2003.09.19 – kentucky

oddly misty dark and dreary out here in eastern kentucky. following in the wake of a wake, really, what with Isabel having moved on through.

I was looking through the road atlas, and as i was trying to make a decision to either stop in Huntington or Charleston, West Virginia, i noticed that West Virginia has a wonderful array of odd town names. There is Left Hand, War, Coco, Enon, Bim, and Hix. I know a lot of immigrants moved into West Virginia in the late 1900s, and I can only assume that Russian immigrants founded the town of Czar, which lies quite close to Volga. (Czar being the name for a class of Russian rulers, and Volga being the river in Moscow). Now that I say this, I remember that ole’ Matty Rasnake (ne’ Rashnik) and his kin hailed from West Virginia by some way. Hmm. On a similar note, and one that should make Matt smile, there is in fact a town called “Pie”. just “Pie”. I would like to get some pie in “Pie”.

I’ve travelled this way quite a few times in my past — many times during my youth, and each time I remember thinking about the gap between Kentucky and Virginia the Appalachians. That was the boundary of these United States for so long, something imposed by King Chauncy of England (oh, like you know). Now we stretch from east coast to west, north and south, and now even upwards into space. Is that for the good? It’s hard to say sometimes. We, as human beings, can now experience so much that often we end up experiencing less in the way of minutia.

You can fly over these mountains in less time than it takes to cook a frozen pizza — a journey that once took us weeks to cross. Yes, I realize that driving at 70 miles per hour doesn’t exactly afford you the luxury of smelling the roadside roses, but I’d like to think that we are experiencing this country in a more natural fashion. Seeing the change in foliage, the changes in scenery — thats what makes it for me.

more later…

Kelly and I leave on our road-trip through the North-east today after work. First stop — ole’ Virginny to see mah kinfolk. Then, on to Baltimore to see Kelly’s extremely-distant kinfolk. (I’m fairly certain they are related). After that, Cooperstown, New York for the Baseball Hall of Fame! After that, I haven’t a clue. All I know is that Red Sox tickets are sold out through the end of the season, so it’s hard to believe we’d get tickets. Anyway — the idea is to check out Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and all points Northeast (save New York City proper), and then return home through Canadia and down through, like, Ohio or some such. The Dayton Air Museum will be a stop, I say!

In short, watch this space!

update: Chicago: Day Five Gallery

First off, i can’t thank joey and nick enough for allowing us to stay at their home. after having Project Improv roll through there (I think there were 5 of them) the week before, and then having us in there for five days, and joey leaving today…. it’s been fairly hectic in the Casa Belmaggio e Smith. So, to Joey and Nick – THANKS. Joey is leaving (today, I think) for Colorado for an extended two and a half month engagement, so break a leg, Joey. Nick, hang in there, buddy. I tell you — that boy is a smart and funny guy. Funny, because he doesn’t know how funny and gifted he is, I think. Hah. Ah well — watch out for pirates.

Chicago was a great town. I think it gets a bit of a bad rap as always being cold and windy, and from meteorological data, that would seem to be true — however, empirically speaking, Hunter and I enjoyed near-perfect weather. Rain only upon leaving.

Big cities have such a different character and dynamic that small cities. You put people together in close proximity, and they seem to get together. Nick’s area of town is very “integrated”, and to quote him “I’ve never felt threatened”. Not that Nick is or was fearful of other cultures, but I think when you put folks together they realize that other cultures aren’t that bad after all. I’ve never had so many people greet me on the street than in Chicago (including Ted Nugent).

I’ve come to the conclusion that I love trains. I’ve always got some sort of sociological experiment or observation in the back of my mind, and the train is like a little petri dish. Hunter’s own observation noted that “white folks are the most selective about their seats”. Meaning that they won’t sit by a non-white by choice. This is by no means a generalization, but white folks seem to do it more than other races. Maybe it’s just a cultural thing, I dunno. The train by itself is a hurdle by itself. In Louisville, “personal space” is quite abundant. In Chicago, not so much. Even the personal space of your car is in high demand. Chicago is the reason I think all cars should still have steel bumpers. Parallel parking isn’t just a hobby — it’s a necessity. All this composite-foam 5 mile an hour stuff is bunk. Ahh well. On the converse, Mini‘s are needed.

