Back again...

Hi, we're still here... just driving a lot. And wifi is hard to score in most of these parts. Quit tailgating.

We know we've got a lot to catch up on, so we sat down at a pleasant cafe in Southwestern Illinois yesterday to do so. We thought they'd have wifi, being in a college town, but they did not, being also in the middle of a cornfield. So this entry will take you to Sunday afternoon, and the beginning of Route 66. Here's Beth!

26 June 2006
Edwardsville, Ill-ee-no-ah
(covering Friday 23 June – Sunday 25 June)

Friday, 23 June - Ohio
Beth’s first Waffle House experience was an extremely pleasant one- full of saucy waitresses who call everyone “Baby”, old men sitting at the counter, tunes playing on the jukebox, and lots of greasy food. We were fueled up and ready to go explore Columbus, Ohio- a city we didn’t really know too much about. It turned out to be a very cool place.

Yup. Mornin' at the Waffle House, baby.

First, we visited the Old Deaf School Topiary Garden, which is a lovely park in which they are recreating a 3-dimensional yew bush rendering of Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” – they have dug a pond to represent the Seine and the topiaries are scaled to create the proper dimensional viewpoint and everything. Some parts are still growing in, even several years on, but it was remarkably tranquil and lovely, even in the cool rain.

Topiary Garden - Woman with Big Bustle and Monkey!

Heading deeper into Columbus, we happened to arrive during CommFest, a community festival (hence the name). It was a lot like Bonnaroo minus the mud and about 80,000 people. We sat and listened to a jazz band for a while and absorbed the love, peace, and happiness of the town. We also learned about Columbus’ “Feel free to show your boobies” Law. On the way out we saw a collection of Art Cars and also listened to an angry organic farmer go on a rampage about Christians.

In a Red State?

Next, we decided to check out the local coffee shop (we chose one with free wifi, of course, so we could post our last blog entry). We stayed for a while so we could take care of some other business as well. Tired of the “Your Word on The Street” message, Beth used her negotiating skills to get a new “Scrolling Marquee License Plate Holder” sent to Joplin, MO. Hopefully we will be picking that up tomorrow, so please post your suggestions as to what we should say to the USA as we cruise by! Right before we left we spotted Kelly’s Dream Man. He was wearing a Red Sox shirt, walking a beagle, and drinking a …..Red Bull. Too bad it wasn’t a Coke or she might have gone after him!

We were loving Columbus, but unfortunately Columbus was not loving us. When we returned to the Snaab we discovered that we had parked in a “Resident Only” area and had a little souvenir in the form of a parking ticket. So we hightailed it out of there and took advantage of the sunshine that allowed us to put the top down, finally.

We cruised through the cornfield lined back roads of Ohio working our way towards Indiana. We made a pit stop at Hefner’s Dairy Barn where we met an adorable, well-behaved dog whom we named Uncle Lee. We wanted to take him with us as our very own Charley as we traveled across America.

Where the fun never ends.

The sun was beginning to set, so we began thinking about where we should camp for the night. One campground really stood out from the rest so we made our way towards Huggy Bear. Just as we were beginning to think we were lost we drove up over the horizon we saw a sea of RVs. We were home. The only tent set up amongst the white giants and golf carts we felt a little out of place. We are still trying to figure out why everyone had a golf cart as Huggy Bear could be walked from end to end in about 10 minutes. Any ideas or explanations?

Saturday 24 June - Indiana

This is what Indiana looks like. All of it.
*except for Gary, which is scary

In the morning we felt compelled to drive away from all that and return to the open road. We crossed over into Indiana, the Hoosier State. Neither of us knew what the word Hoosier meant, so we had to find out. We heard from an older woman that worked at the South Street Soda Shop in Goshen, IN (go there!) that a Hoosier is someone who lives in Indiana, but one of the stories about how that started had something to do with someone saying “Whose your _____”. This somehow was slurred together to create the word Hoosier. Not sure if we are buying that or not. While in Indiana we also stopped at the Indiana Historical Radio Museum. Helen, our guide, was extremely excited to have visitors, as the museum was closing in 30 minutes and we were the first visitors of the day.

We were close to Chicago so we decided to call it an early night by camping outside the city. Our first choice was Mink Lake (we figured minks were close to ferrets. Pfffttpffptptppt), but it turned out to be a little too creepy. Finally we settled on Michigan City as our home for the night. It advertised both RV and tent camping, a swimming pool, and free wifi. It also had a rooster farm right next door! And everybody knows that roosters are nature’s alarm clocks. What Kelly didn’t know is that they not only crow when the sun rises, but, basically, whenever it shines, pretty much until the sun sets. Ugh. Beth: “It’s like a snooze alarm that won’t quit”.

Sunday 25 June – Ill-ee-no-ahhh
We woke up bright and early and headed for the Windy City. We went through Gary, Indiana on our way- hometown of the Jackson Five. Depressing is the first word that comes to mind. Let’s just say, we get Michael now. Cut the man a little slack. The Neverland Ranch never looked so good.

Typical Street in Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana...

We finally arrived in Chicago, where Route 66 begins. Kelly went to the top of the Sears Tower to get a good view over Chicago and the rest of ‘Merica. Beth sat in a park across the street. Choose your interpretation: Kelly is a sucker for ‘landmark tourist attractions’ or Beth is too cheap to pay $12 for an elevator ride. But, by going up, Kelly did learn that Frank Lloyd Wright’s son invented Lincoln Logs, while Beth did not learn this. And we all know that everyone loves Lincoln Logs!

High above the clouds and Chicago from the Sears Tower

Beth Loves Lincoln Logs!

After Kelly waved down at Beth from above the clouds, they reunited for a grease-fest at Lou Mitchell’s Diner, the traditional human pit stop at the top of Route 66. Waaaaaayyyyyy too much food, that cost waaaayyyy too much money ($4 bacon? Wassup with dat?). While the apple and cheese omelet was an intriguing concept, it was lost in execution and we were shocked and dismayed to find that instead of crisp apple slices, what was delivered was essentially a cheese omelet smothered with a can of apple pie filling. Glub (that is the comment from Kelly’s stomach).

The Famous Route 66 human pit stop

We cruised down the Magnificent Mile and up Lake Shore Drive to get a feel for Chicago – after the bad impression caused by entering via Gary, IN, we revised our opinion of the town and found it actually quite pleasant and livable. We look forward to visiting again, and thus decided to savor Chicago another time on it’s own and head for the “Mother Road”.

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One of the questions people have asked is “What are you two gonna talk about for a month? Won’t you get tired of each other?” Well, we’re learning about this… day 1 was catching up with each other and being excited about the trip. By day 3, we were sharing random thoughts and stories “Sting’s “Englishman in New York” makes me think of Elian Gonzalez” or reminiscing about Goodfellow's passionate recollection of his encounter with John Glenn. Day 4 was Hi-Fidelity top 5 lists… by Day 5 we have been reduced to Beavis & Butthead impressions. “huh huh huh – Kickapoo. He said Poo”. We have determined that it is only annoying if just one person is doing it. With us both on board, it can be quite entertaining – trust us. However, we can forsee a time in the near future where this entertainment value will wear off. So, we entreat you for some topics for discussion - anything you'd like us to ponder? It's only Day 6 here.

check back soon for more pictures!