shawnee, kansas, to north platte, nebraska, 478 miles.
we're not in kansas any more, gang. today was another good example of the difference between the interstates and everything else. the interstates are great for getting to a destination; the other roads are great if you want the journey to be as interesting as the destination. i started the day on interstate 70 headed west from the kansas city area. but then i saw a sign for the wizard of oz museum in wamego, kansas. passed on the museum, but there was also an oz winery in wamego, and i picked up a nice bottle of yellow brick road merlot. they say they make the wine right there in oz world, but i wonder where they get the grapes. eastern washington? didn't see any grapes growing anywhere around wamego. just corn and cows. oz world naturally led north to the pony express home station museum, which led to the geographic center of the contiguous 48 states. who knew? apparently they had a bunch of surveyors and assorted engineers and brain surgeons figure out that the geographic center of the u.s. is just outside lebanon, kansas. and it turned out that for the 10 or so minutes i was there, i was the lone person at the center of the universe, er, country. any significance to that? i should hope so. the back roads through northwestern kansas and north into nebraska were just very nice. and fast. i'll also go on record and say that, so far, the folks in kansas have been by far the friendliest. they strike up conversations for any reason: the weather, the car, the washington license plate or just the fact you're headed into a store and they're headed out. small towns in kansas and nebraska, like other midwest states, still have streets made out of brick in their downtown cores. nice to look at; not so nice to drive on. drove on my first toll road today, and saw my first coal train of the trip. the mount hope area of kansas was the flip side to the happy day. i had passed a few dilapidated, run down, worn down, falling down, ramshackle houses and wondered what happened to the folks who once lived there, then saw the cemetery with "mount hope" across the gate. at one time, the folks living there had some hope, but no more. don't know whether it was the depression or dust bowl or what, but folks obviously just packed up and left a long, long time ago. switching topics now with this smooth transition, many thanks to jean for the CDs she mailed to me in omaha. fortunately, the omamaniacs were in kansas city, so i was able to get the package. excellent road music. if anyone needs a "theme" CD put together, jean's the person. lastly, don't ask me why, but for some reason i spent a lot of thinking time on the road today thinking about the next road trip. hmmm. good night, jean; good night, ray; good night, olivia, who called me today to say i had 58 voice messages on the phone at home...
tomorrow: north platte to hopefully sheridan, wyoming; a long day.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
day 25
Effingham, Illinois, to Shawnee, Kansas, 359 miles.
Let’s talk about religion for a minute. All over the country, I’ve seen religious icons of sorts, from back-road Baptist churches in Mississippi to the mormon temple in salt lake city to amish country in ohio, the national cathedral in d.c., the native spirituality in the west and the Krishna temple in West Virginia. and much more. Today, there was the biggest cross I’ve ever seen alongside the interstate in Illinois. Not sure how tall it was. 100 feet? Taller? Big, bold and pure white. No signs of any kind; no advertisements. Just the cross. I guess what I’m saying, with this 60-second sermon, is that a big chunk of this country believes in and practices some sort of religion, that another big chunk doesn’t, and that we’re somehow able to pull this off as a nation and not get into any knock-down drag-out holy wars with each other. Sorry, didn’t mean for that to sound either like I’m running for office or pontificating. I suppose it’s that as this trip -- perhaps the first of who knows how many -- motors toward its conclusion in the next week or so, I’m starting to pull some disparate pieces together from around the country and say something about how, to me, they’re all important parts of the country, that they make the country. Does that make sense? And if elected, I promise to get us out of iraq. Now.
So let’s talk military history for a minute. I made a point in d.c. of going to The Wall, the memorial to the 58,000 or so u.s. servicemen and women who died in Vietnam. Not ready to talk about that one just yet. This part of the country also contains some of my military history. After basic training at fort lewis in western Washington, I was sent to fort ben Harrison in Indianapolis for training. Passed it yesterday. Now, I’m in the same state as fort riley, Kansas, where I was sent for jungle training as a prelude to going to Vietnam. Except that it was November, and I doubt the temperature outside at fort riley ever exceeded 40 degrees. Plus, the wind chill probably took it down to 20 degrees. But there we were, being trained on how to stay alive in the jungle while trying not to shiver to death in kansas.
Today was uneventful on the road. Stuck to the interstate to get here in time to party with relatives. The keys were my uncle gerry and aunt jane. Gerry is six years older than me and the closest to me in age of all my uncles. So when we were kids, he got to be my big brother. It worked for me, and it seemed ok to him at the time (whenever one of his older brothers was blamed for something, they’d blame it on him and he’d blame it on me). He went on to get a degree in Russian, then flew around Europe on spy planes, listening. So naturally after his time in the service, he started working for the post office in Omaha. Still does.