Larger cities spawn interesting sub-cultures that small cities will never see. Communities of similar-minded people have the manpower to exist and thrive (i.e. the comic scene, the ‘zine scene, the band scene, the gay community, etc). And the great thing about large cities — no one cares a lick about what you do, as long as it doesn’t adversely affect the public as a whole. You wanna be gay? Sure. You wanna dress up like Sailor Moon? Whatever. You want to wear an eyepatch? Bring it. All in all, a large city can be a very inspirational place. Now, I’m sure there are plenty of problems in the big city, but I was on vacation — no time for crime. Heh.

This trip was also a great time to hang out with Hunter, Nick and Joey. It had been a long time since I’d just hung out (extendly) with any of my old friends. Hanging out reading graphic novels was great. Very relaxing. It had been a long time since we just talked — or had a drink or two and talked even louder. Good times all around.

I had a great time in Chicago.

tuesday hunter and I were left to our own devices as nick was working and joey was doing errands of some sort. so, off to the Art Institute of Chicago (you know, the one from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). again, we managed to utlize public transportation in a fashion becoming a pair of adults, and the “L” dropped us off a block from the art museum. now, despite the fact that I studied (and lived for a short time) near the J. B. Speed Art Museum, I never actually went it. Oh, and my mother was an art teacher for a while, but that didn’t get me in to an art museum either. so yeah, it was fairly overwhelming. you can look at photographic reproductions of art in books all you want, but that just does not do these paintings justice in the least. Degas mastery of light and shadow are breathtaking to see. Picasso’s “The Old Guitarist” when reproduced on the page is a bland shadow of the true color of the work. I am a big fan of Magritte’s work and they had plenty of his works there, as a number of other surrealists and modern artists. I could go on for days, but I think I’ll keep this short: you need to go. On Tuesdays, ’cause then it’s free. But even on normal days, it’s only $10 and that is a suggested donation. I should point out that non-flash photography is allowed in the Institute, but my forgetful self forget to bring the memory card for my camera.

After 3 hours in the Art Institute, we decided to nab a bite to eat at Potbelly Sandwich Works, so we hopped the train back a couple of stops. Potbelly’s is like a Quizno but with the old-timey flair of Another Place Sandwich Shop in Louisville. The sandwiches were tasty. The root beer cold. Yum.

Now, our next stop requires a little explaining. Hunter had bought issue #2 of Found Magazine (a magazine filled with “found” notes , pictures, letters, etc) along with a couple other ‘zines (hipper, cooler magazines than your mama’s) while at Chicago Comics, and was interested in finding more. Knowing this, I happened to see an ad for a ‘zine distro down on Augusta Boulevard near downtown. Thinking “hey, this would be a cool little side trip”, we decided that would be our next stop. Having had procured directions from the venerable and always trustworthy MapQuest and peeping a CTA map we felt confident. Well, I figured that the CTA’s Green Line trains were the closest alternative, so we got off at the Ashland stop. Well, some many many blocks later we arrive at Loop Distro at 1357 W. Augusta #1. It is apparent that this is, in fact, someones apartment. Thinking that “this is the ‘zine way of life man!”, we checked around. No other doors say #1, and the one that is #1 has photos inexplicably taped all over it. Check the knob — locked. Hmm. Well. Checking the website, it would seem that this joint is really just a distribution point. The ad wasn’t so clear. Ah well. We had an exciting time rolling through “Little Mexico City” anyway.

Turns out the Division Street stop on the Blue Line was far, far, closer to Loop Distro, so we ended up taking that home. I took a nap, because I’m old and walking is tiring.

Hunter contacted his friend Patience and his cousin Jeremy and Nick checked out the deal on the Second City show (Second City Unhinged) we were planning on seeing that night. Plans were set. Off to the Second City Etc. theatre. Jeremy was leaning against the building, as is his want, and we headed upstairs to find Patience, uh, patiently waiting. Patience is very charming, and appears younger than her age (which I won’t mention, well, yeah, i mean, it’s not everyday you meet a 600 year old woman that looks 29). Also, Patience complimented this very site, so she’s A Number-1 Top Dollar in my book. She is also a fan of Magritte, so yeah, Patience, you mah dogg. (BTW, Patience works for the Cape Cod Community College bookstore, owned by Follett, and is in town for a conference of some sort. Limos were provided.) Anyway. As mentioned, Jeremy was there and Hunter and I related that I had called him a “political mercenary” in a previous post. He said that consultancy is really more like whoring, and I rebutted that whores are just “sexual mercenaries”. Jeremy is cool, but he needs to accept his role in life as a kick-ass take-no-prisoners political mercenary. Soldier of Fortune sorta stuff. Yeah. Heh. Seriously folks, Jeremy is way cool. WAAAY COOL. Rad, even. Okay, now that I’ve finished lathering platitudes on these folks I just met, I’ll get on with the travelogue.

