Day 11-Running the Mississippi

Tags

Americans, Amtrak, Cozy Theater, Empire Builder, Heartland, John Acurso, Lodging, Midwest, Minnesota, Photo, Photography, Road Trip, small town, Travel, Wadena

Perham, Mn-September 11, 2009

Today, I made some great progress, ending up a bit further than I had expected–due to hitting rain forecast for today and tomorrow–when I came into the St. Cloud area.  Since this wasn’t a prime area for the trip, I figured skipping through, rather than waiting it out, was a sign of better judgement!

My stay last night was really quite nice.  There is a sort of peace and serenity to these little towns.  You can stay somewhere you might not feel comfortable with otherwise and just not need to worry about it.  The Sterling Motel was set off the major highway and a little worse for wear.  The room was clean and the bed comfortable.  I got the last non-smoking room (complete with two ashtrays on the desk)  and since I was alone, got $5 off since it was a two bed room.  The tub also had an interesting row of cigarette burn marks along the edge facing the toilet.  Given its size, I have never seem more furniture jammed into a room in my life!   But it was really a reasonable room for $40, especially when you are only in it for 9 hours.  Now comparing that to the room I have tonight, a Super 8 here in Perham, even with the 8 foot couch, king size bed, desk, table and dresser, I am trying to figure out if they hold barn dances in here.  This room is huge–and the only thing available around.

The morning was foggy, so I stopped to eat early, in Kellogg, Mn.  A pretty small town, but the cafe was hopping with groups coming to town for the weekend’s Watermelon Festival.  The cafe was filled with folks wearing watermelon t-shirts and hats.  I got a short course on local history from Loren, including the viewing of some early photographs of the town.  Janice, my waitress, was a bit of a firecracker.  When I left, her mother’s walker (she comes down every morning) was sitting by the door, out on the street with her bag still on it.

Lock and Dam #2, Mississippi River

I moved along the Mississippi most of the day, but at Hastings, moved on through the Twin Cities and expected to pick up the route again in St. Cloud.  Unfortunately, I hit early rush hour in every city, including St Paul and Minneapolis, and prime rush hour in St Cloud.  In the latter, I met my first real jerk of the trip, a “seasoned” driver who was not going to allow me to merge where the construction demanded it.  Everyone was nicely weaving the lanes together.  He lurched ahead as I started to move over and as I looked over at him and without actually looking at me, shook his head “NO”!  Fortunately, being in a vehicle twice the size of his, I was in a good mood and decided to move in behind him and allow his victory for the day!  But this attitude and the rain gave me no regret that I would be moving on through this area.

The rain broke near Wadena, Mn and although I had thought about going on, there was just something here I wanted to stay for.  I had seen a motel on the road that intrigued me and so I drove downtown before returning.  I guess timing is everything.  As I drove downtown, there was the Cozy Theater, an incredible example of old theater excellence.  One of the nicest old neon signs I have seen yet and it was dark enough  to see its glory with the sun setting behind it.

One of the things I had noticed back in 2005 when we travelled the Empire Builder route through here was that the signage quality changed dramatically once we left North Dakota.  There were many great old signs through Montana and North Dakota, but when we got to Minnesota and Wisconsin, it seemed that everything turned to crap!  Once in awhile you would see a fine old sign, but mostly it was plastic signs done by someone who took anti graphic design classes or someone who had reccently discovered poster board and Marks-a-lots!  We had skipped most of the area where I am now due to the job requirements, so it is nice to again be back in places where quality signage is still appreciated.

So, back to Wadena, my hunch was right, unfortunately, a wedding and a class reunion had taxed all the rooms for the night and I had to move on down the road in the dark!

all rights reserved © 2009 John Acurso

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Day 6-Moving Forward

Tags

Burlington Iowa, Dirt Roads, Heartland, Iowa, John Acurso, Landscape Photography, Midwest, Photo, Photography, Road Trip, small town, Travel

If there was one thing I didn’t calculate into this trip, it was the energy it would actually take.  Driving alone, navigating, hopping in and out of the truck,  and photographing all day is hard work!  By the end of the day, I am finding myself to be pretty exhausted.  I thought the first two days were because of the long drive and then dealing with a breakdown, but now I realize it is just the full day schedule. Probably that and the fact that I am not eating much with trying to catch up on the schedule!  My hope is that I will soon get used to it, but because of that, my posts will probably be shorter and I may miss a few days here and there, even if I have internet.

