I write when I have a good connection so sometimes that may be a few days. Gina and I are finding our pace on taking care of the van, taking care of ourselves and satisfying our curiosity about almost everything that we see. We are also learning how to attempt to get the Blogspot to do what we want to do. I think the next connection I shall have to take a tutorial...
October 23. Saginaw
Being
It takes some practice just to Be. Letting go of judgement and looking where you are right now. What is offered. But it also helps your perspective on a numbere of observations, physical and psychological.
I pulled into the stop for the night and there was a minimal of luxury. The farm had no bees, The racoons had killed the chickens- no eggs and things were all just a bit down in the mouth.
Okay. Some overnights were bound to not be riverside on graded land (Do I not sound SO hoity toity!!)
That’s okay. Each spot is different. As I slowed down and saw my spot I saw the milkweed lit bt the setting sun, the bluebirds came by. I heard a bird, and applying my app it was a Vespers Sparrow singing in the night. I watched the wild grasses blow and settled.Gina found the deer sleeping spots.
It was a lovely spot but needed me to be In it. So I became in it. And grew thankful and observant. I practiced Being where I was. I will practice being where I am.
Passing thought- Perhaps folks you believe have made poor choices in their lives made the best choices they could in the circumstance they were in. Who are we to judge?
October 23
Departure 11:53 arrival some time around 3 I think
Battle Creek
It is easy to think of American things- like Kelloggs cereal. When I found my journey was going to take me near Battle Creek I thought, well, maybe there is a huge red K there. There wasn’t. It was the quietst town I have ever seen. No one was around downtown. There had been effort made to plant the planters and have public art but they had forgotten to put people in it. Okay it was a Sunday. There were more churches than McDonald’s- or Starbucks (didn’t see one at all, can you imagine? And the churches we Big. Not just large but monumental. I felt as though I was in the middle ages with families competing for an entrance to their heaven.
October 24
Departure 9:30 arrival 2:30
It took a long time to get past Chicago. I needed to be more attentive to Google’s direction as they did not take me to Valparaiso, where I wanted to see the big statue of Orville Reddenbacher but kept me on the busy highway. Gina and I were not impressed.
But we ended up- with no prior reservation at Kankakee State Park near Bourbonnais Illinois. No one here almost. Pretty park, electric hook up, no water.
And for two nights it was $1.11. Really, amazing,
We are near the Kankakee River and there are bike trails, good bathrooms and showers and it is a pleasant spot- except for the rain. The rain came in on the 25th and it rained all. Day. Long… We got our walks in but it wasn’t a joyous occasion. Ran some errands the following day, Gina is having a blast chasing the squirrels. She likes the black ones the best. I think because they show up well against the fallen leaves
October 26
Departure 11:30 arrive 1:30 Pontiac, IL
Pontiac has some lovely parks, murals of Route 66, a couple memorabilia museums and not much else.
That being said they offer their Office of Tourism/City Hall parking lot to Harvest Host members so it was convenient. Gina had a blast chasing the fat squirrels at Chataqua Park (for more about that movement, unknown to me but perhaps should be revived read here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua ). I went to the museum and walked Gina around town. In conversation with a clerk from the town hall I was informed that the big factory at the end of town was a shelving factory, a big employer, also a high security prison outside of town provided many jobs. Hm. I guess it would.
Although the fried chicken at the Italian restaurant was recommended to me I did not go out to dinner. It was a restless night parked in a parking lot. There was some traffic but I much prefer the woods and farms. Yes, I lock myself in every night regardless of where I am.
THe countryside is flat, flat, flat, as far as the eye can see. Miles between corn farms, mostly cut and sileaged so there are long long swaths of flat tan space. It is as different to the East Coast or any country as any space could be. People are shaped by their topography and I can understand why the Midwest seems so different philosophically. The live a life I can barely imagine shaped by nature as designed by man. I can imagine an ancient ocean bed here, now substituted for these shorn fields. It is a wonder that America gets along as well as it does. This is a foreign country.