This Second City show involved 3 different improv groups all doing fairly different shows and mixing up styles and whatnots. Adding to the spectacular comedy was incidental piano music on the side of the stage, and coordinated lighting, which made things all the more fluid and interesting. The improv was great and very fluid. I think that the true key of improv is knowing what your fellow actors are going to do without having to say a word. When that happens, it really clicks. The first group, “Tuesday Night Special” did a rambling long-form (a la Project Improv), the second group “The Dirty Half Dozen” did about a half-dozen sketches each based on a single suggestion. My suggestion for “something you find in the kitchen” was “my wife”, which I think stunned the performer who was asking for the suggestion, but the sketch turned out funny as hell. The real ha-ha is that neither Kelly or I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So, the groups interpretation of this animal-like “wife” character that has to be flushed out of the kitchen by fire was all the more funny to me. And the girl playing “the wife” was hot and funny and had glasses. Real tall, though. The last group “Train Wreck” was just two guys, one playing the part of a lifeguard, the other as a towel rental clerk. Metaphysical pondering about alter-egos across the sea have never been funnier. Also, killing dead air with the line “So… You remember when you killed that guy?” always has a good outcome.

We hit an Irish pub sorta thing after the show, but they weren’t serving food, so we downed a round and found a Subway. Jeremy split, as a good mercenary needs his beauty sleep, and we ate our sandwiches while listening to overnight AM sports shows. We had passed a cool little dive called the Old Town Ale House. A jazz-laden jukebox kept time while we sat in the front window conversing over pints. A good time was had by all. We decided to split up, and Patience took a cab back to her hotel, which was probably going to be expensive, so Nick and Hunter chipped in (hey, I bought the drinks).

So — what’s ahead for today? Well, Hunter and I will be driving back to Louisville leaving here sometime mid-afternoonish (to beat the Chicago rush hour, and hopefully the Indianapolis rush hour as well).

sunday! sunday! sunday!

So yeah, went to see The Matrix: Reloaded at a theatre up in Evanston. ‘Twas huge, it was! They do their concessions great up there, too — cafeteria style. The second time around, I tried harded to listen to a lot of the dialogue that flew past me during my first screening (i.e. the Merovingian’s speech and the Architect’s speech). Well, I still love it — not necessarily as a film standing on it’s own, because it does have it’s flaws, but as a very interesting continuation and expansion of the world of the Matrix. I won’t go into gory detail here in case you, gentle reader, have not seen this, but Nick, Hunter and Joey had some very interesting conversations about it. While there isn’t a clear “a-ha!” moment in this film like the first Matrix, the events and revelations in this film open up a LOT of new questions.

Anyway, The Matrix: Reloaded aside, after the movie we headed up to Wild Oats to get provisions. Hunter and I were going to cook Nick and Joey dinner as a bit of repayment for their hospitality. In your face, Project Improv! (they stayed with Joey and Nick a couple of weeks ago). Anyway, Hunter and I fashioned a tasty dinner of spaghetti and salad and tasty bread. Would you like to see it? Sure you would. Check the Chicago: Day Two Gallery (note well Joey’s perfect pancake). That Hunter sets a fine table. Wine was had. Corks were broken. Broken corks summarily extracted. Fine china was used. Hunter is “now a believer” of the tastiness of balsamic vinagrette. I consider it a culinary victory. In true man-fanshion, Hunter and I both fell asleep after dinner while Joey and Nick washed the dishes. I felt like my grandfather.

So today, Memorial Day, we headed out to the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field to see the Chicago Cubs take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was a drubbing unlike any other I have ever seen. The Cubs were whipped 10-0 with a Pittsburgh 9-run eigth inning. We did, however, see Kerry Wood pitch effectively, but with the couple of walks and wild pitches (one of which allowed them to score a run) he certainly could have had a better outing. The eigth inning was atrocious. Cubs fans are known as a fickle bunch, but I could have sworn they were about to riot as the 7th run passed the plate. Many of those runs scored on walks, so that always riles the fans. Ahh well. Alfonseca had a 3-0 count on some guy, and he finally pitched a strike — and the fans went wild! Hah. Oh well.