Today, I drove about 276 miles, which was about 216 as to progress forward, about the extra I expected for actually looking around and the occasional getting lost.  I was on the road for about 14 hours.  About half way through the day, I realized that I was not traveling between towns as I would have liked.  The gps was throwing me onto the highway, which is US34 through these parts, and throwing me up spurs to the towns.  I was missing the dirt roads between.  So, I rerouted myself while at lunch, in Chariton, IA to follow the back ways into towns.  So, instead of pavement, I was on dirt and gravel.  A variety of surfaces and sometimes no surface!

One of the few "brownish" roads, most are stark white

Sometimes they get a little dicey--and this wasn't the worst!

My day ended in Burlington, IA, and I skipped a couple of towns to get here before too late, but the light was pretty much gone anyway.  Stayed in a nice little motel, the Arrowhead Motel.  So, I sit here on the Mississippi and leave Iowa for Illinois as almost my first activity of the day.

all rights reserved © 2009 John Acurso

Day Two: The Take Down

Tags

Americans, California Zephyr, Car Trouble, Crete, Exeter, Fairmont, Hebron, hospitality, Midwest, Motels, Nebraska, Omaha, Road Trip, small town, Strang, Travel, World's Largest Porch Swing

Omaha, Nebraska — 9/02/09 — I slept really well last night and woke up to an overcast morning. Well, that and a faint, funky smell which intensified when I opened the door.  A poor skunk must have met its fate on one of the roads nearby.  I have actually noticed that roadkill is fairly prevalent around here. Today,  I drove past several unfortunate creatures including a badger, a red fox, a deer, several raccoon and a few that were no longer recognizable.

World's Largest Porch Swing

This morning, I decided to go back into downtown Hebron and make a few photographs. Hebron is the home of the world’s largest porch swing and I decided I needed to get a photograph of it. Now, is a porch swing a porch swing if it’s not on a porch? The world’s largest porch swing is situated in the city park, a block behind the Main Street, and set on a structure akin to a swing set frame. It is definitely large and probably wouldn’t fit on many porches. So maybe I will cut it some slack here, besides it was moved to the park from another site.

Driving up Highway 81 towards Fairmont, there was an old schoolhouse off to the side of the road.  I made pretty quick detour to go see it. This was the Strang schoolhouse. On the way in, I didn’t even notice the “Historic Town” sign, but drove on up the road into the town I could see ahead. The road was paved up to the school but quickly turned to dirt. It was a very small town but oddly the roads were paved again when I got to the other side, where I would have headed out between fields of corn. It just made me wonder if there’s  city and county road politics even out in the middle of nowhere.  Anyway, there wasn’t really too much to the town other than a couple of small buildings from the early 1900’s, including the town hall.  The small size of this building gave me a good idea that this wasn’t ever too large of a community.

I finally got to Fairmont at about 10 am, after a few more stops. One of the things I have noticed in most of the towns along here, except for Strang, is the brick pavers used on the main streets.  Sometimes these extend to other streets, but are always on the main business street.  The other cool thng I have noticed is that each town lays the intersections slightly differently.  Some are diagonal, some are diagonally laid in quadrants, some herring bone style etc. Here in Fairmont, the streets are paved with bricks, except the main business street, which is asphalt.  I wondered if maybe the street had been paved over, due to wear and later did notice the bricks underneath where the pavement was broken or hadn’t been laid to the edge of the street.

Fairmont is the town that marks the beginning and ending of my loop around the western United States.  Although there were several cars along the street, there weren’t any people out. I really had been looking for a place to stop and eat, but I didn’t notice any cafés and decided to just get out and take some photos before moving on.  It always takes a few days to get into a rhythm when I am photographing for myself and it is best to get out and just walk.  After walking around for about 10 minutes, I heard a voice behind me calling out. It was Wanda, the local librarian, and apparently, she also gave tours of the two local museums. She had noticed me and figured I might be interested in some things she knew of in the area.  Wanda was very helpful in directing me to the local café, up the street, and also told me about the old air base a few miles out of town. Apparently, some of the training for the Enola Gay crew was done here.

A great meal was had at the Main Street Cafe and I met a few of the local folks, including Marty, the owner.  Now, feeling energized,  I decided to head out to the airbase.  Apparently, the old hangers are now used for storing various farm products.  As I drove out, I bisected two of the old runways.  Although some neglected pavement was still there, corn fields and buildings interrupted their former path in various places.  One runway, the one running north to south, was still there and appeared to be in use for local traffic.  I wandered around for awhile, taking a few photos of the hangers and the old runways.

