6.20.2003
At 21:30 Thea Gilien writes:
Two days have already passed since we swooped in from Dixon, Illinois (which I only this minute learned is the "Petunia City". Way to go Dixon!), rammed into (and around and around and around) the O'Hare airport loop to pick up Rob/ro bert/Robbie Thorpe and slid into Chicago.
In brief:
Catherine and Thea end the Heartland Jag by picking-up Rob/ro bert/Robbie and heading to the tony digs of friends Daniel and Tom. A very soothing meal of noodles and hibiscus iced tea and finally some friggin' Diet Coke at Big Bowl and then fidgity giggling in bed before sleep at last. We awoke the next morning for a healthy breakfast (a marked first for a certain pair of gals) and then the Thorpe siblings piled in and headed on out! No circuitious meandering for them - oh no. Thier drive west is as straight a line as they can make it. In ten hours on Thursday 19th, Catherine and Rob had driven from Chicago (CHA!) to west of Lincoln, Nebraska - even while stopping in Prophet's Town - why and where....
Details of that leg of the trip, as well as everything else since Grand Junction, Colorado to come as soon as the gals can get it together...
In the meantime here are some raw notes and a few links, merely for illustration, shoved through the mojo wire. You can read them and sense perhaps, what was vital and memorable stayed in the collective mind while exploring our vast and majestic American Heartland. Or not. You might want to eat a few Tums before you get started.
Colby, Kansas
The Village Inn - most excellent crepes with cheese sauce biscuits/gravy - hashbrowns of golden delight
cinnamon bunnnn of wonder
Liberal, Kansas
Dorothy's House http://www.cityofliberal.com/thingstodo/attractions/dorothy.html
Chatted up the Dorothy docent and Learned how to answer certain questions with a "study guide".
Dodge City, Kansas
PANKCAKE house good ranch dressing on the salad - but that was about it. Why were so many waitresses missing so many teeth?
Peppercorns a bar - many photos of this evening were deleted to protect...everyone on the planet, really.
Shoot out at high noon at Boothill - think Wyatt Erp and Bat Masterson. Think saloons with those doors you can swaggar through like Gary Cooper or Marlene Dietrich
Thea deputized by the local marshall "I am the law now, boys."
Seline -
Martinellis: great service and hangover-friendly pasta
indefferent and sadly overated "mt. vesuvius" chocolate cake (so sad when one is excited and anticipatory for the entire meal a promised treasure of chocolate flavor sensations - and then tastebuds disappointed - culinarius interupptus?)
Riverfest
"Ohhh, you've never been to riverfest?"
Drive to Kansas City, Missouri - what happened?
Quarterage Hotel- breakfast = excellent
Westport: chocolate cake redeamed!
al fresco cider/camparis and a nighttime amble
Next day:
KC City Market
hot n muggy!
olive oil soap from a middle eastern stall
"we use it everywhere", Catherine was informed.
"??"
"we use it on our hair"
fucking royals
ueberfucking royals' fans - booing Barry Bonds out of jelousy and fear. Royals fans are dumb.
beer & brats tasted as good as the Royals sucked
krispy kremes
quality KC bbq
lemon freeze - refreshed the mind but did not freeze the brain - Tangy!
jackknife truck
Walmart columbia MO and a massive cleaning/reorganization of the Isuzu. Diet Coke Machines.
Hannibal, Missouri - one time home of Mark Twain
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please."
too late for dinner
walked 15,000 steps up a very steep hill,/I> to a closed light house
great bookstore
Steamboat Cafe - lovely pickled beets and a potato salad that didn't need to be so sweet. It just didn't. Questionable cheese sticks. Diet cola that still wasn't coca...
up the river
Nauvoo
Our religious experience: a blue cheese, balogne, dinner rolls, pastries and peanut butter fudge picnic at a beautiful roadside along the Mississippi.
Burlington, Iowa
Nowheresville, Iowa: mile 2972 74mph in a 55 zone. Uh oh!
Omigodomigodomigod
Pella Pella Pella
Catherine: "everything here is suspect"
restaurants that offer no breakfast after 10:00 AM. What th--??
christian radio oozing from places of business
sundae/floats were a magnificent dinner -
cookies and their crowns of brite brite frosting soothed the pain, only a bit, of the utter weirdness, the stepford wives feeling of it all.. definately more detail to come, fear not.
Pleasantville, not
-for godsake, the sign said "Pleasantville - Trust us!"
ohhhhh, I think not, thank you very much.
a cemetery and a silo
Amana Colonies, Iowa fresh beer and a very good cheese breadstick
"dankeshoen!"
endless search for a perfect riverfront fantasy
we bet and lost Iowa City, deciding to continue on in search of the ideal.
Instead:
worlds largest truckstop
and.....
the utterly dreadful, repulsive, ghastly, plain old icky Quad Cities
circling, looping, ever circling - where is that goddamned twinkly light avenue along the charming river???!!!?
where are the cafes? the little bars where two gals can go in and order a drink and simply enjoy a drink? the fricking gazebo with a jazz combo and the deliriously good vibes? where?
all we wanted was to be there in the morning for the John Deere Pavillion
Dixon, Illinois - reagan
Grand Detour John Deere
Oregon
lost in Rocport
O;Hare Robbie who immediately asks for a snack in the groove!
Chicago
Host Daniel calls Thea's Mother and moves to bedroom to speak privately - what about? why? what? why?
CHA!!
"let's not go *there*"
"done"
"well......here we are"
"hold on!" mr. texas tea
"diamohhhnds" el diablo
the huge list of all the places we chose not to visit/eat in/stay at
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Want more?
Read the Heartland 2003(TM) archives
"Itinerary"
Ha ha ha -- riiiiiiight
June 9-10 at the fabulous Imperial Palace Hotel/Casino, Las Vegas
Note: Itinerary after this point subject to change when we win ... $4 MILLION!
June 11 at the Best Western Horizon in Grand Junction
Rationale: We must schedule to leave Vegas or we won't.
June 12-18 in the Heartland
June 18: Chicago! Cha!!!
Coolio
Here are some related sites:
Avoiding speed traps
Virtual roadtrips
Roadfood
The fun begins at the exit ramp
U.S. Highways
More of our favorite links
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