Another One Bites The Dust

I have been driving all day today. After listening to the end of a book, I listened to music on my iPod. And there was Queen with Another One Bites the Dust. Love that song. More than that, it captured my day and recent events. The worst is that Clif and Lynda have been laid off from The Times. Horrible. Clif was the last man standing from our Helpdesk. He took care of all executives and their assistants as well as every Blackberry issue at The Times. Lynda worked 6 days a week to take care of IT Security. Gone. I'm not there to miss them, but it does make me sick.

The book I finished was Twenty Years After, a sequel to The Three Musketeers. Mr. Dumas sure knew how to write a gripping story. All four are back, older and none the wiser. Still strong and clever and impeccable French gentlemen. Their feelings about English people are hilarious. They are involved with everything, sort of like Zelig. Cromwell, Charles I and Louis XIV are all involved. Do you have to know the history of the age to appreciate the book? No. Same with knowing the geography. But it adds to my enjoyment. Really liked the book.

I am in my 49th state tonight; New Hampshire. Another one on that list has officially bitten the dust. However, I have a couple of days to explore what makes New Hampshire unique. So far, I have Shakers and Robert Frost on the list. We'll see what else I can find.

Virginia

I suppose that I should put Virginia in here. I'm way up near the top, across the river from DC. I've been here a week now and think I'm getting settled in. I'm staying with my brother and sister-in-law. My room is really beautiful. The house is gorgeous, is surrounded by flowers, and has a vegetable garden.



It's all good, but the last item is very good. During this week I've been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Barbara Kingsolver, her husband and two daughters, decide to live a year on their farm in Appalachia as locavores. They will grow their own food or buy locally. There are a few exceptions. Who can live without olive oil? And there are no local flour mills. So they understand that there are things that don't fit into the plan. But they don't get all tense over it. It's about trying to avoid the cost of processing and shipping food.

The book was read by Kingsolver, her husband and her oldest daughter. That made the book even more enjoyable. She writes about the daily parts of their endeavor; he writes sidenotes, usually more information about a topic she mentions; the daughter gives a teen's views and writes about menus and recipes. Everyone who has read the book likes it, so it's not just about the readers, but I thought they did a good job.

I've tried to do more of this local eating and cooking while I've been here. I get to cook. Hurray! Cindy had a great kitchen, so this is pretty easy. I don't miss much of the kitchen that I left with Adrian, she has many of the same things. Eric bought a new barbeque, I've learned how to use that and will be 'cueing some local meats and vegetables this summer. It is way to hot too do much cooking in the kitchen, but I've managed to do that too.

As we know, LIG.

Pennsylvania

Somehow, we ended our trip with 5 days and 4 nights in Pennsylvania. It isn't a very large state (don't tell them.) But we had two things that guided our decisions. We had a dinner engagement in the middle of the week and a tour of a museum at the end. It was up to us to fill in the middle.

We bypassed Pittsburgh. Sorry Pittsburgh. Karen was reading the guidebooks and looking at maps and it seems that the three rivers, steep mountains and one way streets are daunting if you don't have a darn good reason for being there. So we side stepped it. One of the things we did do was try to stay off the major byways. You only get to see a lot of trees if you take them. Because we did this, we found the Flight 93 Memorial site. This is not advertised anywhere. It is a memorial at the place where the third plane in the 9/11 attacks went down. This is amazingly beautiful country. The road up to the memorial was filled with huge old houses. The site itself is in the middle of fields. I can't even imagine what the locals thought when the plane went down on that day. Most of us were already traumatized when we learned of this event.

Our next stop was Gettysburg. Karen and Peter had never been here before. We took the auto tour through the battlefield roads. Little Big Top is a major site for the battle. On the second day of the three day battle, soldiers were fighting from down below (see left) trying to stay alive while being blasted from on top of this hill. You can see a tour group (see right) in the prime vantage point at the top of Little Big Top.

This outcropping of rocks on the right is that pile of stones in the the picture above it. I don't recall how many men died behind these rocks. It was amazing what they went through. Karen has noticed that many of the sites we've visited have special playgrounds and touristy stuff for kids. Battle fields can be pretty boring if you are too young. We decided that you can give your children an idea of what that day was like by letting them climb all over these rocks. A lot of parents thought the same thing. This place was loaded with families. And, as you can see, it was a beautiful, HOT, day for climbing.

