I'll have to add a jet ski to the mix!

For miles and miles now, I've seen field after field of either the remainder of last year's corn fields, or empty ready fields. During that same country drive, I finally saw corn coming up -- it was about 6-8 inches tall, and there was mile after mile of this stuff. I've been amazed to think about just how much corn is used in this country -- corn to be eaten by humans and animals, to be made into corn syrup (which is in everything!), corn starch, etc. It's just a huge industry!

We entered Ohio by a country road, and I have found that country roads don't usually have the big "Welcome to (new state)" on them. However, this road did have a big sign, but it was placed right between two little farm houses right on the road. I wish I had noticed them quickly enough to take a picture, but it was quite a sight. And I bet they had fun telling their friends and relatives that their next door neighbor was located in the next state.

And I saved my favorite for last -- outside of South Bend, there was a nice clean little building with a sign that said "Dad's Transmission and Flea Market." Ah, small town America.

More about the trip to Indianapolis and visit with Candi next time!

Zipping Through Iowa

In just about every state we've travelled through, we've been pleasantly surprised by what we've found, and a lot of our preconceived notions have been busted -- that is, until we reached Iowa. It was just exactly as we had imagined -- flat farmland, ready to be planted with corn, and without too much personality. We did find a winery in southern Iowa -- ok, that was a surprise -- but basically we just drove through the state as a way to get from Missouri to Minnesota. 'Nuf said.

Into Minneapolis

I got a chuckle as we headed up towards Minneapolis. There was a sign that said "Medford 3/4 mile". Although there wasn't much there in the little town of Medford, it did put a smile on my face.

After having had such a good time in Kansas City, we were a little disappointed in Minneapolis. It didn't have nearly the personality that KC did. It was actually a little "blah". But we still ended up having a good time.

We've been amazed by the number of lakes, everywhere you look. Of course, this state is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes." There's this one area of town called the Chain of Lakes, and there are some beautiful, old, huge houses all along the edge. If you had to live in Minneapolis, that would be the place to live!

Wandering thru Downtown

We went downtown to the Nicollet Mall, which is a pedestrian mall that runs the length of downtown. The downtown area is interesting in that just about every block is connected on the buildings' second levels. In other words, you can walk from block to block in just about any direction and never have to go outside. I guess you'd have to have something like that in an area that dips below zero in the winter.

In front of Macy's is a bronze statue of Mary Tyler Moore, with her throwing her hat up like she did at the beginning of the MTM show.
Remember, her job in that show was in a Minneapolis TV station. I thought that was amusing.

A funny thing happened -- we were walking around in the cold, windy downtown, and of course, we had to go potty. I looked up and saw a Target, so I suggested we go in there. We went around the corner, looking for the door, then finally found it. We thought it was weird that the door wasn't more accessible. When we walked in, we thought it was a strange-looking Target, with an escalator, sculptures, etc. But we went up the escalator. When we got to the top, we looked and saw people walking everywhere, then finally a couple of security guards at a desk. I finally got it. I walked up and asked, "Is this the Target corporate headquarters or something?" He said "Yes". Since we were already there, I also asked, "Are there any public restrooms around here?" He showed us one, so we still accomplished our mission! ;-)

From there, we walked down to a Sculpture Garden next to the Walker Art Museum (contemporary art). Most of the sculptures in the garden were pretty weird, but the main centerpiece of the garden was pretty cool -- a huge cherry on an even bigger spoon.

On our way walking through the park, we saw something funny. A person was lying down on a blanket taking a nap, and next to him was a little nylon carrier that undoubtedly had some food in it. A little squirrel kept walking around and around him, wanting so very much to get to the food he was smelling, but scared to approach this big human being. We stood and watched him for a long time, but then we left. I'm not sure how things ended up. We kept thinking that the squirrel was going to jump on the man, although if that were to happen, I'm not sure who would have been more surprised!

More Adventures

In the afternoon, we drove down to Minnehaha Park, and saw the Minnehaha Falls. It's about 50 feet high, and is on a creek that runs into the Mississippi. The park is very big, and very pretty.

After the falls, we headed down to Bloomington to go to the Mall of America, the largest mall in the U.S., with more than 500 stores under a 4.2 million square foot building. Of course, about 2 million square feet of that, the entire center of the Mall, consists of a big amusement park, with several roller coasters, ferris wheels, etc. It was pretty mind boggling!