Gerry played a big part in my surviving Vietnam. He sent me all kinds of stuff in the mail. A cheeseburger that we heated and tried to eat. Tapes he put together of high school basketball games and other things, including him reading the community news headlines and quirky stories. His tapes introduced me to the music of tom Paxton, of whom I’m still a big fan. Everyone in the barracks gathered around when one of gerry’s packages arrived. He also tried to get me put in prison, which would have been just up the road from here in Leavenworth, kansas. He subscribed to the soviet version of life magazine, which came to him in a brown wrapper with “moskva” stamped all over it. He’d take the wrapper and use it for the things he’d send me. At least once, he sent me mao’s little red book, along with literature from north Vietnam. If I had been caught with any of that, I’d probably still be in Leavenworth. It was the kind of stuff I didn’t even dare just throw away. I took it to the office and put it through the shredder we used for secret documents, then bagged it up with the other shredded stuff to be burned.
So tonight I was able to have dinner with gerry and jane, their son neil and his wife maria and their kids, and gerry and jane’s daughter amy and her fairly recently acquired husband nat. just missed seeing gerry and jane’s son danny. I had a great time. Even if they weren’t relatives, they’d still be great people and fun to be with. When I hit the road in the morning, a part of me will still be in Shawnee with them.
Tomorrow: Shawnee to hopefully somewhere in the high plains of western Nebraska. Good night, everyone.
Let’s talk about religion for a minute. All over the country, I’ve seen religious icons of sorts, from back-road Baptist churches in Mississippi to the mormon temple in salt lake city to amish country in ohio, the national cathedral in d.c., the native spirituality in the west and the Krishna temple in West Virginia. and much more. Today, there was the biggest cross I’ve ever seen alongside the interstate in Illinois. Not sure how tall it was. 100 feet? Taller? Big, bold and pure white. No signs of any kind; no advertisements. Just the cross. I guess what I’m saying, with this 60-second sermon, is that a big chunk of this country believes in and practices some sort of religion, that another big chunk doesn’t, and that we’re somehow able to pull this off as a nation and not get into any knock-down drag-out holy wars with each other. Sorry, didn’t mean for that to sound either like I’m running for office or pontificating. I suppose it’s that as this trip -- perhaps the first of who knows how many -- motors toward its conclusion in the next week or so, I’m starting to pull some disparate pieces together from around the country and say something about how, to me, they’re all important parts of the country, that they make the country. Does that make sense? And if elected, I promise to get us out of iraq. Now.
So let’s talk military history for a minute. I made a point in d.c. of going to The Wall, the memorial to the 58,000 or so u.s. servicemen and women who died in Vietnam. Not ready to talk about that one just yet. This part of the country also contains some of my military history. After basic training at fort lewis in western Washington, I was sent to fort ben Harrison in Indianapolis for training. Passed it yesterday. Now, I’m in the same state as fort riley, Kansas, where I was sent for jungle training as a prelude to going to Vietnam. Except that it was November, and I doubt the temperature outside at fort riley ever exceeded 40 degrees. Plus, the wind chill probably took it down to 20 degrees. But there we were, being trained on how to stay alive in the jungle while trying not to shiver to death in kansas.
Today was uneventful on the road. Stuck to the interstate to get here in time to party with relatives. The keys were my uncle gerry and aunt jane. Gerry is six years older than me and the closest to me in age of all my uncles. So when we were kids, he got to be my big brother. It worked for me, and it seemed ok to him at the time (whenever one of his older brothers was blamed for something, they’d blame it on him and he’d blame it on me). He went on to get a degree in Russian, then flew around Europe on spy planes, listening. So naturally after his time in the service, he started working for the post office in Omaha. Still does.
Gerry played a big part in my surviving Vietnam. He sent me all kinds of stuff in the mail. A cheeseburger that we heated and tried to eat. Tapes he put together of high school basketball games and other things, including him reading the community news headlines and quirky stories. His tapes introduced me to the music of tom Paxton, of whom I’m still a big fan. Everyone in the barracks gathered around when one of gerry’s packages arrived. He also tried to get me put in prison, which would have been just up the road from here in Leavenworth, kansas. He subscribed to the soviet version of life magazine, which came to him in a brown wrapper with “moskva” stamped all over it. He’d take the wrapper and use it for the things he’d send me. At least once, he sent me mao’s little red book, along with literature from north Vietnam. If I had been caught with any of that, I’d probably still be in Leavenworth. It was the kind of stuff I didn’t even dare just throw away. I took it to the office and put it through the shredder we used for secret documents, then bagged it up with the other shredded stuff to be burned.