When we were in France a couple of years ago, I wore my hat everywhere. That's because it was always hot. I did the same in India. Karen and I were going to bring our crushable hats because we knew it would be hot on this trip. Here is the one who remembered. The one who forgot bought a couple of baseball caps. The best was from Rushmore. Karen never recognizes me in it. I do look a bit like a farmer.

After Gettysburg, we drove through Amish country. I really wanted to do this, but we didn't think we would have time. Silly us. The scenery was beautiful again. We passed many horse drawn carriages. We found an Amish bakery and left with the question about whether the young ladies were really Amish or just in costume. I'm hoping the former. Karen asked why I had wanted to come here. I told her that I remember they had good food here. Good food has been lacking in this trip. We did find a really good restaurant that served tomatoes fresh from their garden. I also had fried chicken. The freshness was a change for this trip. And even though I stole this picture from a website, we did see men plowing with horses.

Our final stop of the tour was the Barnes Foundation just outside Philadelphia. Anytime we mentioned that we were going here to Pennsylvanians, they were impressed. I was impressed. This place is filled with Cezannes and Renoirs. He acquired a few other Impressionists over the years, but he had hundreds of the Cezannes and Renoirs. The Barnes will soon be absorbed into the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That will be sad. The people who work here are very intuned with the building and the Foundation's goals.

And then we drove to Arlington. And then I started the next phase of my life. So this is goodbye for now from

The Ramblers +1

Going Round the Lake to O Hi O

I usually write my blog posts for a state after we leave. Then I have to get a wifi at the motel that will allow me to download my photos to Blogspot. With our luck, I've had trouble getting wifi connections that are strong enough to allow me to write. That's my excuse for being almost a week late in posting Ohio. We were only there for a day, but it was a very full day.

Our first stop of the day was Wauseon. I know. You are asking, "What could possibly be in this little town?" Do you remember the wedding we went to in May? My niece, Cathie, married this great guy named Tyler. I hardly got to know Tyler at all on that day. All I knew was that he makes Cathie very happy, they now live in Ohio, and she is enjoying her new life in Ohio. Here they are on the left in front of their cute house. They cooked lunch for us on Sunday, one of their busiest days of the week. Tyler is a Youth Pastor at his church, so Sunday is not the best day for them. But it happened to be when we driving through that area.

It was a good visit. I keep thinking about a trip to several East Coast baseball stadiums that Tyler took a couple years back. We passed the Philadelphia and Baltimore Stadia today. It made me smile to think of him watching games there.

We also went to their church. Tyler is responsible for the Junior High School kids. They made this sign for the two of them when they left for San Diego and their marriage. Cathie is lucky to be in the middle of all this love. She's also lucky to be in Waseon. It's mostly farm country and beautiful. One thing we've learned on this trip is that people in the Mid-West are as open as their yards. There is not a fence on most property. All yards melt into each other.

We ended our stay in Ohio at Peter's brother's house. They are in Avon, Ohio. Their house is pretty new and it, too, has no fences. Interesting. Paul and Karen are the parents of Scott, who we saw the night before in Detroit. Their other two children, Eric and Lauren, were at dinner that night. Eric's wife was delayed on a plane coming from Baltimore. Deja Vu. We had a good time. It's always fun to have little ones around. This little one belongs to Eric.

The Ramblers + 1

Tiger Town

My dear friend, Maureen, grew up in Michigan. She has been there recently and suggested that we avoid Detroit at all costs. It is a decaying example of urban blight and can be pretty scary if you drive into the wrong neighborhoods. Maureen also worked at The Henry Ford, only before it became The. This is a museum of all type of stuff and a village with all types of stuff and a tour of an auto manufacturing plant. I really wanted to see this, even though Karen reminded me that it contained the three things I hate the most - heat, crowds and a lot of walking. So, of course, we were going to do just two things in Michigan: visit The Henry Ford and Detroit.

We stayed at a Motel 6 outside Dearborn. This was Peter's first experience at these institutes of traveling torture. We stayed two nights. The first night I was in a smoking room and it exacerbated a sore throat I've had for weeks. We asked for non-smoking, but this seems to be out of the ken of many night desk people. The great thing was that there was a fireworks show several miles away that we could see from our rooms. I don't like being close to fireworks, but I love being miles away. It went on for a very long time.

