Can we keep him?

Word to the wise: when a Motel 6 says they have "wireless internet" they don't mean in all of the rooms.







So, back to Minnesota (we're skipping St. Ignace for now)...

Look who we’ve come across! Mom and I were going to stay the night in Blue Earth, Minnesota, not knowing what wonders the town offered! And where did this landmark come from? Here’s what we found on Wikipedia…

“Created by Leo Burnett, the Giant first appeared in advertisements in 1928; the name originally came from a variety of unusually large pea called the "Green Giant" that the company canned and sold.
In 1978, the town of Blue Earth, Minnesota paid $43,000 to erect a 55-foot (16.8 m) fiberglass statue of the Jolly Green Giant to commemorate the linking of the east and west sections of Interstate 90.
The Green Giant statue arrived in Blue Earth via flat bed truck on September 21, 1978 and was actually erected on the 23rd. The Giant was hoisted in a sling by a 65 foot crane in the north roadside rest area along I-90, where he overlooked the official opening of I-90 at a point where east met west, marking I-90's completion and representing a 3,028 mile nonstop route from Boston to Seattle.
The statue was placed in its present, permanent location on July 6, 1979, a mile south of I-90 on U.S. Highway 169. It is estimated that 10,000 people a year visit the statue. The pedestal is accessible by steps, and the statue is maintained by the city, which cleans the giant at least once a year and adorns it with a red scarf around his neck during the Christmas Season.”


And as for Little Sprout…

The Sprout character was introduced in Green Giant advertising in 1973. He is an apprentice to the Green Giant who helps the Giant tend the vegetables in his valley. Curious and enthusiastic, Sprout represents the voice of the consumer and learns from the Giant’s wisdom.
(from BettyCrocker.com)

And here's me trying to fight the Giant, like David versus the Jolly Green Goliath:

John Schneider's in town & cinema francais ala Mackinac

Arrived in St Ignace just in time for their annual Car Show. This is one time during the year when this lakeside burg experiences a 1000% swell in population. And who was among the throngs this year, you ask. Yours truly, natch, oh, and the Dukes of Hazzard guy: John Schneider. I don't know which of us caused the greatest buzz but I was asked to stay 5 nights & I don't think John got more than 1 (and that was probably back across the bridge in Mackinaw City.)

Having the Hollywood connection in town definitely added a cinematic flair to our trip to the Island. When I say "Island" all those within 500 feet of Michigan will know I am speaking of the big island of Mackinac not that other so called "big" island floating somewhere in the Pacific. PmaK decided that this was the time to rent a bike for the 8 mile trip around the island. I should have suspected that the reason I got a discount coupon for the first bike rental place I saw right next to the boat docks is that anyone in their right cycling mind would know enough to keep walking on to the more respectable purveyors of spoked wheels. But, oh no, I was sucked in by the $1 off. We hopped on & pedalled off fueled by an ages old desire to master the island. (My first & last attempt to bike Mackinac was a tandem trip with my cousin Julie 40 years ago. We never made the complete circumference because Julie kept falling off. This apparently had something to do with the fact that the person sitting in the rear position (me) was to engage only the feet to stroke (called pedalling by you non-athletic types) and the front position was solely responsible for the handling or steering.)

As PmaK & I took off in a counter clockwise path around the island I could only imagine that my husband would be telling me that my front wheel was mounted backwards. It felt like my ankles were positioned behind my ears. I heard yelps from PmaK that the right side of her body was going to sleep. Did I say that we rented from the discount booth? After watching PmaK careen off the road a few times, it dawned on me that we were probably on the wrong bikes; if I was on the taller bike my ankles might not feel so deformed & PmaK might be able to dismount without getting her armpits caught on the handle bars. We continued on the next half mile. Did I say that the single gear bikes were the cheapest? We continued on the next quarter mile. We stopped & took lots of pictures. We rode a couple yards. Did I say that it's hard to coast on a single gear bike & you have to pump your legs up & down, up & down alot? Did I also say that Mackinac is 8 miles around? We gave up & road back to the bike depot. We clocked in with exactly a one hour rental which translated to (less the discount) $8 worth of entertainment.

These video montages are best viewed with some french music & a chilled glass of chardonnay.

