Discovering America Days 22-23 – Deep in the Heart of Texas

Posted on July 16, 2016 by crankyoldguy067

TEXAS-Map

When I started putting this trip together, I initially did not plan to go as far south as Texas. Actually, the original intent was to join the old “Route 66” somewhere after getting back past our stop in Indiana, and joining up a Westerly route from Joplin to Amarillo and Santa Fe.

Route66Map

But then, one of my longest standing clients decided to take me up on my offer to help them start “monetizing” their multimedia tools, and meet their staff. He was willing to pay me for my time, and pick up the tab for a hotel, so it was difficult to refuse…even if it meant an 1,100 mile detour to get there and back to Amarillo.

Texas is huge. And Brady, Texas is “Deep in the Heart of Texas” as the song goes. And, it may even be that the song was about Brady…but, I’ll get to that in a bit. Geographically, Brady is about a in the middle of the state as you can get. Which is good…because if it was deeper south, our backsides would have given out.

Day one, of the two back to back “Butt-Busters” began.

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Rediscovering America Day 21- The 8th Wonder of the World…Creepy!

Posted on July 13, 2016 by crankyoldguy067

Maain

When I knew that we were going to be in Indiana, I immediately routed us in a way that would take us to a place that I have wanted to see since our Book Club read a book about it.

“So Cold The River” is a really fun, very scary, historically based book centered around the resort at West Baden Springs, Indiana.  From some of the opening paragraphs, I was intrigued and obsessed with going there someday. Because, any building with a creepy, long history, that was billed as the “8th Wonder of the World” when it first opened in 1902, it had the distinction of being the largest single span dome in the world (until they started building domed stadiums).

The day started out in a spooky, shaky manner…in that as soon as we started heading toward West Baden Springs from our stay in Greensburg, Indiana, it started raining buckets…with foreboding wind that seemed to be threatening to turn into even more severe weather.

Dome-2

But…we got there…and were simply blown away. Continue reading →

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Rediscovering America Day 20 – Small Town Charm and Political Mayhem

Posted on July 13, 2016 by crankyoldguy067

MAP

There is an allure to small town life that is irrefutable. Even the most “hip, sophisticated, urbanite” is drawn to Normal Rockwell’s portrayals of small town life. The pace of life, the constant bombardment of noise and outside stimulus changes people fundamentally. If you doubt me, simply drive across the country and feel the difference between an Interstate Highway and one of the smaller US State highways. As you get closer to the cities, the number of assclowns on the road increases exponentially by the mile, and you are suddenly thrust into a battle for yards, feet and inches (if you are stuck in parking lot traffic when there is a wreck, waiting for it to be cleared as we did coming out of Louisville), that defies reason.

Every patron in this game loses reason…forgetting that the crazy, dodging maneuver that jeopardizes the lives of everyone around them may be saving them no more than a handful of minutes, tops, in the length of their actual commute. But, we all do it. Why? Because it gives us some sense of trying to organize the chaos that is all around us, and rest control from what is seemingly uncontrollable.

Looking at the map above, you can tell that circumstances and choices (mostly to see the Ark in Williamstown and not being able to see our clients in Greensburg, IN until Monday) created a lot of road time. And by the time we got to Greensburg, we were “kinda done” with Interstates through the big cities.

The events of the past week have made me appreciate small town life in ways that I could never have imagined, and sadly, reminded me of the great chasm that exists today in the perception of the chasms that separate us in ideology and way of life.

Welcome to the paradox that is small town America in the 21st century.

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Of Caves, Rocks and Fossils- Another View of Creation

Posted on July 12, 2016 by crankyoldguy067

Dino9

What can you possibly do to match the insanely diverse day in Kentucky that included the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken, The Birthplace of Lincoln, and the Birthplace of a ton of new ideas about our origins?  You just keep the wackiness coming.  And we did.

One of the actual destinations on our spreadsheet/map combo was Mammoth Caves…which as I explained, caused us to drive a couple of hundred extra miles out of our way to see the Ark and then back to Cave City near Mammoth Caves. But rising early for an 8:30 “Tour Time” at the Mammoth Caves National Park (yes…I got my senior discount), we were in line with more than enough time to spare, and headed into the mouth of the “Gothic Tour” (named for the particular branch of the caves, not some dude with black clothes and eye shadow).

Now…we have been to caves before. And Oregon Caves just a bit West of Grants Pass, is truly breathtaking. It isn’t nearly as large as other cave systems…but, it is beautiful, even if we come off as being biased.

But Mammoth Caves?

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