Category: Uncategorized

Tristates Iowa Wisconsin Illinois

11 – 12 June 2018

The Mississippi River! I get so emotional every time I see it! Interestingly I have been to 5 of these 10 must see towns on the Mississippi without realising till now.

I am in Dubuque (rhymes with The Duke)Iowa listening to the bird song mixed with the sound of the huge freight trains. I am getting accustomed to them sounding their air horns day and night in many of the areas I have stayed. Memphis, Goshen and Dubuque being the most noticeable so far. I am so glad I took a day off from driving and chose this spot to sit and enjoy the river reading and people watching.

The Shot Tower was built to produce lead shot in the 1850s with a brewery next door built in 1898 only to be shut down in 1917 due to prohibition. It reopened in 1933. The building is in the Sylvester Stalone movie FIST and an Art Carney film Take This Job and Shove It.

The Mississippi at night in Dubuque.

A daytime video of the above.

A little foggy today.

Dubuque is a pretty town with hills and some houses which remind me of San Francisco.

Diverse architecture.

Another impressive Veterans Memorial.

I came across these black dragon flies caught in a spider web.

And more Amish. This was just outside of Dubuque.

Iowa

10 June 2018

For the John Wayne fans, I stopped at his birthplace museum and his birthplace in Winterset Iowa.

The film, the Bridges of Madison County with Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood was filmed with real historical bridges in Winterset.

The one made famous in the movie was the “Roseman Covered Bridge”

It has its own gift shop.

The oldest is the “Imes Covered Bridge”built in 1870.

The “Holliwell Covered Bridge”.

The “Cedar Covered Bridge” was sadly destroyed by an arson attack committed by 3 local teenagers.

The “Cutler-Donohoe Bridge”.

The “Hogback Bridge”.

I am intrigued by the patriotism of this country. I always thought that the USA was founded at a similar time as Australia however, a band of Vikings date back to 985 as the first to found North America.

They have endured war,on their home soil, with the British, French, Spanish and of course their own Civil War. There is evidence of all their battles in almost every state. There are forts and battle grounds that are reminders of their fight to keep their freedom. Other examples of their patriotism are homes decorated with their flag everywhere. Driving through many towns the flags are lined up as if a procession is to be held.

Then the memorials.

And today I witnessed a man who is running through Iowa to raise awareness of Veteran suicide.

Nebraska

9 June 2018

I had a very special stay in Mayetta Kansas. My lovely Airbnb host, Rose and her husband Freddie made me feel like family. Freddie allowed me access to his man cave to show me his model electric trains.

I said a sad goodbye to Rose and Freddie and on to Nebraska. I was feeling melancholy and was not sure if the driving was getting to me but later realised that it was because I have not been dancing.

After checking into a cheap hotel in Papillion Nebraska, I drove to the riverfront in Omaha as I heard there was an Italian Festival on.

I had one of the best times on this trip. Not only because I got my hit of dancing but I met several wonderful fun people.

Jan and Frank are retirees who are from Omaha but they spend three months of the year in Arizona when Omaha gets too cold.

Dale from Omaha and Nyon from South Korea met 34 years ago when Dale was stationed in South Korea. What fun we had dancing!

Then Peg and her family joined our table. We had some laughs and danced with Peg’s daughter Angie. Then this kind woman gave me a note and angel token which made me feel so humbled.

Thank you kind Peg. Look forward to when our paths cross again and will definitely keep in touch.

This is the only experience I had in Nebraska but I don’t think I can take any better memories from this place. Omaha, the Santa Lucia Italian Festival, thank you.

Kansas

8 June 2018

Leaving Missouri I stopped off at the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn statue.

Up the road a bit is the humble birthplace and museum of the Titanic’s Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Compared to Amelia Earhart‘s wealthier beginnings. This is her birthplace in Atchison Kansas.

The Airbnb I am staying in Mayetta Kansas has twinkling fireflies or lightening bugs as the locals call them. The only other time I have experienced these magical creatures was when I lived on the farm in Brasil. Unfortunately I couldn’t capture them with a photo.

Missouri

7 June 2018

First stop today was in Arcola Illinois to see the Hippie Memorial, dedicated to Bob Moomaw by his wife. Bob was not a hippie but admired the freedom of the hippie culture.

Just down the road I discovered a memorial to the creator of Raggedy Ann and Andy, John Barton Gruelle who was born in Arcola in 1880.

There is a Raggedy Ann Festival here every year in June and it started today. I met 4 avid fans, Diane and Charlie from Indianapolis, Christie from Alabama and Mary from Arkansas. There are several murals throughout the town to enjoy as well.

This mural for the Arcola Candy Kitchen was painted by 5 New Zealand and 1 Australian artist.

Arcola has a population of around 3,000 and it fascinated me how much art and history you can find here. They also have a broom corn festival!

Illinois also has an active Amish community. I love this pic of how they meld with modern day community.

I then drove 4 hours to Hannibal Missouri, the land of Mark Twain. I enjoyed a play “Mark Twain Himself” Actor Richard Garey, the owner of the Planer’s Barn Theatre, plays the role of Mark Twain recounting his story.