The next day we went to The Henry Ford. It was an amazing day, weather wise. I was taking a cup of coffee to the car when I felt a few drops. If I'd been in California, it would have been a few drops for a while. But I remembered we weren't in CA anymore and that in this part of the world, a few drops becomes a drenching in seconds. Yes, I moved fast. And I was right. It poured for about 5 minutes. Wierd.

Because of the chance of more showers, we did not go to the village. We wanted to go on the tour of the auto plant, but it was closed. The ticket seller mentioned that it was the change in the model year and sort of muttered something about a slowdown. Duh, of course. Auto makers in the US are in really hard times. It was a shame not to have seen the real deal. But we went to the museum instead.

They had a lot of interesting exhibits, including this car on the left that had been exploded to show its simplicity. The first thing we saw were examples of different styles of furniture. Karen said she never thought she'd go to a museum called Ford and see furniture. But never fear, they also had a lot of cars. They even had a car test dummy that I became friendly with. Karen said it looked like I was being protective, but really, I was just playing with his knee.

We went to Detroit the next day to visit with Scott, Becky and their boys. They are working on every street in Michigan. This meant that the major arteries into Detroit were closed. We were detoured through several areas that I would consider to be less than desireable. But we lived. We were heading toward a place called Greektown. All I knew was that it was or was close to a casino. I did have some hope that we would be eating Greek food, but you never know with casinos. We did have Greek food AND we got to meet these two cute little boys. On the left is Wesley, who was showing me that when he stamps his feet, his shows light up. His brother, Austin, was also delightful. We walked across the street after dinner and found hundreds of Detroit Tiger fans. We found out that the new stadium is just a few blocks away from Greektown. What I saw was not an old decaying city. They are trying very hard to revitalize the city, against huge odds. I wish them well. The part we found was a lot of fun.

The Ramblers +1

Zip - Indiana

The most exciting part about our hour drive through Indiana was getting on the road. When I took my car to the public car park in Chicago, the guy asked me when I'd be leaving. I told him Friday. It was Monday at the time. He did remember me when I returned. But then, he'd been looking at that car for some time. Then he flooded it. I guess sitting for four days, full of low grade gas and ethanol didn't do the car any good.

It just wouldn't start, so I called AAA. The nice man on the other end of the phone walked me through a lot of stuff. Then he asked me if I had a preferred garage. Oh shit. I tried to start the car one more time and it finally turned over. Peter was behind the car, rearranging our luggage or the deck chairs. Poor thing was blasted by all the bad crude that had been building up over the four days. The guy on the phone was as happy as I was. He asked if there was anything else he could do for me, because that's what all Customer Service people do. I told him my hair was looking pretty yucky at the moment; maybe if he suggested going to a salon it would miraculously shape up. But no.

Our drive through Indiana must have taken all of 1.5 hours. It's hard to tell because we were on a lovely freeway and we were in Michigan before we thought to think about it. What I have been thinking about, not just in Indiana or Michigan is the awful things that are happening at my dear old Times.

Doom on Spring Street

Mr. Zell and his minions of idiots announced that they would be reducing the staff by 250 people. 150 would come from Editorial. The other 100 would come from departments that Editorial never notices. We now know that one of those people was the Publisher, David Hiller. It was announced that he decided to leave. The reality was, of course, that he was asked to leave. Welcome to The Times, David. I hope he knew this was hazardous duty when he agreed to take on this step-child of the tribune company.

The 150 from Editorial have been announced. After looking at the list, you can guess who was asked to leave and who raised his hand high over his head and shouted "me, me, me." If you are of a certain age or have another job lined up, the offer is very generous. If you are young and putting kids through school, you would prefer to hold on to the job you've got. I send my far away best wishes to both groups.

My dear friends in IT are now messing with their re-org and disposition of their employment. This is dreadful. Everything I have is crossed, wishing all my friends well. It's just not a happy times at The Times.

The Ramblers + 1

The Lap

We had been on the Road East for two weeks when we arrived in Chicago. Okay, it hasn't been hell by any stretch of the imagination. But I spent that week on the boat being spoiled - remember? And every Motel 6 has been a challenge. So, Chicago. Now that was a totally different story. I love Chicago. There is so much to do. The architecture is fabulous. The food is outstanding. Peter flew in on Monday and will be joining us for the rest of the trip.