While we were walking around, we saw several hair salons. Since it had been about 8 weeks since either of us had gotten a haircut, we decided to walk into one. I've used only two hairdressers over the last 16 years, so I was wondering how it would go. But when I walked in, I decided that I was tired of being shaggy, so I told the gal to cut it short -- which she did! I had looked through some hair books and found a picture of a hairdo I looked, and the gal did a good job.

By the way, my hairdresser had lived in Minnesota her entire life, so I was entertained by her accent. At one point, she even said "Yah, sure" just like I would have guessed she would. When I told her I enjoyed her accent, she was surprised she even had one. Cute.

Art Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

Saturday morning, we went to the big annual Art Show down in the art district -- or at least that's what they called it. As we went through the old dilapidated buildings, Michael and I were commenting that the Minnesota building code was nothing like the Oregon or California code! Anyway, there were many artists there displaying their stuff -- some of it looked good (but was way overpriced), but most of it was just bizarre. We wondered how these people paid the rent!

We thought we'd be at the art show longer, but a couple of hours was enough, so we headed over to St. Paul. The capital building was pretty, but right across the way from there was a huge beautiful building. We found out it was the Cathedral of St. Paul, built 100 years ago. We saw that the church was open, so we decided to go in. When we entered the side door, we quickly realized there was a wedding going on. Of course, Michael thought we should leave immediately -- but I convinced him that the cathedral was large enough that no one would notice we were there. So we stayed -- and no one noticed. There were also other people wandering around. The cathedral was huge and beautiful, and rivaled anything we had seen in Rome.

Prairie Home Companion

Saturday late afternoon, we actually went to Minneapolis' State Theater to see Garrison Keilor and the Prairie Home Companion. I've listened to that radio show on National Public Radio and on the internet many times, so it was pretty exciting to actually be there during the live radio broadcast. It was a 2-hour show and very entertaining. During intermission I went up front to take a picture of Garrison. He's a strange looking guy, but it was very cool.

Off To Packer Country

Sunday morning we heading off to Green Bay, Wisconsin. There's not a lot to do there other than see Lambeau Field (the Packers) and eat some Wisconsin cheese and sausage, but we plan on taking a day off to clean the house, iron some clothes, do some grocery shopping, and just catch up.

After that, we're heading off to Traverse City, Michigan for a few days. My friend, Margie, is from there, and she tells me it's wonderful. I'll give you a full report next week.

Remember, more pictures may be seen at http://semitte.photosite.com.

Bolivar Bound

We headed up out of the Fayetteville Arkansas area and quickly reached Missouri. This state is really very beautiful -- prettier than I imagined. More rolling, lush green hills, lots of trees, and critters everywhere! OK, here's the roadkill report: we still have armadillos, but now we also have possums and even raccoons.

Before I tell you about more critters, let me tell you about a couple of funny or interesting things. When we first got into Missouri, we drove through a town called "Jane." That was odd enough, but then I saw the "Bank of Jane". That just struck me really funny!

Also, I was surprised to see that Missouri allows year-round fireworks stores -- even "superstores".

Anyway, we drove into Bolivar, where my Dad lives. Now the town was named after the South American hero, Simon Bolivar (pronounced "boh'-lee-var"). But this town is pronounced to rhyme with "Oliver". Just an amusing bit of Americana.

Anyway, my Dad has a great place. It's about 63 acres of woods, pasture, ponds, and more critters. Dad wants to clear out the brush and rocks, and make it an actual animal habitat. He's doing everything he can to encourage all kinds of animals to show up on his property.

I saw some of the most beautiful birds there, some that I've never seen before. Here are some of the birds that we saw: goldfinch, dove, bluejay, downy woodpecker, owl, wild turkey, nut hatch, titmouse (yes, it's a bird), hummingbird, red-wing blackbird, cardinal, indigo bunting, and the infamous yellow-bellied sap-sucker (which doesn't have a yellow belly, by the way)! I'm glad my Dad knew the names of all the birds, because it made the stay more interesting.

He has a patio just right off his dining area, and every morning he throws a seed and grain mixture out on the patio. All day we watched all the various birds, as well as red and gray squirrels, come up and eat on the patio. It was just so relaxing -- and entertaining -- to watch these beautiful creatures from so convenient a spot.