The whole Wrigleyville area is pretty cool. Drummers and odd street performers abound. However, as evidenced by this picture, not all of the Wrigleyville regulars are appreciative. Check out the rest of the Chicago: Day Three Gallery if’n you wanna.

There are some loose plans to go and see Lake Michigan which is only 2 blocks away (you can see it from the street). Oddly enough, Joey and Nick have not gone down to see it. Well, we can’t have that, now can we? Probably going to meet up with a friend of Hunter’s named “Patience”, and perchance to see a Second City show. Oh, and Hunter and I are on our own tomorrow, so we’ll probably be heading out to the Chicago Art Museum, which is free and great. And while free things are always great, free art is even greater. Yeah. More later!

update: added more photos of us down by Lake Michigan to the Day 3 Gallery. (a good pan of Hunter on the beach awaits you!)

the ride up to chicago (on friday) was fairly uneventful, with the exception of this sign: “Time Flies When You’re Having PORK”. Yeah. Well, that and MapQuest told us to go south on LakeShore Drive to get to Nick’s house. Yeah, that’s patently false. So, about an hour and fifteen minutes later, thanks in large part to a nice lady at the service station we stopped at, we arrived at Nick’s. We attempted to buy a map at that store, but since they only had one, the dude wouldn’t sell it to me! Uh, okay.

As if finding our way to Nick’s wasn’t hard enough — parking in Chicago (we are North of Chicago, between Loyola and Northwestern Universities) is incredibly insane. At 2 AM, there are NO spots. Hunter and I circled in a four-block pattern for 45 minutes until happening upon a couple of kid’s leaving. And that was 3 blocks away from Nick’s. Whew. All tired, we went to sleep.

Saturday (officially day one), we headed up to Michigan Avenue on the “L” (elevated train). I’d just like to point out that I love public transportation. It’s great. Completely unfeasible in Louisville, but I can dream. Michigan Avenue is huge and grandiose, and it essentially has all the shops we have in Louisville. Well, most of them, I guess. But it’s a lot of expensive shops and large buildings. We ducked into the courtyard of this old church, right across from the Sears Tower. It was cool to have this ivy-covered courtyard in the middle of this bustling downtown. Pictures were taken.

Shortly afterwards, we crossed the street and headed up the other way. We were soon following behind a tall man with a long pony tail, goatee, and camoflague shoes and hat. I sort of felt this… this “power” emanating from this man. I couldn’t really explain it at first. And then — then I realized we were in the presence of a great man. “Who?” you ask.

TED NUGENT.

Ted Frickin’ Nugent. The Nuge. The Great White Hunter. Everyone on that side of the sidewalk was, for whatever reason, keeping the same beat, so it turned out that we were following His Nugeness for a couple of blocks. The Nuge, always vigilent, noted this by turning around and asking “You guys got my back, dontcha?” To which we replied with “…” (Having known that Herr Nuge had just spoken to us smaller, lesser men). Well, The Nuge eventually split away from us, and we headed to the Virgin Megastore, which was also huge and great.

I would like to point out that at this point, neither Hunter nor Nick were as convinced as I was that that was The Nuge. It was fairly safe to say that they were “doubters”. Even having had to shelve “Kill It and Grill It: Ted and Shemane Nugent’s Cookbook” nearly ever day at Barnes & Noble, they doubted this was The Nuge. Well, much debating later, this was all settled, as according to TedNugent.com, The Nuge was performing that night at Tweeter Center. Ah, sweet retribution.

Anywho, The Virgin Megastore is huge and great, and surprisingly cheap. Nick had a gift certificate from the Virgin Megastore, so browse browse, buy leave. Afterwards, we decided to head uptown to the “Boystown” area. I don’t remember the real name of that area, so “Boystown” will suffice. A pretty cool Highlands-like area with cool little shops and diners and such. We ate at Nookies Tree (the third iteration of the original Nookies), and it was a cool little diner-y joint. We checked out a couple of used record and thrift stores, and headed back home (passing Wrigley Field on the L was neat. Can’t wait until Monday!)

Later that night we headed down to the DePaul University area to catch up with Hunter’s cousin Jeremy, a political mercenary. Well, not really, but that is certainly better than “political consultant”. Anyway, he was cool. We started off at an Italian-style wine bar where none of us drank wine! So, then we headed across the street to “Kelly’s”, an Irish bar. Oh yeah. 4 pints of Guinness later and well, I don’t remember so well. Suffice it to say, I love public transportation. Ahh.

