Reflections: strangers on a stranger journey.

There sure is a lot to reflect on here, maybe enough for two entries. I’ll just try to go in some sort of logical progression about things we learned, and things we would do differently, and where we might go next.

The most obvious things are stuff like route, time and accommodations. Although our route was boring on occasion, we (well, mostly I) selected it, and parts of it, for particular reasons. There were people or places we wanted to see, so we went there. What I learned about the upper and central Midwest is, except for certain individual locations, which may be very spread out, there’s not a lot to see or do of the kinds of things we like. We did the Ingalls-Wilder stops because we were up that way anyhow. I doubt I would make that sort of trip again because now we have seen it and now we know. We’re really glad we saw the thirteen states we went through, because we just hadn’t seen some of them at all, and now we have, and we wanted to know what was out there. Joyce has five states left to see, which will largely determine where we go next.

We certainly did the right thing by avoiding cities. We only went into Memphis and Chattanooga, and Memphis wasn’t worth it. We are not interested in “nightlife” or “entertainment” or drinking ourselves into oblivion. We hate traffic, noise, dirt and crowds. These things don’t excite us a bit. Except for airports and necessary evils like finding the VA, I doubt we’ll ever deliberately tour a city again, at least, not in North America. Europe is an entirely different story, but it is so easy to travel there, we will probably delay returning there until our late 70s, because anyone can do Europe. We’ll save what’s left of our youth and strength for the more adventurous kinds of travel we prefer at the moment.

As to the time spent, seven weeks is too much, at least of that type of travel. We’ve decided to limit ourselves to six next time, and see how that goes. A lot of the strain of travel had to do with accommodations, and now we have learned a lot more about those. You know, we’ve been traveling for decades, but that doesn’t mean we know it all, because many things have changed in recent years that make road tripping harder than it used to be, and one of them is mean people. So we now know some things to do to avoid them.

Regarding accommodations, we would pay more for a better quality of service. We would scrupulously avoid certain chains, and deliberately seek out others. We wanted to use La Quinta as exclusively as possible, but they aren’t in all the places we wanted to be. So we learned which chains to avoid, and which are a suitable substitute. The best for traveling with animals is La Quinta. Americinn is the most quiet and probably the most attractive. Holiday Inn Express is the most luxurious. And Belmont is second in all categories. We’re sending them all letters of appreciation with a few suggestions on how to become ideal.

That’s enough for one entry. Watch for another one soon.

See Rock City

Perhaps you’ve seen these signs. They’re everywhere on the way to Chattanooga, like South of the Border and Wall Drug. But we had no idea what it was, and concluded it was a rock shop on top of Lookout Mountain. Okay, color us too lazy to do homework on it, but we had other things on our agenda.

Such as my trip to the local VA. When I called them, I got the place I was trying to find the previous day, and they told me to come back there. That would have been a 200 mile round trip! I said, “Uh-uh. Please get me in here.” So after some dialing around, they arranged a local visit and we went there. Joyce dropped me off and took the dogs to a local kennel. By the time she came back, I was done. Why? Well, it was 11 AM and they couldn’t see me until 4 PM. Laden with pills as I already am, I consulted with a nurse and he said if I could stand it, I’d be better off going home to Tampa, and I should drive there now.

When I got done laughing at that concept and explaining both how we drive, and that no one in their right mind drives around Atlanta on a Friday, he still thought it would be better to go home, even if it took two days. So I bade him a fond farewell and we went to see Rock City.

Consulting our schedule and location, we decided to let the kids stay overnight at the vet, and drove up Lookout Mountain, which as luck had it, was right by our hotel anyway. And on Lookout Mountain, part of which is in Georgia, there are three attractions: Rock City, the funicular, and Ruby Falls.

Did I say it was hot as hell? Well, consider it said and repeated ad infinitum. So when we got to the Ruby Falls visitor center, even Joyce was willing to go into a cave, because they’re cool. If you remember, she backed out of Wind Cave and I went by myself. And again, people problems. Joyce goes up to buy tickets, and an older man is explaining her options. Up comes another man, and the clerk (same age as other visitor) assumes he is speaking for Joyce, cancels her order and ignores her to talk to the man who pushed in.