So, what did I do? First, let me show you the place where we were staying: The Flemish House. I have stayed there before. I loved it before. It is in the Gold Coast area of Chicago, right across from Oak Street Beach on Lake Michigan. We had the first floor. I was in the studio in the back. Karen and Peter were in the front with a sitting room and bedroom. The studio was the best. I didn't know that, but if you ever stay in this place, you should save money and stay in the back.

I found a grocery store down the street, so I bought groceries so I could cook. Karen and Peter (K&P) came over every morning for breakfast. We ate two dinners in my room. I know. Chicago is filled with fabulous restaurants. We did eat at Bistro Zinc, around the corner from the house. It was okay, but not fabulous. The closest I came to fabulous was a lunch at The Big Bowl on our street. I had a Vietnamese spring roll and a bowl of Thai soup. Num. Just like home.

K&P went out every day and explored the city. They had never been there before and had a wonderful time. I spent most of my time inside my room, but did go out to visit with friends at the tribune. Yes, I have a couple of friends in that dreadful building. I had lunch with Laura. I'd been in India with her and we had been working with helpdesk issues before and after that trip. After a really good lunch at Bandara we met with Erik in the cafeteria. Erik was responsible for IT Security at The Times and moved back to Chicago where he came from to be closer to the action. He's having a wonderful time with the new Zell management. No sarcasm this time. He is the only person I know who has landed in a good spot with that group. The only person. I've just spell-checked this and Zell is not a word. Well, it is a word, just not one I want to put in this blog.

The last night we went to see the taping of the NPR program "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." This is a favorite for the three of us. Our favorite panelists were not on, but we had a good time anyway. One of the panelist, Charlie Pierce, reminds me of my old pal, Dean, from the HelpDesk. He laughs at everyone's jokes and sounds a lot like Dean. Tom Bodett, who leaves the light on for us whenever we stay at Motel 6, was also on the panel. We all like his understated humor.

It was raining cats and dogs that night. The weather has been amazing on this trip. It is usually temperate. When it gets too hot, it rains. Fun. Anyway, this was the icing on the cake for us. We had a wonderful time, each of us in our own way. And we certainly enjoyed our four days in the lap of luxury.

The Ramblers + 1

Taliesin - Frank Lloyd Wright

Since we were not eating a lot of cheese, our main interest in Wisconsin was Frank Lloyd Wright and his home, Taliesin. Madison was our stopping spot the night before our tour of the home. This is, of course, the capitol of Wisconsin. It is also an isthmus. The only isthmus I'd ever learned about was the one in Panama. Teachers are missing a bet by not teaching about Madison. The capitol building is square in the middle of this bit of land. All the streets surrounding it are one way.

Karen and I decided to find some of the homes that Wright designed in the area. We didn't have a very good map. The frustration of driving to nowhere on all those one way streets was overwhelming. Madison was really beautiful: lovely homes and great waterfront areas. It will take me only a little more time to get over the fact that we found none of the Wright homes in the area.

We got to Taliesin early so we had lunch in the museum cafe which overlooked the Wisconsin river. That is the view on the left. The tour is very interesting. The house itself is the third iteration of the building built on that site. Our tour guide was a little skittish about talking about the Wrights' personal life. She did mention the fire that burned down the first house. Bless Wikipedia for the rest of the story.

Wright had left his wife and 6 children for the wife of one of his clients. He built Taliesin for this woman and her children. A fire started and a servent killed many of the people in the house, including the woman and her children. The house was rebuilt, Wright married a second woman. The house burned down again. They eventually divorced and he married Olga, who was his wife until his death when he was over 90 years old.

Wright's buildings leave a lot to be desired. They are always interesting to look at. They always leak like sieves. I don't know why anyone would have wanted one of his buildings. The tour guide had drunk the koolaid, however, and said that you have to accept the bad with the revolutionary. Right.

We spent the night at another great Motel 6. Wisconsin gave us a stunning bon voyage thunderstorm. I don't think I've ever seen so much lightening and rain. We opened our curtains and laid in bed until the storm had passed. It was very quick. This is a whole new type of weather for us California girls. Our biggest surprise was the downed tree next to my car. Thank you, Wisconsin, for not giving us more of a thrill than we were ready to accept.