Right now, I’m eating pancakes and listening to Joey rehearsing (he’s a vocalist). It’s nice here. I think I’ll stay.

tha’ h-dog and the b-child are heading up to Chicago to visit nick for 5 days (friday may 23 – wednesday may 28). photos shall be captured and placed in the chicago gallery. more later.

Got up bright and early at the crack of a continental breakfast in a
converted gymnasium. That hotel was just weird, and filled with
children. We let out of that joint, and stalked the “World Market” for
interesting stuff. We found a big bamboo shade we had been looking for
cheap. Threw it in the car, and made our way to Busch Stadium to see the
St. Louis Cardinals vs. the Atlanta Braves.

Paid $6 for parking, about 2 blocks from the stadium — which i can deal
with. We showed up about 2 hours early, and the place was packed! It
turns out the gates open 2 hours prior (1:10 being the game start). We
watched some batting practice after we got our tickets, and just chilled.
Kelly and I downed a beer and pretzel to start things off.

Bud Light is like water. It’s evil, really. Also, it’s not good beer.
But it’s definitely potable. The game was a great time, but the
Cardinal’s fielding wasn’t exactly stellar. And the pitching wasn’t all
that great. I respect Darryl Kile, but he got behind pretty fast (no
thanks to the fielding of his own team). Luckily, this made for a good
end-game, with the Cardinals making a small rally from the 4-0 deficit
they had dug. They lost 4-2, though.

We bid fond farewell to Busch Stadium — i enjoyed it greatly. The park
is nice, easy to get to and, perhaps more importantly, easy to get out
of. The ballgame was great fun, and the crowd there was a good time.

We hopped on 64 Eastbound, and as the Arch faded from our rear-view
mirror, Kelly and I both felt a little sad. Our journey in the west had
officially come to a close, as we passed back through the gateway to the
west.

However, our adventures were not to end just quite yet. We still had
“Albino Squirrel Hunt #2″ to go — Olney, IL. About an hour and a half
drive down US150, we get to Olney, where a sign greets us saying “Home of
the White Squirrels”. Note: not “albino” but “white”. Maybe this is a
technical distinction — maybe they are just WHITE, and not “albino”.
Though, i think they are technically “albino”, but i never got close
enough to actually check out the eyes and other albinism-affected
features.

We stopped at a great little Mexican restaurant called “El Rancherito”,
escaped for under $20, and went a’huntin! We drove about, searching the
“suburbian” areas of Olney (a small area) for a while, noting that many
of the squirrels we were seeing were in fact WHITE, but they were all
fake. As we rounded a corner into another neighborhood, we struck WHITE
GOLD! A white squirrel chasing, and possibly harassing, MAYBE EVEN
belittling a “normal” fox squirrel. Kelly and I snap photos as they seem
to pose for our peering lenses. They even pose ON THE TREE — but then,
as quickly as we had noticed them, the squirrels do that squirrely thing
they do, and escape around to the other side of the trees. One down, how
many to go, i wonder?!

We search as the summery day fades, noting yet more squirrel-themed yard
ornaments, and a bunch of white STUFF in the yards that fool us for mere
moments (bags, cups, foam, etc). We snap some photos of various Olney
squirrel-related stuff, and the post office and police office for good
measure.

I must say, as far as style goes, Olney, IL has Marionville, MO beat.
Marionville is a Podunk, whereas Olney is more towards Mayberry. They
had nice little town centers and stuff. Also, the ratio of normal to
albino squirrels (based on our cursory 30 minute searches) for both Olney
and Marionville was 1 to 1! In Olney, we saw two (real) squirrels — one
white, one “normal”.

Ahhh well.

We took US150 back to I64, passing through Paoli, IN and Palmyra, IN.
It was nice to see Louisville’s skyline again, and home felt real
comfortable.

I plan on making a directory and map and such for the places we visited
in the near future. As for now, I’m tired as heck! Hope you all have
enjoyed these travelogues!

After visiting the Hays, KS Wal-Mart (perdon — it was the SUPER WalMart
FoodCenter), we headed back on I70 towards Topeka, Kansas City, and St.
Louis.