So tonight I was able to have dinner with gerry and jane, their son neil and his wife maria and their kids, and gerry and jane’s daughter amy and her fairly recently acquired husband nat. just missed seeing gerry and jane’s son danny. I had a great time. Even if they weren’t relatives, they’d still be great people and fun to be with. When I hit the road in the morning, a part of me will still be in Shawnee with them.
Tomorrow: Shawnee to hopefully somewhere in the high plains of western Nebraska. Good night, everyone.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
day 24
sugarcreek, ohio, to effingham, illinois, 407 miles.
so this is effingham. hmmm. looks like it's only reason for being is that a couple of interstates intersect here. and the fact there's a starbucks across the street from the hotel. spent the morning on back roads after leaving hank and ruth's place. almost had a very close encounter with a horse and buggy. i was on a road doing about 60, came over the top of a hill, and there, right in the middle of the road, was a horse and buggy. i think i was more surprised than they were. they probably deal with that all the time. after that, i got on the interstate in columbus, ohio, and cruised through indiana and then into illinois. not much of a day to write about.
tomorrow: effing, illinois, to kansas city for a multi-birthday bash for some kids and/or grandkids of an aunt and uncle. wonder what they'll get me?
so this is effingham. hmmm. looks like it's only reason for being is that a couple of interstates intersect here. and the fact there's a starbucks across the street from the hotel. spent the morning on back roads after leaving hank and ruth's place. almost had a very close encounter with a horse and buggy. i was on a road doing about 60, came over the top of a hill, and there, right in the middle of the road, was a horse and buggy. i think i was more surprised than they were. they probably deal with that all the time. after that, i got on the interstate in columbus, ohio, and cruised through indiana and then into illinois. not much of a day to write about.
tomorrow: effing, illinois, to kansas city for a multi-birthday bash for some kids and/or grandkids of an aunt and uncle. wonder what they'll get me?
day 23
wednesday was cumberland, maryland, to sugarcreek, ohio, in the heart of amish country, 237 miles.
crossed what they call the eastern continental divide this day. couldn't help but laugh when i saw how high it was -- 2,610 feet. i got a little lucky west of cumberland. saw that i could leave the interstate and take some back roads to wheeling, west virginia, so i did. on highway 40, saw a sign for a national historic site called fort necessity. stopped in, partly to take a break, partly to use my nifty annual national parks/monuments/sites/etc. pass. turns out that fort necessity, back in 1754, was the scene of george washington's only military defeat. the french and indians were tough. seeing this washington-related site reminded me of a trip to new york city, where i had the good fortune to go into an old tavern. upstairs, and well-preserved, in the tavern is the room where washington said goodbye to his officers after the revolutionary war. also learned that highway 40 is called "the national highway" because it was the first federally funded road and opened what was then the northwest part of the country to more folks. enough history. farther on down the road, in west virginia, i saw a sign for a "temple of gold." since i have some gold flakes and things from alaska and california and other places, i figured i'd add a little west virginia gold to the mix. after driving four miles down one of the narrower roads i've been on, there it was, the temple of gold. a real temple. with gold thingys on top. don't ask me why, but for some reason the krishnas built a big -- really big -- temple, complete with a lodge and meeting rooms and terraced gardens and other goodies, here on top of a ridge in west virginia. i've seen a number of interesting things on this trip, and the temple ranks among the top 10, partly because of the location. and everyone around the temple was smiling and waving.
the best part of the day came later, when i reached amish country. sugarcreek, home to my aunt ruth and uncle hank, is at the heart of the country's largest amish population. hank grew up amish, just a few miles away from where hey live now. i'd never been to their part of ohio, and it was interesting. shortly after i turned down the road to their house, i was behind a horse and buggy. the kids in the back seat were watching me, probably because i had the top down. i waved but got nothing in response. i later learned that they'll wave if they know you. if not, no wave. many things around sugarcreek have become tourist-oriented as "amish" has become a selling point for many things. it's an interesting area, an interesting way of life. it was paricularly great to see hank and ruth, and their son steve came over for dinner so got to catch up with him as well. i'd seen their oldest son dan and his family in florida earlier on the trip, so the only one of their children i'm going to miss is carol, who is a missionary in africa with her husband john. about 37-38 years ago, i had a great time with these kids when i visited the family in australia. they're grown up now, but there's still a nice connection. good night ruth and hank and steve in ohio, good night dan and tabby and family in florida, good night carol and john in africa...