The Ramblers

Mosey, Mosey, Mosey

Eric and I had drinks up in the top floor lounge while we were on the cruise. We were there to watch the beautiful scenery as we cruised by. Others in the lounge were learning to line dance. One of the steps they learned was the "mosey." I don't remember how it was done, but I keep hearing the woman who was teaching them, "left foot, right foot, mosey, mosey, mosey." Mosey is how I walk and how we have been driving. I tell ya', if we weren't The Ramblers, we would be The Mosiers.

We decided to travel from Minneapolis to Winona, Minnesota via Wisconsin on the Great River Road. The road on the Minnesota side was mentioned in a book I bought about scenic drives in the U.S. This would have been our first road following their directions. But I had seen an article on the Wisconsin travel website about the River Road on their side of the river. I couldn't find it again, but found a better one. It is

linked in both places.

This was a perfect short drive for a busy day on our national highways. The best thing was that I found a travelogue on that website that I could download to my pc and then somehow (magic?) get onto my ipod so I could play it in the car as we drove. E-magic. So as we traveled, historians and old river boat pilots told us about their experiences in the towns along the river, about piloting on the river and about the history of the towns. And it was a beautiful day. What more could we have asked for on the 4th of July? Fireworks?

I've had bad experiences in the past with untrained idiots shooting off fireworks willy-nilly. We avoided my worst nightmare. We somehow found the only town in America that did not shoot off fireworks. Nary a boom or pop was heard all night. It didn't matter. We were mellowed out by the clear skies and beautiful day, the slice of Americana that we had just driven through, and a couple of really good martinis. Remember, LIG. Life IS Good on the Mississippi in July.

Hey, we were in a parade! All the residents of one little town had their lawn chairs, blankets and picnics out on their front lawns. We couldn't figure out why. Karen had me pull over so she could ask one of the families. They told us there was a parade and we were the first thing in it. We both did our queen waves. They told us we needed to throw candy. It didn't look like New Orleans. It was fun to be part of small town America, if only for a minute.

The Ramblers.

Minnesota

Mom was born in Spicer on Green Lake in Minnesota. That's it. That's all we know. We did the best we could. We found Spicer on Green Lake and had lunch. It's what we do. Then we took pictures and tried to remember the stories she had told us. They were few. We remembered the picture with all her sibs next to some farming equipment. Farm? Or did Grampy have an auto shop? Was it in town? Was the farm behind a house on the lake next to the farm? It was fun looking for places. The lake is on the left. We figured a farm, we saw a farm house, but didn't take a picture of it. Everything had grown so much since 1929.

We went to The Mall of America that night and watched a movie, Wall-e, and saw some of what was there. It was amazing. The movie was great, the mall was huge. We almost got lost in the amusement section. Karen and I are two definate people. AND we a both sometimes wrong. It is funny to watch us when we know the other person is dead wrong. This time I was. But we found our car. The picture on the right is Karen by the restaurant where had a good California type dinner. 3 appetizers, one was cat-food cakes. I sent that back. Ended up with very sweet calamari. Don't these folks like food?

The next day we went to downtown Minneapolis and saw the Gutherie Theater (not Arlo, but Sir Tyrone.) It is in the new complex with the old Gold Medal Flour building. Very nice. Good renovation job on the waterfront. You can see the bridge on the right that

collapsed. They are working on most roads and bridges throughout Minnesota. The river was really beautiful. And that is a good thing. They emphasized in the Mill Building Museum that the water is everything. Having a river in early America seems to have been your ticket to wealth. They used those treasures like a sewer. The river powered the saw mills and factories and the manufacturers thanked them by dumping all matter of wast into the river. Shade'. Shame on them. Pillsbury, across the river, found that fish were thriving on the crap they were throwing into the river and decided to see animal feed to the farmers. Tsk.

The museum was very interesting. It told about General Mills and Minneapolis in general. Cute movie about Minneapolis history. We went to the island in the middle of the Mississippi and Karen took a 45 minute walk. That was great for her and good for me. I was able to finish my book. We are still having a good time. Minnesota has been full of corn, corn farms, corn cribs, corny people. Yet. We are enjoying ourselves. Go figure.

The Wanderers.

North Dakota

We passed through North Dakota pretty quickly. After spending the night at Sioux Falls, SD, we visited the falls and headed north. Karen needs to walk as much as I need to sit and read. So she walked all over the falls that morning. It was great for her. It was great for me. I just finished the book I was reading by the falls. More about it below.