She went ballistic. I thought she was going to rip his throat out. The fool behind the counter made a sexist, stereotypical assumption because the other visitor rudely pushed in next to Joyce instead of waiting in line. Guess who’s getting a letter when we get home. So after she refused the apology and left, we sat outside for a while, and then I went back in and got different tickets from another clerk.

And eventually we got down into the cave, still in a very bad mood, but Lauren, the guide, was sweet and funny, and it was wonderfully cool and absolutely beautiful. The Falls themselves are among the most beautiful things I have ever seen. You must go. Seriously.

A link to get you started: http://www.rubyfalls.com/

And a few pictures.





The second one was the best I could do in a cave with water spraying all over. But Lauren told us if you google "Ruby Falls" you can find really great shots of every formation in there.

We were down there about an hour in a group of 60, including Boy Scouts from Texas, and while you might expect this to have been torture, they were really funny. In fact, Joyce, who had been so royally pissed off, and rightfully so, ended up shopping for souvenirs! We agreed that we hadn’t seen anything this good since the Black Hills.


And here's a couple more:





But that was only the first half of our experience, because we had also bought tickets to Rock City, and even at that point, we weren’t sure what it was. We thought now it might be a city made out of rocks, like Madurodam in Amsterdam, which is made out of Legos, or something. But we got back in the car and drove up there because we wanted to see the view from the top of Lookout Mountain, and Rock City was at the very tippy top, whatever it was. So back into the car and up the mountain, and into Georgia, to our surprise, and soon we were here:

http://www.seerockcity.com/

Somebody thought it would be fun to enhance Parent Nature, and they did a decent job. It really didn’t need much enhancement, but in order to make it accessible, they may have fooled around with it a bit more than we would if we discovered such a phenomenon today. It’s private, so of course they can do as they please with it. Did I mention it was hot that day? Well, this was the place to be, because when you get down in these crevices and caves, it’s delightful.










There was also homemade lemonade and Dippin’ Dots and other cold things to ingest. Let’s just call it a gigantic rock garden on top of a mountain with some waterfalls thrown in for good measure. We were very pleasantly surprised by the whole thing, and selfishly glad we put the kids in the kennel or else we could not have seen it.

The pools were still unusable when we returned. The “Quality” Inn people shrugged when we complained the pool was still dirty, and the “Comfort” Inn people lied and said those were the legally required temperatures for their pool (hot) and spa (cold). And the reason their lobby is full of flies is that they serve rotten eggs for breakfast. So they went on our shit list, and we went to dinner. Did you know Hardee’s makes a Creamsicle milkshake? Try it soon; it’s seasonal.

Choo-chooing along to Chattanooga

So finally, either a day late or two days early, we set off for Chattanooga. Although, as I said, we had no internet at the Big Crappie, I was able to get a cell phone signal, so we got our subsequent reservations changed to accommodate our new situation.

Again, from the Kentucky border to Chattanooga isn’t that far, but there are a lot of route changes, and again, Joyce drove while I navigated. Driving out of Kentucky into Tennessee we went through some really beautiful scenery, and we were sorry we hadn’t been able to see more of it. So we will go back, but this time, from the Tennessee side. Only got a little lost in Clarksville, and then decided as long as it was on the way, we’d stop at the Murfreesboro VA hospital.

But the fates had other ideas. We followed the one sign we saw to get off the interstate and then there weren’t any more. And we asked directions several times, and either they had no idea or sent us off on a wild goose chase. I have no idea if we ever got anywhere near it or not, but after an hour, we were sick of it and decided to try the VA in Chattanooga when we got there.

