Mom took notes on this trip while I did the driving, so the outline is hers, the fill-in is mine.
Thursday, May 2nd, was an overcast day as Mom and
I left home about 10:30 in the morning, headed for Tulsa. While we usually travel earlier, there was no
rush to get on the road this time. We
would have to wait until my niece was home from work that evening. We arrived at Jenks, the Antique Capital of
Oklahoma, about 12:30 and for the rest of the afternoon browsed in the shops.
We visited with SS and Luke that evening and again
in the early morning, then on Friday morning left Tulsa to double back westward -
heading for Newton, Kansas. It was
misting when we left Tulsa and as we followed the 412 turnpike west toward
Interstate 35, the heavy rain came and stayed with us most of the way to
Wichita. On to Newton and the Comfort
Inn there. The room, the service -
everything - was great.
After checking in, we found the Harvey County
Historical Society and I began to look for information I might have missed the
first visit several years ago. Nothing
particularly new on our Welsh cousins at Burrton, the farm community west of
Newton, but still a good visit with an excellent staff and a refreshing of my
mind with useful local information.
Mom and I were in our room early that evening, but
were up and heading to Burrton by 8:30 Saturday morning. Since it had rained so heavily - more so in
Kansas than in Oklahoma it appeared - we didn't traipse all through the
cemetery, but fortunately found our cousins not far from the drive into the
cemetery. Photos taken, we drove around
Burrton.
Normally that would have taken 5 minutes - or less
- but we found a reason to stay longer.
After getting chilled at the cemetery, Mom wanted some hot
chocolate. I found what I think was the
only place to get some - a big metal building labeled "The Barn". I went in and ordered the cocoa, then looked
around. I decided that Mom had to see
the inside of this place. It was
amazing. I bought a t-shirt to remind me
that it was a place to re-visit some day.
After a pitiful lunch at the Applebee's at Newton,
we headed northeast. Our original plan
was to head for St Joe since we had stayed there many years ago and liked the
town. But we didn't make it that
far. I don't like to drive late into the
day for two reasons. I want to be
settled before dark and I want to easily get a room without having to drive to
half a dozen places late at night looking for one. I can always leave as early the next morning
as needed, even before daylight, but don't care for the unknown of a dark
evening when I'm tired.
The Kansas turnpike, also known as I-35, got us to
Topeka and then to Atchison, Kansas.
That was enough driving for that day.
We found a place to stay that we weren't familiar with - AmericInn. It's a tricky name to say but the place
itself and the staff were wonderful. We
began looking for them other places on the trip and stayed with them several
times more. All but one of the places was excellent.
We left just before 8 o'clock the next morning
with cool weather and feeling pretty good.
Mom's note says "best bed and sleep". We stopped at the river park for a while and
I took a good walk to clear my head and take in the scenery. The Missouri River is a beautiful river, I
think, and I enjoy seeing it over and over again.
Ready for scenic country roads, we
curved around US Highway 59 through Rushville, until we met State Highway 116
and headed due east. 116 is a two-lane
road through the countryside to the small town of Plattsburg. Mom's notes:
"116 up and down, down and up, around the bend . . . great ride,
Plattsburg fantastic old houses".
After oohing and aahing, we kept on east to catch I-35, stopping
occasionally to take a break. It was
time to put some miles on the odometer.
Grinnell, Iowa, was our last stop for the day,
arriving about 5 in the evening. It had
been a long interstate drive, but well worth it since it was Missouri, one of
my favorite places to be. As we came
through, we circled around an Amana village and thought we might stop on the
way back. (Didn't happen.) We had been
to the Amana Colonies years ago and it still looked the same. One of my favorite bookshops was there and I
had hoped to visit again. (Google
doesn't bring up an active listing for the place.)
We stayed at another Comfort Inn. Mom's comment: "Blah!" The weather was chilly next
morning. It was still early May and, at
home, that means nice, but not necessarily cool, weather. We were moving North and the weather was
certainly reflecting that move. Mom
brought out her sweater and zipped in to keep warm.
From Grinnell on Interstate 80, we picked up I-380
and travelled through Cedar Rapids, a place I like to see. The Cedar River runs through town, or rather,
the town was built up around the Cedar River.
The drive through downtown is impressive. We were headed now for Dubuque, Iowa, so took
off on US Highway 151 - more country roads.
Mom's note: "Marion, Iowa -
great old homes, weather ok, 59 degrees at 10 a.m. 1 o'clock or so, crossed the Mississippi".
From Dubuque, US Highways 61 and 151 through
Platteville, to Mineral Point. We had
been in this area before so we circled Mineral Point, but didn't stop. It would be one of the places to spend some
time on the way home. On through
Dodgeville, east to Mt Horeb and then north on State Highway 78 to Baraboo,
Wisconsin. This was where I wanted to
spend some time.
We stayed at the Best Western in Baraboo, and it
was such a good place to stay we stopped with them again on the way back. Next morning, we did our sight-seeing in town
- we love the old houses we see on these trips - and parked in the town
square. I have two favorite bookshops in
the Eastern Half of the United States and one of them is here: The VillageBooksmith. And it's still there, thank goodness! I found a Mary Stewart volume I had been
looking for. Mom says: "Great town
square".