tomorrow: sugarcreek to somewhere in illinois?
crossed what they call the eastern continental divide this day. couldn't help but laugh when i saw how high it was -- 2,610 feet. i got a little lucky west of cumberland. saw that i could leave the interstate and take some back roads to wheeling, west virginia, so i did. on highway 40, saw a sign for a national historic site called fort necessity. stopped in, partly to take a break, partly to use my nifty annual national parks/monuments/sites/etc. pass. turns out that fort necessity, back in 1754, was the scene of george washington's only military defeat. the french and indians were tough. seeing this washington-related site reminded me of a trip to new york city, where i had the good fortune to go into an old tavern. upstairs, and well-preserved, in the tavern is the room where washington said goodbye to his officers after the revolutionary war. also learned that highway 40 is called "the national highway" because it was the first federally funded road and opened what was then the northwest part of the country to more folks. enough history. farther on down the road, in west virginia, i saw a sign for a "temple of gold." since i have some gold flakes and things from alaska and california and other places, i figured i'd add a little west virginia gold to the mix. after driving four miles down one of the narrower roads i've been on, there it was, the temple of gold. a real temple. with gold thingys on top. don't ask me why, but for some reason the krishnas built a big -- really big -- temple, complete with a lodge and meeting rooms and terraced gardens and other goodies, here on top of a ridge in west virginia. i've seen a number of interesting things on this trip, and the temple ranks among the top 10, partly because of the location. and everyone around the temple was smiling and waving.
the best part of the day came later, when i reached amish country. sugarcreek, home to my aunt ruth and uncle hank, is at the heart of the country's largest amish population. hank grew up amish, just a few miles away from where hey live now. i'd never been to their part of ohio, and it was interesting. shortly after i turned down the road to their house, i was behind a horse and buggy. the kids in the back seat were watching me, probably because i had the top down. i waved but got nothing in response. i later learned that they'll wave if they know you. if not, no wave. many things around sugarcreek have become tourist-oriented as "amish" has become a selling point for many things. it's an interesting area, an interesting way of life. it was paricularly great to see hank and ruth, and their son steve came over for dinner so got to catch up with him as well. i'd seen their oldest son dan and his family in florida earlier on the trip, so the only one of their children i'm going to miss is carol, who is a missionary in africa with her husband john. about 37-38 years ago, i had a great time with these kids when i visited the family in australia. they're grown up now, but there's still a nice connection. good night ruth and hank and steve in ohio, good night dan and tabby and family in florida, good night carol and john in africa...
tomorrow: sugarcreek to somewhere in illinois?
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
day 22
washington, d.c., to cumberland, maryland, 138 miles.
short day on the road. good day because i think i saw a doug fir, or at least the eastern equivalent; bad day because olivia flew home to seattle. driving around the west side of d.c. gave me a last look at the washington monument and lincoln memorial. nice. we had a good couple of days in the city. it also was nice to get out of washington and start driving north and WEST. finally, west. west, young scott. go. google says it's 2,841 miles from d.c. to the seattle area and that i should be able to drive it in 43 hours. doesn't look like i'm going to be able to do that. driving through western maryland was interesting because the sun was setting. i tried to keep up, but as i crossed each ridge, it seemed the sun was always one ridge ahead of me. it was really nice to go up and over hills again. and it's cooler here. ahh. at one point, i thought i saw the famed cumberland gap off in the distance, and it was impressive. as i reached it, though, it looked more like a road crew had cut a gap in a ridge, and cumberland was still 20 miles away. where is the cumberland gap? am i close? it was sad to watch olivia go through the gate and get onto the plane, then watch the plane lift off the runway. she was a big part of this trip, as navigator, as someone to talk with, as someone who shared with me seeing and experiencing so many things for the first time. i'm fortunate to have a daughter like her who's willing to do this with me, particularly when part of her would like to be home spending summer vacation with her friends. we still think key west was "the" place on the trip. we're going back. but it was time for her to go home to friends and other family, and it's time for me to head home for the same reasons. still lots of road ahead, though -- all 2,841 of those google miles. lots to see and experience.