I had looked up Kansas on Roadside America, and found that
two stops on our route, Salina and Junction City both had some sites in
them. I slept through the Salina attraction — which is the “Bones of
Seymour” — an elephant that went on a rampage from circus in 1920, and
was killed after being shot with 15 doses of poison and 15 steel-tipped
bullets. Oh well. Junction City had an “Atomic Cannon” — which was a
short-lived weapon made by the gubment during the cold war — it could lob
a tactical atomic weapon 7 miles. The prototype was only fired once,
thankfully. However, in my infinite wisdom, I didn’t get detailed
directions to the site of the Atomic Cannon, and we couldn’t find it.
However, there was yet another Air Force Base, which Kelly and I didn’t
really want to go on — i think the atomic cannon lay behind its walls.
At least i was within a couple of miles of an Atomic Cannon.

On through Topeka and Kansas City. Outside of Kansas City, we stopped
into a Chinese buffet. It sucked. Bad. Louisville is blessed quality
ethnic restaurants. We also have our share of crappy ones, sure, but they
are outweighed by the good ones, at least.

Back on the road, between Kansas City and St. Louis, we were travelling
about 80 MPH when we were all of the sudden passed on the left (in the
emergency lane) by some nutball. He continued on down the road, braking
erradically and swerving and what-not. He seemed to be a little
intoxicated — okay, he was sloshed. I called 911, reported it, and they
said that they would do something about him. About 15 miles past that, we
saw him on the the side of the road — RELIEVING HIMSELF, IN FULL VIEW OF
THE PASSING TRAFFIC. Hilarity. We stopped for gas and to relieve
ourselves (i told kelly that apparently it’s OK to do it on the side of
the road, but she objected), and headed on — wondering what happened to
our guy. Another 15 miles down the road, we see him again — sitting in
the back of a police cruiser. Hah! Dumbass.

We tried to stay at the same Comfort Inn we stayed at during our last stay
in St. Louis, but they were all booked up — so we are staying in a Days
Inn with a pool and game room and all. Lots of kids here, and a little
more expensive than the Comfort Inn, but oh well — we are shaving a
couple of days off our trip already.

We checked in, swam, and then headed towards Nacho Mama’s — the
restaurant we tried to eat at last Sunday, but they were closed. They
were open today, though! It’s a cool little fast-food tex-mex joint.
Kelly had some tasty Portobello Quesadillas, and i had their taco platter.
The salsa was roasted and sublime! The nachos and guacamole tasty as
well… Down the road was “Hacienda” and they were throwing a HUGE Cinco
De Mayo celebration. Lots of drunken thirtysomethings there.

We are going to a St. Louis Cardinals game tomorrow, and then off to home.
Yay! I love baseball, and this is only my second MLB game. We ordered
tickets in 10 minutes, too. Yay Internet!

We have a good internet connection this time, so i’ve uploaded pics from
Tuesday and Wednesday (Albuquerque and Tusayan, AZ).

All of this travelling has been quite fun so far. But it’s starting to
blend together, because we have done SO much and travelled so far. It’s
like Ozzy Osborne on tour — i have to have the name of the city i’m in
written on my hand! No, not really, but close enough.

Tomorrow — World Market (that cool Pier-One-Done-Right store, the
baseball game, Olney Albino Squirrel Hunt #2, and then home!)

Alamosa, CO and all points east

We just let out of Alamosa, CO, heading east on US160 towards a town that
starts with a “W” but neither kelly nor i can keep it in our mind.
Welhausen? Weyerhausen? I don’t remember. Oh well, from there, up I25
to Pueblo/Colorado Springs, then US24 to I70 and on through Kansas.
Hopefully, we can make it to Kansas City, Missouri today. It’s possible,
but not real likely.

Outside of Alamosa in an interesting mix of plains and mountains. The
mountains rise gracefully from the edge of the plains, soaring into the
sky. Many of the snow-capped peaks we see here at 13000-14000 feet high.
We currently sit at about 7000 ft. It’s great to look out the window and
see huge mountains.

We just passed through Walsenberg (not Weyerhausen), and are on our way
north on I25 towards Pueblo and Colorado Springs. The flatness of Kansas
is starting to creep in a bit, i fear. Kelly mentioned that she almost
didn’t want to get on I25, because US160 was such a nice, scenic drive.
We haven’t been on an Interstate since Flagstaff, and I guess we’ve been
spoiled. Well, if we didn’t take I25 to I70, we’d never get home.

We finally made it to Limon, CO, and got on I-70 towards Kansas! About
100 miles out, we saw a “Point of Interest” sign — and saw some weird
tower up on the side of the highway. Looks interesting…. pulling up, we
see that it’s the “Wonder View Tower” — see six states from the top!
Huh. This tower isn’t THAT tall, but we walk inside the crampt store to
find an old man by the name of Jerry Chubbuck. The store is crammed from
walls to ceiling with various old relics — bottles, blowtorches, rocks,
gemstones, t-shirts, EVERYTHING. The ceiling even has stuff hanging from
it.