Customs cleared (barely)

We were sorely unprepared for crossing back into the US. Yes, we were heavily armed with ids of every make & model but we forgot to pack fortitude & a mouth guard to prevent the gnashing of teeth as we were led into the "little house" by the border patrol-OUR OWN PEOPLE! I can't even tell you how long the Amish group was there before we got interviewed or how long they had to stay after we were cleared. All I know is each officer we encountered was ridiculously smug & condescending, leaving me with a different interpretation of A in the US of. If this comes with wearing a uniform I should have one bad-normous attitude after all the plaid skirts I wore in Catholic school.

Once past all this nonsense we were in Michigan on a polka-dotted highway, I kid you not. Now these garbage lid-sized dots are meant for safety as you are to stay "two dots behind the car in front" but I was too busy wondering if they meant should I be able to see two complete dots or was it OK for each car to be touching a dot with one in between. This perplexed & distracted me to no end. I also began to imagine different color scenes available in safety dotting across the nation, summer being the time when you run into all this road work.

We had lunch in Gaylord & crossed off four more state licenses on the list since the restaurant had a bushel of them nailed to the walls. Now you may think of this as cheating but no one said they had to be on a vehicle. This leaves us only with the tiny imaginary kingdom of Delaware to still locate.

Crossed into the Upper Pennisula on the Mighty Mac & since PmaK is a Mighty driver, she was not at all freaked out by driving over Lake Huron on crocheted steel lace.

Our trip resumed- NY to Toronto

This sign on the streets of Toronto summed up the weather we had encountered so far.

NIAGARA: OK I have to admit I thought this would be a dignified national monument with the park rangers in those snappy Smokey the Bear uniforms but the area is actually quite cheesy. Everyone has some version of a roadside stand hawking shiny plastic things & those off grain Tshirts with the printing that crackles & peels after a tumble in the dryer. Even though the water is awesome, you have to pay to get to all these different viewing areas. One must remember that this is NY & even their Interstate rest stops are commercial. (Michigan had some fabulously free & clean rest areas BTW.)





Instead of spending the $$$ for the Maid of the Mist boat tour & rain slicker we decided to spray paint a tour logo on our own Hefty bags. Here are the real maids of the mist.






TORONTO: Think San Francisco with a lot of french signs. Well, San Francisco with a Fresno heat wave AND a garbage strike. Had tres delish designer burgers at Craftburger. Gorgonzola & chipotle. Those Canadians love their beef. PmaK humored me with a walk to -hold your breath- MY FIRST YARN SHOP VISIT ON THIS TRIP!! Bought some Nova Scotia (keeping with the Canadian theme) hand dyed sport weight at Knit Cafe. Magnifique! The next morning brought us to the Kensington area where we had breakfast at Moonbeam. They, unlike Etoilebucks served a London Fog latte that they called "London fog" knowing that we English/American Lit majors like our food names to be metaphorical.







Latte, PmaK's Toronto Chinatown $4 (Canadian) purchase, & a polka-dotted row house ala the Haight, non? Due to the sensitivities of certain readers the image of the dead rat on the sidewalk will not been posted.

The Lost Weekend: or how Friday in IN became Tuesday in Toronto

I HAD TO GO TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY TO FINALLY GET INTO A YARN SHOP!!! (more about that later so *warning* this is an xlong entry, you might want to get yourself a venti-sized something or other.

[I'll have to add the pics later when PmaK is awake becuase I 'bout killed myself uploading the one I did add by myself.]

OK, so we had to take a little break from blogging to visit family. Visiting family is exhausting (but in a good way :P You need to cram 3 years worth of info into a 16-42 hour time span while trying not to monoplize their clean towels & internet. And the one place on this planet I was sure we would have state o' the art ether access was at Lincoln's, my uber-techno-geek nephew, but more about that later.


The drive from Memphis included traversing the state of Kentucky. I don't want to appear critical but the issue appears to be that they have a signage problem in that state. I can say this because I am a card carrying daughter of a transportation engineer (double breasted pocket protectors, tyvm). Just across the border from TN we pulled off the road to have breakfast at Mannie's. Now Mannie, it turns out, is six years old & oversees his little fifedom in the corner of southwestern KY from the center table closest to the kitchen. This allows him to shout orders to his momma & grannie whenever he takes a break from his video gaming. I'm not sure if Mannie has been sittin' there so long that he has begun to resemble the food or if the food has been modeled after him but if you could personify poufy biscuits & globlulous gravy then you have a good idea of what I'm talking about. Folks were friendly, though. When we asked about getting to Evansville, one of the locals said, "Oh, it's real easy. You just follow the Parkway, to the Parkway, to the Parkway." Well, we apparantly got the "to the" part wrong a couple of times but it was nothing that some AAA maps, my GPS (version 9.12.1985), and caffeine couldn't fix. We got to partake of some lovely views of the countryside and as PmaK said, "It's actually quite pretty here if I wasn't so irritated about still being here." She felt immediate relief upon crossing the border into Indiana.