TOMORROW: cumberland to sugarcreek, ohio, to spend the night with uncle hank and aunt ruth. good night, olivia...
short day on the road. good day because i think i saw a doug fir, or at least the eastern equivalent; bad day because olivia flew home to seattle. driving around the west side of d.c. gave me a last look at the washington monument and lincoln memorial. nice. we had a good couple of days in the city. it also was nice to get out of washington and start driving north and WEST. finally, west. west, young scott. go. google says it's 2,841 miles from d.c. to the seattle area and that i should be able to drive it in 43 hours. doesn't look like i'm going to be able to do that. driving through western maryland was interesting because the sun was setting. i tried to keep up, but as i crossed each ridge, it seemed the sun was always one ridge ahead of me. it was really nice to go up and over hills again. and it's cooler here. ahh. at one point, i thought i saw the famed cumberland gap off in the distance, and it was impressive. as i reached it, though, it looked more like a road crew had cut a gap in a ridge, and cumberland was still 20 miles away. where is the cumberland gap? am i close? it was sad to watch olivia go through the gate and get onto the plane, then watch the plane lift off the runway. she was a big part of this trip, as navigator, as someone to talk with, as someone who shared with me seeing and experiencing so many things for the first time. i'm fortunate to have a daughter like her who's willing to do this with me, particularly when part of her would like to be home spending summer vacation with her friends. we still think key west was "the" place on the trip. we're going back. but it was time for her to go home to friends and other family, and it's time for me to head home for the same reasons. still lots of road ahead, though -- all 2,841 of those google miles. lots to see and experience.
TOMORROW: cumberland to sugarcreek, ohio, to spend the night with uncle hank and aunt ruth. good night, olivia...
Monday, July 14, 2008
days 20 and 21
In washington, d.c.
FROM SCOTT
we spent the past two days seeing the sights in d.c. white house, congress, supreme court, fbi, irs, washington monument, lincoln and jefferson memorials, the wall, smithsonian, american indian museum, air and space museum (i wasn't really scared when olivia rolled out fighter jet simulator, again and again and again. honest), national archives, national cathedral, georgetown and more. wow. lots to see, and i think we did ok for our limited time. i think seeing everything here -- to include the magna carta, declaration of independence, constitution and bill of rights, not to mention the hope diamond -- is something olivia will remember for a long time, including taking the metro into town and back from our hotel in crystal city, where the shops are all underground. i'm just sorry to see it end. tomorrow she flies home and i'll be alone again, talking to myself and strangers in parking lots. but we had a great trip, particularly in key west and d.c. lots of wonderful memories for me as well as her.
FROM OLIVIA
SO MUCH WALKING! ohmahhhhgawwsshhhh it was intense... my knee started to hurt the sencond day... so we cut it short at the museums.. which by the wway were pretty cool! haha plus the flight simulater.. geting to see my dad freak out when i made the plane go upside down haha that was worth it. "TURN IT BACK AROUND OLIVIA!!!! TURN IT BACK AROUND!" im gonna be sad to see it all go..... but i'll be back DC.. ohhh i will be back! haah im kinda at lost for words... so yeah! i had a great trip! and im gonna have many great memories from this.
TOMORROW: olivia flies back to seattle, scott starts driving back to seattle.
FROM SCOTT
we spent the past two days seeing the sights in d.c. white house, congress, supreme court, fbi, irs, washington monument, lincoln and jefferson memorials, the wall, smithsonian, american indian museum, air and space museum (i wasn't really scared when olivia rolled out fighter jet simulator, again and again and again. honest), national archives, national cathedral, georgetown and more. wow. lots to see, and i think we did ok for our limited time. i think seeing everything here -- to include the magna carta, declaration of independence, constitution and bill of rights, not to mention the hope diamond -- is something olivia will remember for a long time, including taking the metro into town and back from our hotel in crystal city, where the shops are all underground. i'm just sorry to see it end. tomorrow she flies home and i'll be alone again, talking to myself and strangers in parking lots. but we had a great trip, particularly in key west and d.c. lots of wonderful memories for me as well as her.
FROM OLIVIA
SO MUCH WALKING! ohmahhhhgawwsshhhh it was intense... my knee started to hurt the sencond day... so we cut it short at the museums.. which by the wway were pretty cool! haha plus the flight simulater.. geting to see my dad freak out when i made the plane go upside down haha that was worth it. "TURN IT BACK AROUND OLIVIA!!!! TURN IT BACK AROUND!" im gonna be sad to see it all go..... but i'll be back DC.. ohhh i will be back! haah im kinda at lost for words... so yeah! i had a great trip! and im gonna have many great memories from this.
TOMORROW: olivia flies back to seattle, scott starts driving back to seattle.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