These two photos are from another blogger, Indie Bob Spot. I seem to have "lost" all my trip photos. I think my computer ate them.
Just before noon we headed east on State Highway
33 to pick up north-bound I-35. After a
while we stopped at a very pleasant rest area for our snack lunch - grapes, cheese,
turkey for Mom - I don't even remember what I ate. "Weather fantastic" is Mom's
comment, and "L is doing all the driving". We had rented a van, thanks to a nephew who
works for Enterprise car rental.
The van was a Chrysler Town and Country, the same
thing I drive every day, except this one was much newer, and much fancier - electric
doors and more. After trying several
different configurations, I finally folded up the second row of seats and put
down a small rug to cover the metal brackets in the floor and hung a thickly
folded quilt on the seat near our entrance/exit to cover the metal brackets
there. The back seat was slanted so I
filled in the gap with quilts and added layers to level and pad the seat. We had pillows and small blankets for covering.
The idea was that Mom could get in the back and
rest when she was tired of sitting up front.
After all, she is 92 and 11/12.
But it didn't exactly work out that way.
After she did that twice?, I was the one who ended up in the back
resting at least once a day and sometimes twice. I'd set my phone alarm for 20 minutes, open
the side door, stretch out, close my eyes, and rest - while Mom read in the
front seat. It worked out perfectly for
me and was our little cabin on wheels.
We stayed that night in Rhinelander - at another
AmericInn. Big mistake. They are all separately owned and this one
was run by a curmudgeon or at least the desk clerks were both that, evening and
next morning. Mom's note: "Next
time stay in Eagle River". I
stopped in Eagle River to take photos of a Huge Barn. This isn't my photograph, but it's beautifully done. You can see why it caught my eye. It was cloudy all the way north, now, and
there was snow on the ground in places.
Our UP friend, the one we were going to visit in Calumet, Michigan, had
told us that the week before there had been snow. Now we were seeing the leftovers from that.
Looking at the town of Calumet, when planning the
trip, it didn't seem there was a reasonable place for us to stay, so my thought
was to stop at Houghton before getting to the peninsula. Friend Kathleen didn't agree with that and
pleaded for us to come on to Calumet for our visit, rather than drive back and
forth. It was just as well that we
did. We stayed at another AmericInn,
this one in Calumet, Michigan, and it was another perfect place to stay.
The drive along this northern part of Wisconsin
into Michigan, was great. Lots of pine
trees! lots of wood!, but the nice kind.
It was a good drive. Kathleen met
us at the hotel, took us to lunch, and we went back to her new home for the
rest of the day.
We had met Kathleen when she came to Oklahoma
years ago. But that's another long story.
In the years since, we had become good friends and when she moved back
to her old stomping grounds, we thought we ought to see where she lived. And, we hadn't been to that part of Michigan
before.
We had previously made a trip to Bayfield,
Wisconsin - in November of that particular year - and taken the last boat
cruise of the season on a tour of the Apostle Islands. From there we had travelled US Highway 2
through Ironwood and Iron Mountain down to Mackinaw Island. That was pretty far north, but Calumet is on
the crooked finger that sticks out into Lake Superior - a finger surrounded by
water. Deep water. Cold water.
The Greatest of the Great Lakes.
It is the Upper Upper
Peninsula.
Adventure is our game.
Back at the hotel, we turned in for the
evening. It had been a long drive. Next morning was a new world. About 9 p.m., Mom was watching the snow
coming down. I slept through it
all. A storm came from the west and at
breakfast I heard that the west side of the lake had 9 inches of snow that
night. We had only 3 or 4 there in
Calumet. Well, that sure as heck changed
our plans.
Kathleen had walked over to the hotel, well
prepared for the weather. We were
prepared, too, for the most part - I didn't bring hip-waders. We loaded ourselves in the van and drove
slowly around town with our local tour guide.
The slowness wasn't due to the roads, so much, as looking and
talking. The soft snow was already melting,
which meant that there was slush as well as snow on the streets. At one place we stopped to go inside, I
couldn't figure out how to get Mom from the street to the sidewalk and into the
store without the chance of her slipping or getting her feet soaked. We gave up and just drove and looked and
talked. We decided to cut short our
visit, not knowing what to expect next from the weather and, after another
great night at the hotel, left early Wednesday morning, the 8th of May.
Mom's note:
"bitterly cold, snowed, 36 degrees, windy, chilly, Brrr. Heading home. 9 a.m. thick fog, snow covered
ground, very little traffic. 9:30
rain".
We drove south through winter. It was beautiful. Since the temperature was above freezing, the
roads were wet but clear. Eagle River
was even nicer - it's spread out for a long stretch - and we decided to come
here sometime and stay in a cabin. We
stopped for lunch and kept moving back toward Baraboo where we planned to spend
the night again.
On the way into Baraboo, along Highway 33 east of
there, we both spotted "Welsh Church Cemetery"! How had we missed that the first time? Well, we sure saw it this time. I had to turn around after figuring out how
to get to the place. It fronts on the
highway but the entrance road was at the back.