A note: words cannot completely describe the Wonder View Tower in Genoa,
Colorado. Words and sight may not do it justice. All senses are
assaulted.

The old man tells us that it’s a $1 for admission — and we’ll get our
dollar back if we can guess what the uses of various “mystery items” are.
He produces two metal mesh basket-looking things, and Kelly guesses a
collander, and I said it was a cheese strainer. His faces lights up with
the guesses — he mentions that some people think “hat”, others think “bra
cup for Dolly Parton” (to which he places them both to his chest, and
dances about a bit). I am COMPLETELY mesmerized by this old guy. Turns
out, they are muzzles for horses, so they don’t eat the corn whilst
harvesting. He leads us to an old glass case crammed with random stuff.
The first “mystery item” is a a strange cutting device — or thats what it
seems like. Imagine a garlic press — but with a blade on it. I think
“umbilical cord serverer”. He mentions one woman thought it was a
pill-cutter. He produces a box with instructions for this device on the
back — it turns out it is a chicken killer! Place the blade in the
mouth, and the flat part on the skull. Pop! Brain-b-gone. He produces
some stones that turn out to be a dinosaur gizzard stone, and some
dino-dook. A “cow-pill” magnet that is fed to a cow to get the various
metal objects in a cow stomach out (“it’s been used three times, pulled
out of three piles — but only cleaned once!” he exclaims), is the next
item. Also included — a rubber core from a 1910′s car wheel.

So, quickly the amusement of the tower has been severly downgraded –
looking at all the stuff on the walls, in the twenty-two rooms of this old
house could take years. Now, this used to be a stop on US24, a highway
that used to pass by it (which was replaced with I70). I70 ran around the
back of this used-to-be restaurant, nightclub, museum, curio shop. So,
after US24 dried up (it’s still there), Jerry Chubbuck, who knew the
original owner as a kid, renovated the place out the back. Now, it is his
own private museum and antique shop.

A little background on Jerry Chubbuck — he’s described in one of the many
articles on the walls as an “amateur archaeologist”. In 1957, he
discovered a huge triceratops skeleton near Kit Carson, CO, also an 8500
year old bison kill near the same place. The triceratops — or part of it
– now lies in one corner of the front room of the old house.

Jerry’s enthusiasm about every little piece of the place is contagious.
Kelly likened it to a young child wanting you to play with his toys — and
Jerry has them in spades. Take, for instance, his bottle collection. In
the span of 15 minutes talking bottles with him, I received an education
that I will never forget. I now know how to accurately age a bottle –
it’s all in the seams. Single-seam bottles date from 1915 on.
Multi-seamed bottles from 1875 on. Things earlier than that are
“tri-molded”, and seamless. He pulled out some amazing bottles, and I was
enraptured with each. It was amazing.

Having a conversation with Jerry is interesting. He ends most sentences
with “thats for sure”, “ain’t that right”, or “dontchu know it”. It’s
almost like he wants to show the entire museum to you in the span of your
stay. Frankly, I could’ve stayed for days — weeks even with the stuff he
has there. WWI helmets with bullet holes, Civil War era telegraph keys,
early blowtorches, two-headed calves, bizarre medical implements, rocks
and rocks and rocks. Old books stacked floor to ceiling, 20,000 indian
artifacts, unused bars of soap, barbed-wire, and bottles. So many
bottles. Bottles from 18th century London, 19th century booze and pop
bottles.

One half of the museum has 10 rooms and the tower, the other half (which
used to serve as the kitchen, the dance-hall, the stage, and the
restaurant). While you are looking around, Jerry will often stick his
head around the corner, urging to you to “come look”. There are so many
things, and Jerry knows a story about them all. One of which was a 200
(or so) year old ceremonial chair from China, which used to have jade
stones inlaid — which had been removed and replaced with marbles.

The great thing about Wonder View Tower is that Jerry makes the museum
what it is, and Jerry wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for Wonder View being
built back in the 1880′s. The history behind the store is compounded by
what it is today. I can only imagine what it was like back in the 1930s,
when the founder of the place, C.W. Gregory would stand on the top of the
tower and greet the oncoming motorists via a loudspeaker. They would stop
over for lunch, or the for the night, and enjoy the view and the live
music.