Best billboard/Tshirt: You lost your temper but he's still dead. Chill. Don't kill. (Memphis)

We got to my brother Barry's red house (Yes, red. It could actually pass for Indiana University Crimson but it's really Panetone something or other.) just in the nick of time to attend the boys' baseball games. I'm talking middle Americana ballpark happenings here, folks, including the encroaching thunder cell. OK let me take a moment to talk about the weather that prevailed during our 3 days in Indiana: if humidity was a family member, it would be that cousin that is grandma's favorite that no one wants to hang around with but she makes you include him in everything you thought would be fun to do. Fortunately he lives 8 states away & you only see him every couple of years.


Saturday was Taste of Bloomington. We wandered around the university & the blazing asphalt (95 degress, 12,076% humidity) feeling knowledge just coursing through our blood streams & gorging ourselves silly on all manner of stuff served in Bloomington restaurants. I will tell you that I will be attempting to make a version of minty pea guacamole at home. You might be suspicious if I'm offering guac in the near future but I really enjoyed this eclectic version. Also had celery pear juice which is much more delish that you would guess. Here I must also confess to a cardinal gastronomic sin we committed: we ate the pulled pork BBQ in Indiana instead of Memphis. LOVED Reverend Peyton & the Big Damn Band performance.
Our smiles belie our drippy pits at the Taste of Bloomington.


Best sight: the little baby apples on Barry's trees


Sunday Creighton presented a special Father's Day rocket blast-off in the empty field behind their house. We had a successful launch & SAR. Yeah, Creighton! (He has put dibs on Stuart's planes, should Stuart ever want to get rid of them.) Hugs & kisses from the King's with Boys and left for Noblesville to visit with the King's with Girls. Caught Chyrise & the girls together for a couple of hours before the girls left for choir practice. After mass we met at the IMAX for a showing of StarTrek. Amazingly cheap: large popcorn & gi-normous soda(pop) for $3.75. Found out Sam is the preeminent female Transformer blogger. She boasts a global following in this arena - even though I was woefully out of the loop. Syd, meanwhile, is aiming for Next Top Model or Project Runway. (I covet the dress form she got for Christmas.)


Best sight: The evening fireflies floating over the grass. (Although I was told if they smack against the windshield they continue to pulsate & glow for a few minutes after impact. E-ew. Also missed seeing the orange teeth of the nutria that live in the area.)


Left for Cleveland, Monday morning in the middle of a rainstorm. Ate breakfast at my first Cracker Barrel on this trip. I (heart) Cracker Barrel!!


Took a little detour to go on a literary pilgrimage to pay respects in Mooreland, IN, hometown of one of our most favorite writers Haven Kimmel. I highly recommend her memoir of growing up in Mooreland (pop. 300) - A Girl Named Zippy. We added to the ambience by playing the audio version of her sequel She Got Up Off the Couch while we "toured" the four square blocks of Mooreland.


Best sight: The Mooreland Friends Church


Got to Lincoln's townhouse in Cleveland Heights in plenty of time to get the drive-thru synopsis of greater Cleveland since most of his favorite places were dark on Monday. The homes, no I mean, estates of Shaker Heights are movie worthy. Ate dinner in Little Italy at a place called Mama Santo's. Saw the fried green peppers on the menu & had to get them in memory of Siro. Shared that Siro had cooked a counter-full of green peppers when Lincoln's parents got married. That still didn't interest him in trying any. However he was pleased with his cheese ravioli and Perris loved her home-made noodles (fettucini). Ultra, state of the art security system at Lincoln's house although I found out the wireless was not ready(!!!!). Did I tell you I was sure the one place in the cosmos I could breathe wireless would be 1785 Lee St? Next time we visit we've been promised wireless, a real bed, & TP. BTW Cleveland had the best weather of our trip to date - worst roads, but best weather.