We walked and looked for quite some time. 'Williams, Jones, Owens . . . ' I took plenty
of photographs. After we returned home,
I looked at Find a Grave and found that some of the marker or monument photos I
took had not been posted, so I was able to add those to the memorials. There was a Welsh community in the mid-1800s
and that's how the cemetery came into being.
That made our day.
Here are some links to cemetery information:
This one is on facebook (ugh!), but has some good photos of the monuments The Welsh Church Cemetery, Portage, Wisconsin
This one is on Find a Grave. Just type in any good old Welsh surname and take a look at the names and monuments. It was established in 1856. Welsh Church Cemetery
We checked in at the same Best Western as
before. Mom's note: "still chilly, about 38 degrees, tacos
for supper, shop Walgreens". We had
another good night's rest at the Best Western.
When we began the trip, I planned to pretty much
fast-track north, then stop and see the sights on the way back. Mom, though, was getting tired of being in
the van and the travelling. I was
thrilled that she had managed to keep going this long. When we planned the trip, I told everyone
that we would be gone either 3 days or 2 weeks, depending on how Mom held
up. She held up for 12 days and we had a
good - and very long - trip.
Next morning: "sunny day". We took another tour around Baraboo. That was a mistake on my part. I became so disoriented I couldn't get us on
the right road going south. I don't
think it was that confusing, it was just that I was brain-dead from doing the
navigating as well as driving. I finally
stopped to ask directions, which didn't really help, but somehow found the
right road on my own and we were on our way.
When we got to Mineral Point, we stopped for a
while. We drove up and down - and I mean Up and Down - the main streets, then parked and visited a few shops. It's a town now dedicated to artsy shops and,
any other time, it would have been a good place to spend the afternoon. But Mom wouldn't be able to manage the slope
for very long and that settled it. This is a borrowed photo that is labeled "age friendly" on the internet. You can see the street for yourself.
Back across the Mississippi we stopped at a garage
sale - the first one we had seen - but it was a waste of time, so Mom says in
her notes. On to Newton, Iowa - long
drive - and another AmericInn. Mom says:
"Best ever. This is the kind of
bathroom I need. Fabulous". By 9:15 next morning we were on the road
again, "heading south, dark skies on the left, clear skies on the
right. Really dark ahead of us".
Since we were headed home, and I was running out
of sight-seeing time, I decided that we would take country roads through most
of Missouri. When in Missouri, I'm not
in a hurry to get anywhere and want to see what I consider a wonderful
place. So, from Des Moines over to I-35
to Bethany, we picked up State Highway 13 - a two lane country road.
At the town of Polo, in Caldwell County, Missouri,
we stopped to have a picnic lunch. While
getting gasoline, a fella came up to us, all excited. Our rented van had a Georgia plate. He was originally from Georgia and thought we
were too. We still had a nice
conversation about how long he had been in Missouri and how much he missed
Georgia.
I think that's one of the best things about travelling. As well as seeing new places, you can meet new people. It gives you a nice perspective on the parts of the country you are working your way through. If you will take the time to talk. Mom doesn't have a problem with that.
We parked across from this Old Jail to eat our lunch, then headed south again.
It was a long drive, although beautiful, and the
rain kept to either side of us. We
stopped for the night at Clinton, Missouri, at the Hampton Inn. I like Clinton, having stayed there a few
years ago. But we were there on a Sunday
and the places I wanted to re-visit were closed. Timing is everything.
Mom's note: "8 a.m. leaving Clinton,
fantastic views. Stopped at
Adrian." We picked up I-49
south-bound here and by 9:30 Mom's note says light rain. We came through Carthage and picked up
Interstate 44 west-bound and homeward bound.
Today was Mother's Day and probably our last day
on the road. I thought it would be a
surprise for Mom if we stopped at a casino.
She always alerts me to them as we pass one or even at times a billboard
and I choose to not stop. We have been
in enough in years past to last me a lifetime.
But, it was Mother's Day and I was with my mother, so . . .
Downstream Casino is in Oklahoma - and Kansas - and maybe Missouri. It is operated by the Quapaw Nation and is a
pretty grand place. We ate lunch, played
a few machines, and finally had enough "fun". We each
started out with 50 bucks; I ended up with almost all the money I started with;
Mom with 24 cents.
We were going to spend one more night on the
road. Since it was Mother's Day, we
would stop in Tulsa again, only this time in a hotel - Hampton Inn at Tulsa Hills. It was close to the niece and great-nephew
(or grand-daughter and great-grandson, for Mom). We did get to see the folks, but they had
reservations for dinner and so it was a very short visit. Which was just as well. I was plenty tired.
Monday morning, May 13th, we were up early and on
the road - The Road! - Route 66. We
stopped in Stroud at a junk store on the main street. It was Full of Treasures - that's not the
name - just a description. We each bought
several things and didn't make a dent in their supply. But we had a good time and at least that's
close enough we can go back there any day and see what else strikes our fancy.
About noon we picked up food at the Chick-fil-A near us and were finally home. More than 2800 miles. Time to unpack, clean out the van and return our adventure vehicle to the rental lot. It was a Very Good Trip.
the end