One little red squirrel was particularly entertaining -- he was there to stay for a while. He stayed on the patio and ate for over an hour. And so he wouldn't tire himself out, he just layed on the patio on his belly, in the middle of the food, with his legs just sprawled out. It was so funny to watch him.

Burn, Baby, Burn!

Besides sitting around watching the animals ;-) we also played...er, I mean worked, on the burn piles. Dad had cleared out a lot of brush, so we had to keep the burn pile going. I tell you, that will bring out the pyro in anyone. Again it was just relaxing to stand near the fire, with that great wood-burning smell, and keep adding wood.

But there was another burn pile out in the pasture that needed taken care of. It started out about 9-10 feet high, but with leaves and other quick-burning material in the middle, the blaze went up really high and really hot. It was a pyro's dream! ;-)

We also had to bring some logs from the pasture to the log pile, so that required the tractor, which looks like a little minibulldozer -- and I got to drive it! I felt like a real country girl! ;-)

While we were there, there were a couple of good ol' midwestern thunderstorms, with dumping water and really loud claps of thunder. Then they went away as fast as they came. I love thunderstorms like that. Amazingly, though, they didn't make fires completely go out.

Back In The House

Mike and Dad also worked on some home projects, and I worked on some computer projects. My Dad has been interested in genealogy, but he's really worked on it. He has about 2500 names on his list, some back to the 1500's. I love that! I got his list kinda cleaned up a little bit, then I also got a copy of his database. I'm eventually going to add to it all the names I got from my mom from her side of the family, and I'll have a huge database. That was pretty cool. I also got several more copies of some old family pictures that I will add to my collection.

Along with all the pics and info, Dad also had a collection of stuff from my Grandpa Black. My Grandpa was a very interesting and talented guy. Dad had a bunch of poems and songs that my Grandpa wrote, and it was very entertaining going through those. Dad asked me to take the songs to the piano and play them so he could hear them. As I plunked my way through these Christian songs that Grandpa wrote in the 30's, it was very cool to think about what I was doing. We also looked at some of Grandpa's handiwork -- carving, metalworking, etc. Grandpa's been gone for almost 25 years, so it was fun to go through all this stuff.

The Thrill of Throwed Rolls

Finally, I have to tell you about a place we went to eat called Lambert's, in the town of Ozark. They are known for their "throwed rolls" (huh?). They make these awesome freshly baked yeast rolls, and as soon as they're done, a guy comes out and starts throwing them out from clear across the room to whomever puts their hands up (which, of course, I did! -- more than once!!). We ordered our main dish, but both before and during the meal (and after, too), guys bring around big bowls of freshly cooked fried okra, black-eyed peas, fried potatoes, and macaroni & tomatoes. You can have as much of that great southern food as you want -- and this is in addition to the huge main dish (we all had southern fried steak with mashed potatoes and green beans, served in a big skillet).
Do you get the picture?? A huge, delicious, fun southern meal experience!! What could be better (ok, and more fattening) than that??!!

OK, as you can tell, I had a great time in Bolivar. My dad and I had some great talks, he shared some family stories that I hadn't heard before, and we ate some great food!

Quick Jaunt Back To Kansas

We've had a recurring little problem in our fifth wheel that we knew the manufacturer had a fix for, so we decided to just jump over to the big city of Chanute, Kansas (not far from the Missouri border), to get it fixed. As we crossed over into Kansas, we discovered Fort Scott, which was one of a line of forts spread in a north-to-south line across the midwest to separate the states from the Indian Territories. It was later used in the anti- and pro-slavery efforts.
It was very interesting to see the well-preserved quarters, and to see how they lived out on the frontier. This discovery was a nice little piece of serendipity.

We also passed through a little town called "Gas." And yes, they had a "Bank of Gas". What a crack-up!

When we got to the manufacturer in Chanute, we were told that it could take probably five days before they could get to us. After having driven through Chanute very quickly, and seeing what was there (or not!), we were not looking forward to that possibility! Michael thought that was not a good answer, so he asked to speak to the president of the company. They had a nice chat (!), and next thing we knew, he was asking us to get the rig over there as soon as possible. They had it fixed in three hours instead of five days! Well, what do you know??!! That was a huge relief, and we were able to get back on the road.

Goin' to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come...

