Crossing the Mississippi River
You can’t get sweet tea at a restaurant (ANY restaurant) once you’ve crossed west of the Mississippi River. I verified this phenomenon by asking for it no matter where we dined, even though sweet tea was really the last thing I wanted. Just can't get it..
Dowd's Catfish House, Rt. 66
Dining at places where you knew you’d never eat again made for the most delicious meals.
Route 66 is not one continuous route any longer. Some parts of it are choked out by weeds and the route runs simultaneous with major interstates for a bit.
A Buffalo in Lawton, OK
The wildlife I expected to see during our travels were seen; only they were mostly road kill. An armadillo, a coyote, red squirrel, a raccoon were all by the road, apparently napping.
We really did see a live buffalo, some longhorn’s, and one big ugly spider in Kansas that had his way with me.
Tumbleweeds really do exist and they really do tumble.
There are towns worse off than Huntington, WV.
Conversely, the towns worse off had better streets. No potholes
Charlie & the Survivor Tree
The Oklahoma City Memorial had the most traumatic effect on me. “And Jesus Wept” was inscribed at the base of His statue, where his back was turned to the carnage, as he held his head in his hand. This across from the thousands of trinkets, mementos and flowers hung on the chain link fence surrounding one side of the memorial. Each niche in the wall represented the 168 lives lost in that senseless tragedy. The entire place felt sacred. There was one tree that survived the blast and they had named it (appropriately) The Survivor Tree. It was surrounded by a concrete memorial with the words etched into stone describing the tragedy and the hope for the future.
The
chance meetings had with strangers really were interesting and there were
issues, when only a minute or so was spent, that were universal. Like
Abercrombie & Fitch’s t-shirts about WV.
It was just a moment to connect
and that was one small thing that joined us and allowed us to be free enough
to carry on a dialogue. Even if for a few minutes.
The couple bypassed us on foot coming from the hotel swimming pool and told
us "The Government called, we're answering!" Her husband had been called to
go overseas. They were from Georgia making their way to the west coast so he
could ship out, but she was familiar with A&F...
The Brandy House Opera Room in the Brookville Hotel
In Abilene,
Kansas, there’s a hotel called the Brookville (which really is just a
restaurant now) which has murals painted on it by an artist named Constance
Ernatt from Wichita. Awesome work she did.
The owner of the restaurant had the misfortune of losing her 25 year old
daughter, Brandy, her sister and I think her mother in 1995. It was that
year she learned of spiritual interventions.
It was the
same day she told me about all this I found my mother’s signature in the
guestbook from July 25th; less than a month previous.
Had my mama
not told me about this place, we’d never stopped to visit. What a fantastic
visit it was.
Four corners allowed me to stand in four states at the same time. How cool is that? Can you name the four states? (insert Jeopardy theme here….)
In my opinion, Durango, Colorado and Abilene, Kansas (or near there) are two places I’d love to live. Oh! One more – Colorado Springs.
You’re one
hour from the desert, still in the middle of mountains and four seasons (in
Colorado, at least) and it’s all tourist-y. Rent a Harley. Take a tour in a
Jeep and visit ghost towns nearby. Antique shops. Water, desert, sunsets,
sunrises, mountains…
The tour demanded several climbs of 12 foot ladders straight up and down, a two mile trek uphill, both ways, shimmying through a crawlspace of 18 inches on hands and knees for 20 feet….
yeah, we didn’t take the tour, but we took pictures from afar. So there!
All in all – while we didn’t necessarily take the
off-beaten path, we did do the deed. The deed being going out there. We saw
the Grand Canyon and found so many things between here and there that were
unplanned.
The unplanned being the icing on the cake of our adventure. The Grand Canyon
being the ultimate reward. Standing at the rim of the canyon was the end all
and be all of the trip. I felt so small and humbled. Viewing the gorge made
the remainder of the trip seem so inconsequential. Yet it was still very
meaningful in that the small things (sunsets, birds, trees, a safe journey
from one point to the next) took on new meaning.
I highly recommend a jaunt to the Grand Canyon anytime you can do it.
In any way you see fit.