October 27
Departure 8:30 arrival 1:40 Beardstown
Harvest Host overnight at the Old Homestead Event Venue
I wandered a bit today. Wanted to check out the Cozy Dog Drive Inn. They do make a good corn dog and it was full of Route 66 memorabilia on the edge of Springfield. Like all other towns the strip malls were all on the edge of town
The highway to Beardstown was not crowded and was that flat flat land. The town itself looked poor but then I saw many many Mexican restaurants. Odd. There were signs that it had been prosperous, an Old Opera House, Lincoln doing his community thing at the river. (Lots of Lincoln in this part of the world) A village square. An immigration center. ? Turns out
that the Scripps family- yes THE Scripps family is from this area and started their fortune and hence the philanthrophy and education from Ellen Browning Scripps is from here. Who’da thunk’? I looked up the demographics of the town and because of the p\meat packing plant the town has earned the nickname Porkopolis. From the next town over it was referred to as a “dirty little town”. I thought of the Randy Newman song - Keeping the N__ down and wanted to be a philanthropist myself to make it a Mecca. I also wondered if this was the area that was horrendously depicted during covid requiring workers to overwork, work when sick and on it goes. Man’s inhumanity never ends, it seems.
I stayed at a very pretty farm with a terrific wedding barn- a lot of work went in here and it showed. Lisa, the host, was very kind and explained the set up and the heritage of the farm/ barn. A labor of love to be sure. I did eat, as per her recommendation at Los Charros, a Mexican restaurant in a nearby town.
October 28
Departure 9:00 arrival Hannibal 11
I was listening to my historical car tour app and found out about Quincy, IL where many things happened. It also sounded like they had some pretty amazing architecture. So I diverted and checked it out and they did! It was quite lovely and I drove up and down the streets looking at spectacular housed festooned for Halloween. A pleasant diversion. I thought Hannibal would be the same and we could walk around the neighboods enjoying the day and the ambience.
For some reason I thought Hannibal was going to be a cute little town with Mark Twain-age flair. It is for a couple blocks…. The rest of the town has fallen on hard times. Lovely old houses that hven’t been kept up, Empty stores. Gina and I di go on a riverboat ride on the Mississippi. I thought it was sort of a Twain-ish thing to do. It ws a beautiful day. Not much wildlife on the river. I expect most everything has worked its way south or is on the way. It was a sunny quiet drive and Gina took a nap for the most part.
The hotel I thought I was getting -chiefly for a long shower was decrepit and appeared closed, no caars in the lot and so very seedy. I went to another hotel and that struck me poorly. I went to a Days Inn and it smelled better, had a place to walk the dog and the shower was admirable.
I was going to stay 2 days in Hannibal but there is no reason to so I am heading back out to the State Parks.
I feel as though the Midwest has been resting on their laurels in the countryside. I cannot speak for the cities and these are only observations. What used to be a way of life is no more. The world has shifted and the population here does not appear to have shifted with it. Their town governments have failed them. Their ideologies seem to have failed them and they would rather not see it. I know, I am making generalizations. But these do not look like happy places.
October 29
Mileage 55355
Departure 9:30 arrive 2:30
My mothers birthday and she is much on my mind.
We booked a night at the Meramec State Park near Sullivan.
Passed a very pleasant town- Hermann which was having an Oktoberfest. Very lively. The town had been founded in the 1800’s by a German immigrant looking to establish a utopian Germanic community. Lots of distilleries and farms in this rolling area.
October 30
Mileage 55526
Departure 11:00 arrived Haven Hollow @1:30
I did not feel like going far and wanted to see theWorld’s Second Largest Rocker so we headed out towards Cuba, Missouri and wandered a bit.
Saw the rocker- meh.