Finally about the tower — it’s pretty tall, and according to an alleged
1934 Geological Survey report, it is the tallest point between Denver and
New York. something which I could believe, as it stands at 5000 something
feet above sea level. Also, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not proved that is was
possible to see six states from the tower.

The Wonder View Tower is the perfect side-of-the-road site. Lots of
history, lots of fun, and a curator that is like a whirlwind of generosity
and knowledge. I was sad to leave it really, but as we exited the museum
with t-shirts in hand, Jerry ran outside, wanting to get our pictures
taken with some guns and hats he had stowed away. He snapped our fotos,
and then ran back inside to grab the other two visitors, to have them snap
the photo. He returned with the other visitors and — get this — a
monster mask and a big spear. They took our photos, we shook hands, and
regrettably headed out on the road.

By the way, outside, there were two old junked cars, a Ford Fairline 500
and a Cadillac, FILLED WITH BOTTLES. Bottles on top of bottles. Also, a
junked modern import. Later, Wonder View!

Wow. I don’t know if anything will top that, really — and to think, we
weren’t originally going to pass through there. I’m so glad we did.

About 75 miles outside of Hays, KS we started seeing signs for the “Worlds
Largest Prairie Dog — 8000 lbs!”. Well, eventually we got off the I70,
and turned into “Prairie Dog Town” — which is now a Prairie Dog Ghost
Town. Oh well.

We pulled into Hays, KS with the gas gauge on E — we made 320 miles on a
10 gallon tank. Pretty good. We found that there was a local theatre
showing SpiderMan, and after we checked into the Super 8 motel where we
are now staying, we caught some dinner, and then went to see the 9:30
show.

Well, if the previews were any indication, this movie was going to rock.
Star Wars Episode 2 — HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. I don’t think i’d seen the
trailer they had shown. Action, action, action. Sooooo good. The Men In
Black II trailer was equally as kickin. I can’t wait to see a good fun
summer movie. Even the Minority Report trailer looks really good!
Spielberg can be a little saccharin for me, but this seems to be something
that won’t be quite as much. AI was almost too sweet. Needs more
‘splosions!

Well, anyway, Spiderman rocked the house. I had worried that it would be
too corny, as Stan Lee titles can be sometimes, but I think the script and
directing made this sufficiently dark. Spiderman comes across as a more
and more dark and conflicted personality. Sure, the depth of that isn’t
MILES deep, but for a 2 hour movie, it did the job well. Also, the
casting was excellent, I thought. Many slighted Tobey Maguire for being
sleepy and stoic, but it fit the writing so well. Maguires portrayal at
times IS a little sleepy, but the stoicism and introversion that comes
with “super powers” is there. The story line isn’t the big happy Superman
boy does good line that one may expect. I’m so happy that talent and good
writing are finally coming behind the stories that have been so popular
with so many people over the years. Sure, the costumes can be a little
hokey at times (which is dealt with greatly in this movie), but you can
suspend your belief a bit. Willem Dafoe played the Green Goblin
excellently, and thankfully, they didn’t portray him as they did in the
comics I read when I was younger. Obviously, it’s updated, but he isn’t
quite as, um, cartoonish and elf-like.

Now, i have to mention the following: Ben Parker tells Peter “With great
power comes great responsibility”. This is a good theme in the movie –
but replace “great” with “super”, and imagine Thomas Haden Church saying
those words — THATS RIGHT. The Strobe, from the Specials. Just
remember: WITH SUPER POWERS COMES SUPER RESPONSIBILITY, DAMMIT.

Heh. All together, a great, great movie. It has a great feeling about
it. It’s not too corny, but not too dark. It’s a good, fun, well
directed (Sam Raimi of Evil Dead fame), FUN movie. Fun fun fun. Also, it
sets up a sequel quite well, and for the fans of comicland Spidey, it
sticks well to the title.

A note from Kelly: Kirsten Dunst had great shoes. Kelly gives extra-soopa
props to the costume designer. “Especially the camel-butterscotch
slingbacks in the wet-Mary-Jane upside-down kissy scene”. I have to
admit, i wasn’t so looking at the shoes in that scene — YOWZA!

Well, it’s nearly 2AM CST here, so I’m going to go to sleep — gonna go
back to St. Louis tomorrow, hopefully in town by Sunday (3 days early!)

Other addenda: There is a restaurant in Ellis (i think that is the name
of the town) called Big Wong’s. *snicker*