We spent the night in Fargo. Karen and I are trying to visit many of the states we missed in the U.S. South Dakota was my first new state. North Dakota was her first new state. We decided that we needed to spend the night in the state to make it a legitimate visit. But there really wasn't anything we wanted to see in North Dakota. So we visited the Hjemkomst Interpretive Center in Moorhead, MN.

This isn't a horrible cheat. Moorhead and Fargo are part of one urban center. Hjemkomst is the result of one man's dream to build a full-size model of a viking ship and sail it to Norway. When he was almost done with the boat, he learned that he had leukemia and died before he could sail it. His three sons and one daughter sailed it for him. It's a pretty moving story. Karen cried all the way through the movie.

They also built a stave church on the property, similar to ones found in Norway. Okay, I'm a little more cynical. I think these people have too much time on their hands. I believe Karen had those same thoughts because she said so about the heads carved by a local guy for the altar. It is a beautiful thing, however. A lot of care was taken.

We realized early on that we needed to watch our money. 4 weeks is a long time for motels and meals out. At first we were going to Super 8 motels. They provide breakfast of sorts. We ate a lot of Raisin Bran. But then we discovered Motel 6. Man, this is the way to live. Sort of clean rooms, a roof over our head, and a cup of coffee on the way out the door. Needless to say, we are looking forward to our splurge accomodations in Chicago. Full pictures with that one. And in the meantime, we'll be leaving the light on for you at our Motel 6s.

This is the book I just finished, Out Stealing Horses. It is beautifully written by a Norwegian, Per Petersen. It was nominated for a Times Book Prize. I've had this book since April. Better late than never. It's about a 67 year old man who is living with his dog in a secluded home in rural Norway. He meets a neighbor and a lot of his past comes back to him. The story jumps all over the place, WWII, 1948, and today. I wish I could tell you how well that is done. It is wonderful. I don't know if people who like mysteries and intrigue will like the book, but people who like a well-thought-out sentence will like it. And a lot of stuff happens. You just have to be ready to hear about it in a very nonlinear fashion.

The Ramblers

South Dakota

I am such a huge fan of the series "Deadwood." This was one thing that I wanted to do when driving east - visit the real town of Deadwood, SD. Deadwood is one of the first towns you see when you drive across the border into the Black Hills. The very first town is Spearfish. One of my former co-workers, Jim Marchant, grew up there. He told me how to find his house and I believe I saw it. What a beautiful part of the country to grow up in.

Anyway, it was fun to see Deadwood. Of course, most of the town that was there during the gold rush is gone. We saw a couple of No. 10 saloons where Wild Bill Hickock was killed. We saw Charley Utter's restaurant, instead of his delivery business. I do believe that Seth Bullock had something to do with this hotel. It was fun to see familiar names, in any event.

The big deal in the Black Hills is Mount Rushmore. Some of you know that I was not drawn to the Taj Mahal. I usually don't like to go to places just because you need to go there before you die. But Rushmore has been calling me since I saw it in North by Northwest. It was a perfect morning. It was really windy. I forgot that North Dakota was known for its winds. A young man took this picture of us, asking us to say "Mount Rushmore" instead of "Cheese." So, I'm not just showing off my great cheekbones. Then we tried to reciprocate, taking his picture with his brother. It was amusing. Karen had never taken a movie and got good pictures of his feet. I had already taken a snapshop of his feet. Oh well.

Karen hiked all over the place. I drank water in the cafeteria that was featured in that movie. Look at the cool lamps they have in there.

We went to the Badlands the next day. I'd never thought much about them. Badlands. Does that sound like something you would like to see? Well, you should. This was a hard country for the migrants who were tempted by free land, but for those of us who want to see a stark, serene countryside, this is a special place. Take a look at the website I linked to above.

Another place that I'd heard a lot about is Wall's Drug Store. This is a masterpiece based on advertising. The owner started to advertise free ice water on signs along the freeway. This place just kept growing. Karen and I went into the drugstore to buy some toenail clippers I'd been pining for. We didn't see all the other buildings that have grown from the original drugstore and cafe. Wall is now a faily large town in the middle of the plain. Advertising.

We also visited a couple of places that were meaningful to Karen. One was the old home of her friend, Modena. The other was the Corn Palace in Mitchell. She visited that spot 26 years ago. The were nice disruptions in an otherwise long drive across the state.