Joyce was right about that long steep hill, and it really unnerved her, and I couldn’t drive. Last time she drove it was in an ice storm, so this was a little better. A lot of trucks, but it was clear and hot. Boy, was it hot! A huge change in temperatures once we got out of Illinois, and it stayed hot all the way home. And all the way to Chattanooga, the scenery was just fantastic, and reminded us why we wish we lived in Tennessee. Who knows, maybe someday, if the housing market ever recovers.

Crossed back into Eastern time just before Chattanooga, so we lost an hour, but easily found the hotel. And holy Toledo, what a dump! But as I said below, if it’s a day or two, you’re inclined to endure it, and anyway, it wasn’t so bad on the surface, at least to start. As Joyce registered, I could see the pool and kids were in it, but it looked pretty good to me all the same. We were burning up.
Skedaddled off to our room to unpack and change and went to the pool. Kids gone, pool hot. Moreover, pool dirty, like they don’t clean their filters. They also had an indoor pool, but it was down for maintenance. When we complained, they sent us next door to the “Comfort” Inn, which also had an indoor pool and reciprocal privileges. We went there. Pool hot! Spa cold! We sat in the spa. At least it was clean.

When we left, we told the desk people perhaps they had their temperature controls reversed. We saw that once before, a hot pool and a cold spa, in Tifton, Georgia. So they said they would fix it, and went to change and eat. We were in there for two nights to allow me time at the VA, and we figured we’d check it out again the next day.

And that was pretty much our day. Oh, except the wifi didn’t work and I had to use the hotel’s computer station to catch up, and that’s how I discovered the lobby was full of flies. We wondered why that was, but we found out the next day. And so will you!

Lincoln logs, marble and other building materials

So we came to Springfield because Joyce had never seen all the Lincoln things, and I felt it would make her a better person. Also, there is no clear-cut way to go from Wisconsin Dells to Land Between the Lakes, and this was as good a way as any. Besides, there’s nothing else to see in all that distance. Honestly, I looked and looked.

So the first thing out of our room, I fell and broke my arm, but cleverly, I had no clue this had happened. I tripped on a covered drain under the (lumpy) carpet in the hotel corridor, and thought I had just given myself a good whack. Well, I had. But not being much of a crybaby, I got up and we went on about our sightseeing business. Incidentally, the weather? Just sucked! Cold and raining yet again. Only good thing was, when it’s like that, the dogs can safely be left in a properly-ventilated car.

First stop was New Salem, or a reproduction of it, where Lincoln lived as a young man after he left home. It was, you know, one of those historical recreations, like a lot of the Ingalls-Wilder stuff.




Next stop was the tomb, because we were running late and that’s the most important thing. It was my third visit, and I doubt I’ll go again, but I felt very moved, as usual. I think he was smart and funny and a basically good, decent man. I doubt we’d have a union today without him. I mean, for a politician he was good. If you have any sense of history, and have not visited Lincoln’s tomb, go.







And his wife, Mary Todd, poor crazy thing, losing all those children. Like the Ingalls, there are no living Lincoln descendants. It makes you wonder how many families have totally died out.




Just go. Even if you visit no other Lincoln sites, go there. It is a very moving and dignified and appropriate resting place for the Ancient, as his staff used to call him. And read Gore Vidal’s Lincoln, too, if you haven’t already.

We went downtown next, to where they are recreating a chunk of Springfield as it was when he lived there, before he became president. Very pretty.




We didn’t go in; Joyce has had it with old houses, I think, and I’d already been twice. We walked around and looked at all the markers, though, and then went hunting for souvenirs. How can it be in all of downtown, historic, recreated Springfield, there is exactly ONE souvenir store? And it’s crappy. I got my keychain, though.

Then we went back to the hotel and I nursed my arm and became convinced it was dislocated. But there were no VA hospitals in range, so we decided to go on. After all, I reasoned, when the swelling went down, it would likely pop back into place. And I had plenty of pain pills, so we went to Cracker Barrel, because it’s consistent, and then we packed up for the next day on the road to Kentucky.

Trivia question: In which state was Lincoln born? You can go look it up.