Tuesday, got up way waaaay before Lincoln is usually conscious and headed for the border. Will elaborate on that later since I'm finished with my venti berry chai & you should be, too. Suffice it to say that even if "all roads lead to the same place" it takes awhile to figure out what all you've seen along the way.

See the map below to understand what happened...

The brown line shows where we were supposed to drive...the pink line shows where we ended up driving. See what the problem was?

Kentucky was lovely and pretty and very courteous. They are so hospitable there that you don't want to leave. They also have a lack of road signs, so you can't leave even if you try. And we tried and tried and tried. More reports from Barry's tomorrow...Chyrise, Sam & Sydney, here we come!

Here are the pics to go with the post below...

Cai leaning on Lance Armstrong's bike, a gift he gave to President Clinton...

A presidential painted-egg collection...

Cai & Perris on the patio of the Clinton Presidential Library, overlooking the Arkansas river...

Cai enjoying pastries from the Thunder Prairie Bakery in Oklahoma City...

and the Greatful Bean cafe!

Wednesday found us rolling into Little Rock, a little rough around the edges (611 miles) although the trip through Oklahoma was much better than I ever remember, in fact Oklahoma has moved waaay up in my es-teem-o-meter (currently ahead of Barstow, tyvm--ed note: that's short for Thank You Very Much in case you don't understand. I know, those 50-year olds and their acronyms, sheesh). Had lunch in OKC at Konvict Korner the Grateful Bean, a cafe dedicated to social justice through employing and rehabilitating felons.

Yes, that was interesting but they made a great veggie Reuben sandwich. Eh, my food was just okay actually. I was just afraid to offend our waiter since he might've been fresh from prison.We also got a chance to buy some pastries from the Thunder Prairie Bakery that we ate at a reststop somewhere in OK before we crossed into Arkansas. The weather was the hottest we had encountered so far, much hotter than Mojave and oh so humid. PmaK finds the muggy bathroom feeling a real deterent to enjoying the South.

We were booked into an elderly downtown Little Rock hotel that I can only describe as trying hard to come back. Think of an aging aristocrat who forgets to brush his teeth. Someday, with the right vocabulary support, I will describe the room service. Their internet service was subpar, also, hence the absence of a real time blog. Even the KOAs have wi-fi now, just think what our family trips would have been like.

Best sight Wednesday: The sunrise over east Texas.

Best bumper sticker/Tshirt/billboard: Accepting applications -State Troppers- company car included.

Today we got to sleep in since we were going to spend the morning sight seeing in Little Rock. Sad to say we never did spot le petit roche but we gave it a good King try tromping up & down the riverfront. On a spontaneous whim we decided to visit the Central High School Memorial - sight of the Little Rock Nine's valiant attempt to get an equal, not separate education. I have to say, I looked at this historical episode through a teacher's eyes, in fact, the video recollections by the Nine of some of their white teachers, brave & weak, made me teary. PmaK & I were both struck by how ordinary a place it is: a still operational high school across the street from everyday working class homes & gardens. Not like most national points of interest that are frozen in a velvet-roped time. From there we headed to Bill Clinton's Presidential Library, the whole reason we stopped in Little Rock. Wow! Loved the building. I know there are critics but I thought the use of site & space were wonderful. It is open & sunny and appeals to my moderne sensibilities. The brochure said it was influenced by the Trinity College library...hmmm...having been in that library also, I thought that was a real stretch, if I squinted, maybe. Having recently gone to Reagan's library, it was an interesting contrast in time periods & personalities. For one, Clinton's archives include over 1 million emails in addition to the presidential papers. How will they log Obama's texting? Another thing was the absence of fashion glamour since Hillary lacked the fashion panache of Nancy. Ronnie's library might have had a lot of Blass & Ungaro but Bill's had the only presidential Muppet (with the sax). I checked out the President's agenda's on my birthdays for '93 & '95 - not one mention of a birthday call to me.

Headed on to Memphis for dinner (we hoped) at a place that promised PmaK a perfect pecan ball. Had time to discuss if the call to public service is less seemly than medicine or education. Really, think about it.

Unfortunately for us the Little Tea House only opens for lunch. We ended up at another downtown eatery, McEwen's on Monroe. Extremely yummy. We had fried the way it is meant to be - cute little oysters served with a spicy vinegrette. PmaK got shrimp in bourbon sauce with grits & I had a house smoked salmon (plus 2 glasses of Cline's Cashmere red). We've driven 2,000 miles without a yarn stop...have mercy! I deserved the whole bottle. Played Little Feat's Dixie Chicken twice driving Mississippi's riverfront...the bright lights of Memphis.