I then enjoyed a Mark Twain Riverboat dinner cruise on the Mississippi River.

Illinois

6 June 2018

This morning I left Indiana and their Amish community which does not use electricity and ended the day at the other end of the spectrum.

For my techie friends, I had a tour of the Blue Waters Supercomputer at the National Petascale Computing Facility at the University of Illinois.

This computer runs on 13800 volts, an average household uses 240 volts in Australia (220 volts USA) and the Amish nil.

I arrived at the facility and was advised I had to register online to be provided access and a tour but somehow I got a private tour on the spot 😉

Thank you to Mo who gave me a tour.

On campus at the University of Illinois, I found this interesting and wonder do we have a similar program in Australia? Makergirl.us. Brings 3D printing, Science,Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) to life for girls to start creating anything they want in their lives.

Nappannee Indiana (IN)

5 June 2018

It is so quaint to see the Amish amongst the “English” (that’s what the outsiders are called). Although they are a peaceful community, their way of life is not accepted by everyone. I have always been intrigued by them and here are some interesting facts I learned:

  • their children only go to school to Year 8
  • their right to keep their children out of mainstream schools for religious reasons was upheld by the USA supreme court as the children are schooled in their community
  • they pay taxes but they do not claim pensions or social security as they see this as a form of insurance and they consider insurance gambling
  • only adults are baptised so that they make a conscious decision to live by the laws of the Amish
  • prior to being baptised, young people from the ages of between 16 – 21 go through a period of Rumspringa. At this time the elders turn a blind eye while the young experience everything from alcohol, drugs to sex and a lot of things I know most “English” don’t ever do. After they have “sowed their wild oats” normally around 21 they decide to either be baptised and remain in the Amish community or leave the community. Most remain.
  • The Amish community is the fastest growing community in the USA with a population of over 313,000 which is 150 percent more than 25 years ago. Compared to other religions which have seen a large decrease over the same period.

There are many fascinating facts about this community and I don’t want to judge their ways. However, with the difficulties our society is having with guns and social media (to mention only 2 items) gives us something to think about. Although I am too rebellious to even consider and my smartphone, especially while travelling is my link to everything – my GPS, my booking accommodation, my checking up and annoying my kids, my banking, calendar and of course the social media.

Here is the closest I will get to being Amish. I fail here as well as they are not permitted to have their photo taken.

On a lighter note, I explored downtown Nappannee and they have quirky art scattered throughout town.

This is a scone in the USA. I keep forgetting I have to ask for a biscuit if I want a scone.

I move on from Goshen tomorrow. I have enjoyed it but I won’t miss the continual sound of freight trains sounding their air horns every half hour at least about 20 times. The first time I experienced this was in Memphis and I thought there was some crazy emergency. I have learned from my train trip in San Diego that the horn is sounded to alert people who may be on a grade crossing, of which there are lots in this country and especially this town. Give me Sydney airport with the planes any day.

Michigan (MI)

4 June 2018

Leaving Windsor Canada through Michigan off the motorways, is such a pleasant drive. Returning to the USA the scenery and architecture really moves my emotions. You feel the history here. I have never been so interested in houses as on this journey.

This is a channel in Coldwater MI. I find it difficult to imagine all these areas under thick snow during their long winters. Today it was 24C (75F)

These barns are so cute and are everywhere on this road and remind me of many movie scenes.

Quincy MI

A teepee in MI

And then I crossed into Indiana and came across my first Amish.

The birds have classy homes as well.

I pick places to stay randomly and I am so lucky that every place is so special. Goshen IN is another historical town. I feel as if I have walked into Clint Eastwood’s movie The Gran Torino.

How many gables does this house have! And that is only half the house.

A walk around Goshen.

Goodbye Windsor Ontario

4 June 2018

This was my third time in Windsor meeting up with my cousin Adrian and Great Aunt Luisa. The previous times I was here in winter experiencing a white Christmas once with Carlos and then with Dion.

This time the weather has been mixed but definitely no snow.

I have enjoyed a few days taking it easy with my Great Aunt Luisa.

I spent time with my cousin’s partner, Maria Luisa.

And I went to a Croatian wedding of Marko and Kira, my cousin’s neighbours.

Today I was very excited to hear the sound of the Grand Prix running in Detroit. It would have been exciting to go but I did not realise until too late. Besides I was up until 4:00am watching an exciting game of NRL where unfortunately my Wests Tigers were beaten by the Roosters.

My final photo in Ontario is the evening Detroit skyline.

Windsor Ontario

29 May 2018

Leaving Niagara Falls I stopped at the Butterfly Conservatory. What a magical place this is! I was only meant to stay for perhaps 15 minutes but it was so beautiful I stayed for one (1) hour and could have stayed longer. Many species of butterflies in a controlled enviornment and the only Australian butterfly called the Eggfly (it should have a prettier name) landed on my toe!!

Butterfly video

I drove to Windsor to be with my cousin Adrian. We went for a walk along the Detroit River in Windsor and took a photo of the Detroit skyline across the river. The USA border is only 12 minutes from this spot.

I enjoyed a sunbake at Sand Point Beach in one of the Great Lakes. The water was freezing, a lot colder than Sydney beaches.