Went to Rolla where I had read about the pie shop. They were a good pie shop and I gor a piece of strawberry rhubarb for my dinner and a slice of peach pie for breakfast. After that, it was still a dismal day. I saw two- can you believe it- tractor trailers that had fallen off the road and caused a bit to do. So I decided to stop and found a good Harvest Host Farm farm nearby that took me in. It was a bucolic farm and I got fresh eggs and had a quiet afternoon. We donned our neon orange as it is hunting season and went for several pleasant walks, just chillin’. Good stop at Haven Hollow. Thank you to the hosts.
So you may wonder- what does she do all day- just drive?
No, not at all. My typical day seems to be this so far-
7:00 ish Gina gets me up and we take a short 1/2 hour walk. I make her breakfast and then my coffee. I have a little breakfast of my own. Not much. An egg, a piece of fruit
Before we head out I take Gina for another walk, longer to explore the area. She seems to be comfortable the next morning after she has checked out the smells the day before. If we are on a farm she has sighted all the mouse tracks, deer tracks and other local animals so she feels more comfortable. We generally walk for 1/2 hour or so.
I do daily housekeeping to keep the grit and dog hair down. I have a little rechargeble vac that is very useful,
If we are in an interesting place she can count on me checking out the town and local sights. Sometimes she comes, sometimes not.
We mark our destination on Google maps. On the way I listen to music and a history app that locates where you are and tells you about the local history. I have enjoyed this very much. I even may take a detour to see what they are talking about but it fills in the countryside.
After an hour or so- depending on the day’s plan, I stop at a local park or roadside stand and we take a little stretch. Then we head to where we are going. Sometimes that means a stop at a gas station or even a store to get provisions. Target has a lot of fresh food with more variety than the local grocery store. I got salads that had not expired and other ready to eat possibilities, along with fruit salads, etc. I did not find ready mades in several supermarkets I found.
When we get to where we are going we go for another walk to get to know the smells of the area and settle in for the afternoon. This is usually by 3. I don’t drive long and I don’t drive late. I did this on a long ago trip to Nova Scotia and found the best campsites are the ones found early.We do another walk, as much for her as for me ( I get stiff!) and then have a fairly early dinner. She eats about 4:30. I like to eat at 5:30 or 6 and then can do the dishes and whatever cleanup is required before it gets dark. I have anything from a steak with brussel sprouts to a can of soup, to whatever leftovers I may have, including some pizza Chicago style!
Gina likes a brief after dinner walk and then one after dark- when the critters come out. Very exciting. She is on a leash then for sure. Sometimes I leash her regardless but in strange places she likes to stay close.
If we are in a hotel, which she does not like, I get on the computer, hope for some sort of decent connection and take a long shower, sometimes I get to do laundry down the hall. As it does not center around her, she is not much interested in this protocol.
We turn in for the night in the van about 8:30, when I do my evening ablutions. I even have a waterpik that runs on rechargeable batteries.
I read or journal the day and she snoozes. I wake up around 3:30 or 4AM for a while, looking at the stars through the window and thinking not so deep thoughts. Back to sleep she wakes me up in the morning!
Mileage. 55590
Passed my 2000 mile mark- did not get a reward
It started out as a gray day so I was not inclined to wander.
We entered the Ozarks which couldn’t be more different from the landscape we had been in. Lots of rolling hills, Cattle, sheep and pig farms. Lots of horses. And a flavor of VA but not. It is very pretty. Most of the trees have lost their leaves so it is mostly rich brown oaks that create the colors of the landscape. Lakes are scattered about and there are a fair amount of wooded areas. So different from the flat flatness of Illinois.
I had set my sights on Pomme de Terre State Park, yes, that is the name and we got here fairly early. Beautiful spot and not a soul in sight. I chose the site I wanted, a promontory overlooking the lake and went into town for firewood, a steak and some local Brussel sprouts. A quiet afternoon with a couple of walks and a few squirrels, not many, much to Gina’s dismay. No neighbors around, Woodpeckers, bluebirds and an owl entertained. It was a low key day.
And that wraps up the Midwest. I am heading into the South Central states. This blogspot app seems to have a mind of its own. I hope things come through.