We both wanted to check out Kansas City, but weren't sure exactly what was there. Frankly, I was expecting an old, industrial, past-its-prime city on flat land. I couldn't have been more wrong! I absolutely LOVE Kansas City! It is an incredible, dynamic, beautiful city with a ton of things to do! There are unique shopping and museum areas, a dynamic downtown, professional baseball and football, and fountains everywhere! They say that the only city with more fountains is Rome, and I believe it. There are some gorgeous fountains that rival anything I ever saw in Rome.

There's also some great food. Monday was our 26th anniversary (!), and I wanted to try some authentic Kansas City barbeque. We went to "Jack Stack's" and the food was incredible! We had the best ribs I've ever had (other than Michael's, of course).

Here's just a random observation -- we saw about 10-12 guys (maybe in their early 20's) in the park on their bikes. They were riding on the grass, and playing frisbee while on the bikes! There were teams, and they were trying to toss it to each other and make it to the "end zone." When they dropped the frisbee, they would ride by and lean over and pick it up. I was so amazed at what they were doing!

More Serendipity

While we were at my Dad's, his wife Lanna was out in California with her parents, so we didn't get to see her. I knew that Dad was picking her up at the Kansas City airport on Tuesday, but we had to be in Chanute on Monday, and we were supposed to be there for a few days, so I figured we wouldn't get to see her. But since we ended up in Kansas City Monday evening, I called Dad to let him know. After he picked up Lanna, we met them for lunch (at the Cheesecake Factory -- yum!!). We then toured around Kansas City, since they had never really seen it either. We spent a few hours together, and had a good time.

Money, Money, Money

Wednesday morning we drove downtown to take a tour of the Federal Reserve Bank (yep, we know how to have a good time on vacation!!). Actually, it was extremely interesting. We saw how they run through all of the checks that are processed in the rather large Kansas City district. This huge machine runs through 60,000 checks in an hour. We also saw them process cash that runs through the banks. There was a room with 3 ladies in it. They were processing just this one big bin of $20's -- and the bin totalled $2.8 million! And that was just part of their work. We had to be careful where we went and what we touched (or not), and we always had to be in sight of the many cameras. When we left, we got to take a souvenir bag of shredded cash which represented $165. I thought about getting out the tape, but nah....

When You Care Enough To Send The Very Best

After the money tour, we went and toured the Visitor Center at the large Hallmark facility (this is their headquarters). They had displays about their history and all the stuff they produce (cards, ornaments, TV shows, etc). They also had a bow-making machine that you got to see operate (amazing!), and you got to take the little souvenir bow with you (actually I made two). One of the interesting parts was that they had a section set up where we could see them running some actual cards through the part of the process that stamps on the gold foil print. We stood there a long time and talked to the guy. Michael is always interested in machinery, so they spent a long time talking about how their process works. It was very interesting. We really hit it off with this guy, so before we left, he went back and got a big basket of bows and let me choose however many and whatever colors I wanted. Bonus!!

An Amazing President

In the afternoon, we headed out to Independence to the Truman Presidential Library. Wow, it was quite impressive! Of course, he took over the presidency when Roosevelt died in 1945, then was elected in 1948 and served through 1952. I certainly knew the various events that happened during that time, but when you look at it all together in this library, it's stunning what he had dumped in his lap! After being in office for 4 months, he made the decision to drop the bomb. And over the next few years, he had to deal with the Korean conflict, sweeping things up in Europe and Asia, the establishment of the State of Israel, rampant economic turmoil at home, McCarthyism, civil rights and lots of other "tough stuff." When he left office, he only had a 30% approval rating. But history has shown that he actually had to make some huge decisions, and did a good job in doing so, even though they weren't necessarily popular at the time. I think this is one Democrat that I could have voted for!
(By the way, that's Truman on the left).

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There are a lot more pics of these things on my photosite, which may be found at http://semitte.photosite.com. Just a hint, if you don't want to look through the entire album again each time, just hit the "previous" button. The pics will be in reverse order, but it should still be ok.

Well, we're heading up through Iowa and on up to Minneapolis. I look forward to seeing what that large city has to offer. I'll be sure to give you an update next time!

Time with the Family

This first section will probably be interesting only to certain people as I recall the various times with my family, so bear with me! ;-)

I hadn't seen my family in Oklahoma for right at four years, so it was nice to be able to see them again. The first day I was there, I was able to go observe my sister, Brenda, teach class. She's involved in teaching five teenagers in a home school setting, and it was fun getting to know the girls. Brenda was teaching English and math, and she and I both especially enjoyed the diagramming portion of the English lesson (yes, I know, we're BOTH weird!).