As I moved on, the weather was still pretty overcast, with occasional sun breaks, and the wind was now picking up pretty good.  While driving through Exeter, the Tornado Warning siren went off just as I was approaching it.  I couldn’t believe it, as things didn’t look that bad!  Because the siren rotates and I didn’t realize what it really was at the time, I started frantically looking around to see where the “emergency” vehicles were coming from, I felt surrounded and yet nothing was in view. As I passed the fire station–no activity–I noticed the tower with the siren rotating as it finished its wail and realized what it was.  Apparently, the weekly test of the emergency broadcast system!

One place I just had to look for on this trip, something I discovered in my searches on the internet, was the Crete Inn!  Now, you have to expect that anyone naming their motel like this would have to have a great sense of humor.  The website gives a sense that there would be a nice, bucolic setting in the country-side with little cottage like rooms.  Of course, after just glancing quickly at the first photos, you notice that there are different architectural styles and the photos are marked with something like  “not actual photos of rooms, to be replaced” and the “Corbis” watermarks still on some of the images.  OK, it is a rural area and maybe these people don’t know about copyright and they are just getting a business going etc etc etc.  Well, as I entered the town of Crete, there it was.  One of the ugliest motels I have ever seen in a very industrial setting.  One of those two story jobs, painted dark brown, that was probably part of a chain operation that went bad or upgraded to the current box style establishment.  Anyway, the sign was hoisted 40 feet in the air and there was nothing quaint about it.  Suddenly, the name just seemed to fit the place.  It isn’t even one that would get a second glance from me and my search for economy housing!  Ok, I am being hard, they are probably really great people like you expect here in the midwest, I was just pretty disappointed.

Well, all was going so well today, except for the Crete Inn.  I had just pulled off the road in a desolate area for a moment and as I walked around the car, there it was!  A radial splatter of gear oil all over my left rear wheel, an axle seal or something had blown!  Hey, a road trip isn’t a road trip without a breakdown, but on the second day!!  Fortunately, everything “sounded” ok as I drove and I was only a few miles outside of Omaha.  I called the local dealer and took the truck in.  Of course, one of the downsides of driving a 1993 vehicle that is only one of 500 brought into the states, is that parts are scarce.  The dealer had one possible seal in stock and two not–a couple of sub $10 parts that would have to be ordered.  But it was the end of the day, so unless I get real lucky, I will be sitting in my Super 8 here in Omaha for the next couple of days!

all rights reserved © 2009 John Acurso

Day 1, The Transition

Tags

Heartland, Hebron, hospitality, John Acurso, Lodging, Midwest, Nebraska, Photography, Road Trip, small town

Hebron, NE-9/01/09–As planned, this was to be a driving day — traveling through four states and completing 10% of the nominal mileage of the trip and arriving at my “jump off” point of Fairmont, NE.

Up at 5 AM, I was ready to leave the house at about 6 AM, but decided to have coffee with my wife and push back my arrival in the Fort Worth area, slightly, so that I might miss rush hour there. As it turned out, this plan was pretty effective as I only had one small delay right at the downtown exit.

Most of this driving was directly up Interstate 35 and then, at Wichita Kansas, up I135/US 81. I ended the day covering 767 miles, at Hebron, Nebraska.   I decided to stop a bit short as I was rather tired and I had my doubts I would find accommodations further up the road in Fairmont–based on my internet searches.

One of the "piles"

Other than stopping for gas, a sausage egg Mc Muffin and a bean burrito, there was only one other detour along the trip near the end of the day. There was no way I was going to miss Rock City in Minneapolis, Kansas. There are actually lots of photographs of this place on the Internet and they just intrigued me. To go somewhere that essentially looks like a very large dinosaur passed through and left some road apples right on this spot. If the Internet is to be believed, this is the only place on earth where you can see such a large number of these odd formations. Driving up to it, I  was a little disappointed as you first come across a sparse collection of some very small formations. But as you drive up the hill the larger and more concentrated field comes into view. Still, not a large area, these boulders appear to range up to 15 feet tall or more and I understand the largest is 27 feet in diameter. You really do feel like you’re walking among dinosaur feces as you stroll across the nicely manicured lawn (the lawn kind of spoiled it a bit, but I suppose it keeps the rattle snakes in better view!). Of course, like any public place, everyone seems to think that such natural forms are there for them to practice their writing. I was glad I stopped here, as it was a very nice drive through some beautiful homes in the Minneapolis area and I enjoyed going through the old town.  The rocks are actually quite interesting as, when you survey the area around them, you realize that these really are an oddity for this area.  Nothing else like them, or even close, can be seen in the area–just farm land.