Best sight: my car (still) parked in the Legacy Hotel lot this morning & the free tampons in McEwen's bathroom.

Best bumper ssticker/Tshirt: I miss Bill

Texas: The Lone Star(bucks) State

Eureka! We found Hawaii!! And SD - no need to search their garages. No sightings of SC though, they are a very gregarious yet oddly homebound state.

No response from Grandpa Kim so we made the stay in Flagstaff short & sweet and continued our travels east. We will use this extra time for an extended stay in Memphis. We recommend the Highland Country Inn for your next stay in Flagstaff. Catty-corner to Northern Arizona University, it was small, friendly & inexpensive but at same time they did a terrific job muffling the railroad noise. You can't avoid the trains in Flagstaff. Easy Wi-Fi & extensive cable channels, too, although I was too tired to relish all the HGTV I can't get at home. How did those pioneers do it?

Came home to a chili pepper Welcome to New Mexico sign. PmaK chose Sophia's in ABQ for lunch:





Small shop, LARGE fan base - for good reason. My breakfast burrito had just the right spice of green & red chilies. PmaK had a gorgeous roasted red pepper sandwich only slightly tainted (in her mind) by the addition of tomatoes. Gave Frisbee lessons at one of the NM I-40 rest stops. We blamed the wind whenever it went rolling into the brush (which happened with regularity). Honestly, we did not live up to the California dreamin' stereotype. Zoomed the complete width of NM (appx. 389 miles) without a Starbucks sighting. Began to hallucinate the possibility of the miracle of an iced vente berry chai in Milagros; was seriously jonesin' for one by Santa Rosa - not a chance. Took my mind off it heading into Tucumcari by introducing my daughter to Little Feat & singing along with Lowell George "from Tucson to Tucumcari/ from Tehachipi to Tonapah." Made the drive thru in Amarillo by accident because I gave PmaK the wrong directions to the motel. Is there really a such thing as "an accident"? (Editor's Note: Yes, yes there is.)

Spent these miles enjoying the red rock mesas while engaged in some serious philosophical discussions w/ PmaK - really, what is our purpose here? (To find a Starbuck's, apparently...)

No yarn stores sighted either but I know they're out there. If Amarillo was 300 miles closer to Albuquerque I might have gotten to visit with the fibre addiction specialists @ Village Wools. My daughter is talking about leaving me there for their 28 day program :)

Best sight: A Harley biker with a Tarot reading advertisement on his farring & side saddles (ABQ)
Best bumper sticker/Tshirt/car detail: Hot Hare Balloon (on the truck & trailer for the Energizer Bunny hot air balloon)

I'm saving Dixie Chicken for Memphis.

Below is a video of the Arizona terrain. Watch this over and over again for 9 hours, and you'll pretty much know what our day was like today.

Looks like we're ready for the road...but is the road ready for us??

First day of the King w/ Girl Wild West show. We were close to leaving on time (between 4 & 5 am was the plan). We pulled out of Fresno @ 5:11. I'm thinking my folks could get us out of the house & on the road by 4 am in the wa-a-ay back because there was no digital equipment that needed to be programmed or downloaded. It was AM radio or the sound of the road, most times both. My cross country travel now includes GPS - Grounding Perris Sensibility.

Besides a slight bungle of the I 15/40 juncture in Barstow (did I say I hate Barstow?) and a picturesque detour through Newberry Springs, all went well. It helps to have a Big Girl daughter who drives. I remember the thrill of being entrusted with the wheel during a family vacation cross country - but that meant a station wagon with travel trailer, the combined length of which meant "watch out." That was even before those 36 wheelers were legalized. Spotted 22 of the US50 state licenses. I predict Hawaii & South Carolina will be our prize sightings. Normally I'd add South Dakota but we'll be driving through SD. Unless they hide up in their garages we'll be OK.

Had lunch at the Wagon Wheel in Needles. Sweet potato fries straight off the delivery truck. Side note: No yarn shops there -what??- a place called Needles?? PmaK & I thought On Pins in Needles could be a catchy name for a future shop.

Best sight: The Oil, Lube & Latte service center in Needles.
Best bumper sticker/Tshirt: Mess with me & you take on the whole trailer park.

Tomorrow - the land that gave witness to my birth.