From there, I was able to go over to spend the afternoon with my mom (and see the house I bought her three years ago!). And then we went and had dinner with my brother Robert, his wife Jennifer, and their daughter Hallie. It was an enjoyable day!

The next day, we headed over to my niece, Rachel's house, and to meet her little boy, Zachary, who is 17 months (about 6 weeks older than Avery). My brother Rick (Rachel's dad) also came over. That was very enjoyable since I hadn't seen Rick in almost 16 years! (I know, it's a long story...). He also brought over his fiance Lani, and her young son. Brenda also came over, and we all went out to P.F. Changs for dinner. It was a fun evening.

I have to talk about Zachary -- he's one of the brightest little guys I've ever met! He's quiet and well-mannered, and is very analytical. He just watches you, and you can see his brain going a mile a minute. And when we went out to eat, he just sat there and ate, with the best manners! We were there for quite a while, and he was well-behaved throughout the entire evening. But the most impressive thing about Zach was his golf swing. His golfer daddy had gotten him a small set of (plastic) golf clubs, and that's his favorite thing to play with. But the amazing thing is that he would step up to the ball, and hit it every stinkin' time -- and with a great swing, I might add. Have you ever seen that footage of Tiger Woods when he was about 2 years old, hitting the ball with a perfect swing? Well, that's Zach. You remember the name, Zachary Rutherford!

Brenda and I had both brought our laptops over to share our pics. We dubbed it "The Battle of the Gramma's"! Everyone was just rolling their eyes. ;-) Brenda also had some old pics that she had scanned in of my grandparents and great-grandparents. I was very happy to get those.

Friday evening Brenda and I were able to go with my mom to a Mother/Daughter Banquet at mom's church. That was a rare, serendipitous opportunity! I'm glad mom could have both her daughters there for once! It was also enjoyable to see some old friends and relatives at the church that I was brought up in.

Saturday, Michael and I went over to the home of my cousin David and his wife Robin. Also there was David's mom Janie, and his brother Dale (who I hadn't seen for probably 30 years!). I also got to see all three of his (grown) kids, who were all there briefly. We had the best time, just gabbing and laughing all evening long!

Finally, Sunday morning, I went to church with mom. I had been asked to both sing a solo and sing in an ensemble. Singing in this ensemble was pretty cool because in it was Nolen and Redonda, John and Georgia, and Don and Carolyn -- the same people I was singing with 35 years ago when I went to OU. I also got to see several other friends and relatives that morning. I'm glad I got to go.

I've put pics of all the family members on my photosite.

The entire time I was in Oklahoma City, it was cloudy, extremely windy and muggy, just like April/May usually is. I kept wondering whether or not a tornado would be coming through. I usually enjoy tornado season, but it was a little different this time since everything we are travelling with is in a relatively lightweight fifth wheel! Instead, there was a deadly tornado that ripped through Kansas and northwestern Oklahoma. Travelling through these parts is pretty risky this time of year!

Time to Head East

We left Oklahoma City and headed east. I hadn't been out that way since I was 8 years old, so I had forgotten just how pretty the rolling green hills were. The one thing that stands out, though, is the roadkill (yes, we've already previously established that I'm weird!). Actually, all through Oklahoma, and then into Arkansas (more on that later), I saw dead armadillo after dead armadillo! I guess they're too slow to get out of the way. The only other thing I saw was one dead monkey (ok, Mike says it probably wasn't a monkey since they're not usually indiginous to this area, but it sure looked like a monkey!). Anyway, I hadn't seen an armadillo since I left Texas about 22 years ago, so I thought that was pretty cool.

We also passed through several Indian nations -- the Potawatomi, the Fox, the Creek (actual native name Muskogee), and others. And we also passed through a lot of towns with Indian names -- Sallisaw, Okamah, Okfuskee, Shawnee. So I was used to seeing this when we came up near a big lake, and there was an exit there named "Lotawatah Drive". I had to do a double take to realize that that wasn't an Indian name at all, and I busted up laughing! Someone had a sense of humor on that one! :-)

There was another notable sight as we drove through Checotah OK, since that's the home of American Idol winner Carrie Underwood. There was a huge green metallic highway sign with "Home of..." on it, then another mile down the road, a huge billboard with her picture on it. They are certainly proud of their native daughter!