As I said, this was a driving day and essentially the antithesis of what this trip is about. Tomorrow, I will start my slow meandering along the two-lane highways through the small towns in Nebraska and Iowa. Traveling up I-35, I realized why I really don’t like these roads. Although there is some beautiful scenery along the way, the only civilization one sees is the modern atrocities that these interstates have fostered. As I came into Oklahoma, there was a shopping center (not sure if it was under construction or remodeling) but I probably have never seen anything as ridiculous in my life. The architecture was broken up into approximately one hundred foot sections with one corner being ” Big Ben” style London followed by the Roman Coliseum with its broken facade, a medieval castle and then  by things I just don’t care to remember. It was such a hodgepodge and gave me the sense that we must be considered such imbeciles that we need to be lured by an amusement park atmosphere just to buy some new underwear.

As I drove through the countryside in Oklahoma and Kansas, except for a short flat area, the scenery was actually very nice. The red soil in Oklahoma was at times breathtaking.  I came to the conclusion that Kansas and Oklahoma are places I would like to return and explore. There is so much history here, of the old West, that would be nice to take time to visit. Some of the towns that I passed, included one that was considered the wickedest city in the west–Newton, Kansas–had interesting histories and appeared to be little changed in many years. And then there was the town where Boston (Thomas) Corbett, the soldier that shot John Wilkes Booth dead against orders, had lived. This man was such a fanatic that he castrated himself with a pair of scissors in order to avoid the temptations for prostitutes. (I have to admit that some of the Hookers that used to hang out in front of my old photo supply store in Hollywood might be worth avoiding using such extreme measures!) He lived in Concordia, Kansas– essentially in a hole in the ground. Boston aside, Concordia actually looks like a very cool place to visit and I was sorry it didn’t have more time to stop, but fatigue was starting to set in about the time I passed it.  Fortunately, I got a good look at the town from the highway and will stop on the way home if I come back this way.

Here the sign has been lit so that all can see!

My first stop, here in Hebron Nebraska, was at the Wayfarer motel. As I drove into town, there were two motels–one on each side of the street –a Budget Host and on the other corner, the Wayfarer. I drove on into town to check it out and to see if there is any more options.  Since there weren’t, I drove back after riding along the cobblestones of the historic downtown area. The Wayfarer appears to be a 1950s style motel and it was hard to actually know if it was open or not. But part of my quest is to find these little out-of-the-way places and avoid the cookie cutter chains. From the outside, the motel was not very inviting.  But I drove in the long driveway and into the parking area, where there was only one other car.  As I reached the back of the court, I saw the neon”open” sign in the office window. An Asian man greeted me and sent me into the office door.  He did not speak much English and had his young son (7 or 8 I would guess) translate some of my questions for him. He told me a room would be $33 for the night. I asked to see the room and was taken to a sizable and relatively attractive room. As I opened the door there was a bit of a smell of cleaning solution, however, it was faint and dissipated very quickly as I looked around the room. Everything was very clean, the bed firm and all in all a very comfortable room. The bathroom had nice vintage tile that was spotless with nice clean grout.  Nothing else about the place, the pool, which obviously hasn’t been used in a while, or the entry sign gave any indication that the place would be as nice as it actually is. When all you’re looking for is as a room to sleep, an Internet connection and a shower, this place certainly fits the bill. After I checked in, I was offered a soda and a bottle of water and was given directions to where I might find morning coffee, at 6 AM!  Everyone was very helpful and courteous.  (Note added in morning: The bed was very comfortable and firm and I slept very well, thank you!)

A very nice room for the night

Needless to say, I’m exhausted and look forward to hitting the sack and to this start of my adventure “Across the West” in the morning.

Strangers in the Night

Tags

1960's, hospitality, John Acurso, Lodging, Midwest, Motels, Nevada, New Mexico, Photography, Road Trip, Route 66, small town, Travel, Wisconsin

One of the great joys when traveling along America’s highways is when you need to look for the nights lodging. Yea, right!   We all know it is a big pain in the ass.

Nicely maintained oldy in Wisconsin Dells

With the advent of the superhighways, it seems like there has been a strategic effort to place an abundance of chain motels at the highway exits.  This way,  you will never have to venture too far off the road and actually mingle with, dare I say, locals.

So as evening approaches, we dig out our AAA guidebooks or just pull off when we see that big “Comfort Days Super Holiday 6 Inn” sign looming off in the distance, at the next exit.   I am totally convinced that all of these motels are now owned by the same family, although it is apparent that they didn’t all pass their hospitality classes with honors. But these are easy and for the inflated price you get a reasonably clean room and a bed with variable degrees of firmness. Of course, most of the time the variations are randomly placed throughout the mattress.

Quaint little cabin complex in East Glacier

At least the AAA books, and some of the other travel guides, will sometimes direct you into an actual town that lies off in the distance– those places you weren’t supposed to venture off towards.  Most of the motels that can be found like this are the remnants of the days when people travelled on the old two-lane highways.  Those great roads that ran between and through small-town America. The motels listed in the guide books rarely offer the best deals, however, at least they give you an alternative to the sterile atmosphere of the roadside enclave.  Of course, while searching for the Ponderosa Wigwam Motel, you pass other great old motels that aren’t listed, look way more interesting and offer even better deals.

Admittedly, searching these motels from the ’60s and before is not for everyone. In fact, I won’t mention his name, but Carl about mutinied on me when we stayed in some of these gems while doing our Amtrak work.  I have to admit that there were some that were certainly substandard.  The worst of these was really the only game in town that night.  Since we were in the middle of nowhere, literally, we just made do!  Carl’s first room had a slow gas leak, so they moved him next door so the impact would be a little less direct if it blew.  I actually slept fine–in a different building–but then I have been known to sleep most of the night, on the floor, in front of a guitar amp pumping out music at full blast from a record player that was piped through it–Sorry, I realize some of you will have to probably google “record player“.

A Winnemucca gem, maybe Nike will want this for an ad!

Now, I don’t want to start this off in a negative way, but I do believe I found the worst of my many trials this past summer.  I was coming into Winnemucca, seems I go there a lot, and wanted to stay in a motel that I had been at a few years earlier.  It turned out they were booked, but the motel next door, which they also managed, had some rooms available.  The woman warned me, but I am always up for an adventure.  The picture here shows the size of the cell.  None of the windows locked, but at least the crack whores didn’t seem to be too busy that night.  No, I am not kidding, the manager mentioned something about the local meth addicts or something of that sort.  There were several rooms that only had plywood doors on them although mine had a real door.  I won’t even show the other photos of this room, as I realize some of you might be eating now.  The biggest question your asking yourself is why did I stay there and, in reality, I just think it was because I knew I shouldn’t!

I could probably go on and on about the various experiences of staying at these motels over the years, but most of the time they are good stories.  Some great finds in the last few years have been along old route 66.   The Palomino in Tucumcari gave the 3 of us a room larger than most apartments and was going to be $32 for the night.  We ended up getting an extra $3 off the room because we didn’t want the complimentary sodas we were offered!

Then there was the La Loma in Santa Rosa, NM.  I stayed here a few nights after my wonderful Winnemucca experience, so I was adamant about checking out the room– I actually checked out the room in Winnemucca and stayed anyway!  This is where I met Eddie “no money” Shields.  Now asking Eddie to see a room is really pretty much a take your life in you hands sort of proposition.  As soon as I asked, he went into a litany of why I didn’t need to see the room or worry whether it was clean.  That he cleaned it himself and that it had a new mattress, a remote control A/C unit, a new color TV (do they make b/w’s anymore?) and he would guarantee my satisfaction!  He, maybe not so tactfully, let me know that this place also offered good old American Hospitality–see the sign!  (I suppose one could hope that that was an euphuism for a friendly visitor to your room, but this wasn’t Nevada and I think it rather was directed towards that family that owns all those chain motels) I was worn out by the end of it and was actually starting to laugh, not at him, but with him.  I paid for the room and since I was in a moving van, he directed me to the far end of the place, a second building with larger parking spaces.  I was told to park over the gravel pit, a remnant from the old days that was designed to catch the dripping oil from the cars and keep it off the asphalt.  So, I drove down there, parked and went in my room, I was the only one at this end of the complex.

"Monkey Man" enjoys the spacious room at the Palomino

A few minutes later, after getting settled, I walked out to get some dinner.  There was Eddie, waiting.  I hadn’t parked right, I wasn’t within the lines and was on the gravel, not OVER the gravel.  I looked around and wondered what it mattered, but I dutifully moved the truck to its proper position.  Although I might have been ready for a good argument, I realized that it would have been futile.

It was then that Eddie let me know that he was probably related to Brooke Shields, seeing how they had the same surname.  But then, that would only be a distant relation since Shields was his adopted name and that he was actually more likely related to Garth Brooks since Brooks was his birth name.  Somehow, he also was possibly related to one of the Hogan’s Heroes actors, the French guy I think, due to his mothers lineage.  I also learned that he has a credit on the movie “Cars”.  If you go to the La Loma Motel website, they describe Eddie as quite a character and they are right.  He was a great sport and I made some really nice photos of him in front of the place.

So, in a couple of weeks, I will be off and I am looking forward to about 30 nights of hunting for these great old places.  I am sure there will be some winners and some losers, but there wont be another one like in Winnemucca!

Eddie at the La Loma, Santa Rosa, NM

all rights reserved © 2009 John Acurso