Over Into Arkansas

As pretty as eastern Oklahoma was, it paled in comparison to Arkansas. There was almost an immediate difference as soon as we crossed the border. Arkansas is incredibly green and lush, and very hilly (with the Ozarks being right there). We headed north out of Fort Smith and headed toward Fayetteville. We had to pass through the Boston Mountains -- remember, they call them mountains, but the highest peak is around 2500 ft. They were beautiful nonetheless.

The RV Park we chose ended up being out in the woods, outside of Rogers. I knew I was in Arkansas once we met the manager of the RV Park. This is out of context, but at one point he said, "I dun throwed that thang ovah they-er." Let me translate: "I threw that thing over there." Good thing I'm bilingual, huh??!! ;-)

Beautiful Eureka Springs

Michael's mom and dad were from Eureka Springs, and his older brother and sister were born there, so we wanted to go check it out. I had no idea how beautiful it was there! We climbed through rolling hills until we came upon a charming historic town built in the late 1800's. In fact, it's the only city in the US whose entire downtown area is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Eureka Springs is also well-known for its Passion Play. We didn't get to see it because it doesn't show until 8:30 at night, but we went through the grounds. It looks like quite a big production. Also on the grounds is a 67 ft statue of Jesus overlooking the valley. It's called the "Christ of the Ozarks" and it's really something!

Just outside Eureka Springs is a building called the Thorncrown Chapel. It has won numerous architectural awards over the years, and is truly a sight to behold. It is 48 ft tall, and contains 425 windows and over 6000 sq ft of glass. We walked in and it was quiet, except for some beautiful relaxing Christian music over the speakers. It was truly a spiritual experience just being there -- the beauty was overwhelming.
I have a picture here, and another one on my photosite, but of course, the pictures don't do it justice. If you want to see an entire slideshow, or find out more about the chapel, you can go to www.thorncrown.com.

Finally, we drove out to Beaver Lake. It was a beautiful, HUGE lake! There were hundreds of squirrels everywhere, and the woods consist of thousands of small diameter trees. Very pretty.

Arkansas Razorbacks

We drove into Fayetteville to see the University of Arkansas campus. Very impressive. It's much prettier and more spread out than the University of Nebraska campus. But most impressive of all is, you come around a particular corner, and all of the sudden you see the famous Razorback Stadium. That thing is HUGE -- It seats 71,000 people.
It's fun to see all these famous stadiums -- Nebraska and Arkansas, and of course, I've been to the Oklahoma and Texas stadiums. So when we see these big college football games on TV, I can say "I've been there."

There was one thing on campus that made me laugh. As you may know, Tyson Chicken is really big around here, and there's one big building, the John W. Tyson Building, called the "Center of Excellence for Poultry Science". I'm just trying to imagine all the things they do and talk about in that building! Funny, huh??

The Battle of Pea Ridge

Outside of Rogers, there is a "National Military Park" commemorating the Battle of Pea Ridge, a significant battle within the Civil War. I didn't even realize the war came over this far, but I guess this was a significant battle that determined the control of Missouri. We watched a re-enactment movie, then drove around the battlefield with a written guide.
It was very interesting, although that kind of stuff usually makes me sad. I hate war, and especially that one with Americans killing Americans. But it was impactful to actually be out in the battlefield and imagine the blood spilt there. As we travel, I want to see all the significant Civil War battlefields, but it will be difficult for me, I'm sure.

The Original Wal-Mart

We drove (not too far) over to Bentonville -- what a cute little town! They have a Town Square that totally reminds me of the town square in "Back to the Future". It has the park area in the middle, the big county courthouse on one side (although without the big clock face), then surrounded by little shops. Very cute -- total Americana!

On one side of the square is Walton's 5 and 10 Store -- Sam Walton's original store. They've made it into a little visitor's center, as well as a "shrine" to Sam.
I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart (not for any reason other than they're too big and crowded), but I must say that seeing how Sam built his empire from one little store was very inspiring! Of course, Bentonville is the world headquarters. They employ over 9000 people in Bentonville alone! It's an amazing American success story.

Up to Missouri

Well, tomorrow we're heading up into Missouri to see my dad in Bolivar, then on up to Kansas City and beyond. I'll be curious to see what develops in the "beyond" part since they're having tornadoes, floods, and all kinds of stuff up in those parts. We'll see how it goes after we leave Dad's.