First day - On To Mississippi

We were on the road by 9:30 and headed south on I-55. We got through Missouri and into Arkansas, stopping at Blythville for lunch at a Grecian Steak House. This place has two Grecian restaurants located right next to each other. If you want Grecian food you know where to go. Maybe it's a local zoning thing...all Grecian restaurants have to be at the same location. I had a "Grecian Burger" and Paul had a Gyros thingy. French fries were the best part of the lunch...big fat steak fries.

Traffic was fairly light all day except around Memphis. Our view of Memphis was mostly bridge girders and the back of the cars in front of us. We knew it was there. We could see glimpses of it as we got close to the bridge but were soon he

We were soon crossing over into Mississippi. Mississippi ading out of town.seems to be mostly woods. Lots of pine trees and the deciduous trees had turned colors but still had leaves. We were seeing some crops in the fields...maybe winter wheat but there was something else we couldn't identify...looked like spinach??

Jackson Mississippi is much bigger than I remember it. There is a huge Nissan factory north of town and the place looks like it is doing quite well.

We weren't sure where we were going to stay. We ended up in Brookhaven MS at a Comfort Inn. When we pulled into the parking lot there was about a half dozen guys partying on the 2nd floor. They were having a good time. It was dark and after 6 PM when we got there and decided to walk to a place to eat. Not much around...so we ended up at a Waffle House. The food was OK but I woudn't want to see the inspection report. We decided that this was going to be the extent of our search for local color. Paul thought it was a color resembling a bad bruise.

The guys were still at it on the balcony when we got back to the motel but they quieted down...or passed out...a little while later.

The Trip is On

Thursday afternoon -- I got a later start than I hoped but still made good time and got to St. Louis and Paul's at 4 PM. Nothing exciting to report...weather was warm and sunny...up in the 60's, Traffic was light on US 50. We got an Imo's pizza for supper - a St. Louis icon in the pizza world. Sandy was at the de Menil mansion for a Christmas event. Several old homes were open tonight with a progressive reading of Dickens's Christmas Carol with people dressed in character. Sounds like a neat idea for starting Christmas.

Road trip coming up -- Florida

Well, I finally sold my house after three stressful years of trying. I have been stressed out for months so I decided that I needed to get away for a week or so and sit on a beach. Even though it is December it will be fine -- and warmer than here in central Missouri. I invited my brother and sister-in-law to go along so it will be a family trip. We leave in about a week or so.

My road trips are always fun and help me recharge my batteries. I'm looking forward to it.

Here are a few pictures from some earlier trips...

Indian River, Florida

New Mexico

Colorado

New Mexico

Venice




Peru - Altiplano
















Peru - Urabamba River

Peru Ollantaytambo

 

 

Sea Smoke -- Atlantic Ocean -- Florida

Fly fishing - Colorado River -- Colorado

Guest Blogger: Marco Polo of Venice

 

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Marco Polo, a merchant of some renown from the Republic of Venice. You may have heard of me, especially if you are acquainted with the many fine wares that I have brought to market from Constantinople and beyond. I do a lively business with those eastern lands. My father and my uncle once established a trading house and lived in that city for some time before venturing across the Black Sea and to many places far to the east. As you may know, I accompanied them on a later trip, one that lasted for twenty four years. That was a grand experience...un epico viaggio...which took me to many lands and, I can now say, proved to be the lasting achievement of my life.

I was born a few years after the fifth crusade and raised in Venice, a beautiful city at the head of the Adriatic Sea. If you have never ventured to Venice I strongly urge you to go there at once. There is no city quite like it. You will be amazed and it will dwell in your heart for the rest of your days.

I mentioned the fifth crusade but there were many different crusades beginning around the year 1095. These military campaigns, supposedly intended to gain and keep Christian control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, were exceedingly foolhardy, expensive, disruptive and, in the end, unsuccessful. I'm happy to say that I have lived long enough to see this foolishness ended. Many merchants, yes, many Venetians, grew rich because of the Crusades. Many more people suffered and died. The only lasting benefit came from the exposure to new ideas and new products from as far away as Persia and even India. Was that worth 200 years of religious war? Time will tell but I wonder if the same outcome could have come through peaceful trade and commerce.

My journey to Cathay, you might know it as China but we always called it Cathay back then, and to the imperial court of the Great Kahn brought me into contact with many new things. Paper was used as currency in the Kahn's lands. Yes...paper instead of gold. They also make use of a black stone which they bring up from the depths of the earth and use for heating or cooking. The stone burns just like wood. They are able to send letters or messages great distances in a single day by special emissaries who race from horse to horse along the designated route.

I lived and worked in Cathay for seventeen years and was a friend and advisor to Kublai Kahn, the great Emperor. Although he was the undisputed ruler, he was as much a stranger to Beijing as I was. He longed for the open grasslands of his Mongol homeland as much as I longed for Venice and the Adriatic. On my journey home I learned with sadness of the Kahn's death when I reached Persia. This was almost two years after we set sail from the coast of Cathay. I knew then that he never again gained sight of his homeland and I feared that I, too, would be finally deprived of my homecoming. But God, and a passport from the Kahn, protected me on that journey until I was almost home. But, still my homecoming was delayed. Venice was at war with Genoa and I was captured and imprisoned for two years. Eventually I returned home to a Venice that I left almost a generation earlier. People I once knew were dead or gone. There were not many who knew me and still fewer who believed the story of my travels. Even today there are those who say I made it all up or that I did not go as far or see as much as I said.

In my last years I have been content to stay in Venice and let others do the traveling. I am a successful merchant...you may know me by my wares. I live a comfortable life. Little by little the travelers come home to say that "Yes, it’s true - Marco was right all along".

Trick or Treat .

 

Missouri's Mom and Pop Wineries

Missouri is wine country. A 2008 study showed that the retail value of Missouri wine approached $59.2 million. Winery revenue alone was $42.4 million and wine related tourism expenditures reached $175.7 million. Missouri has had wineries dating back to the early pioneer days. Probably every early French or Spanish community had someone who was a recognized wine maker. When the Germans arrived it became big business. Prohibition ended Missouri's supremacy in wine making but the wineries have come back big time. With dollar figures like those cited above it has become big business. There are dozens of good sized wineries that have created the winery experience for tourists and locals. There are also some interesting small wineries...sort of like little mom and pop operations. Some of these small wineries spring up and produce some surprisingly good wine but can't keep it together and fall by the wayside.

I've been wanting to visit a few of these smaller wineries. My friend, Donna, and I made a trip up to Boonville to visit the storefront Cooper's Oak Winery on Main Street. This winery originated in Higbee, Missouri, as a spin-off from an oak barrel cooperage. I guess they had the barrels so they decided to make some wine.  We were able to taste their main varieties and they were OK but not something I would look for if I was buying wine. We had lunch and we each bought a glass of wine. Donna ended up taking hers back and getting something else. I don't remember what I had but it was drinkable. I tasted hers and agreed that it didn't taste like what we had at the wine tasting session.  Maybe they need to get a few more years experience. We were a little disappointed but stopped off at Les Bourgeois Vineyards in Rocheport to get some wine that we liked better.


We tried some other small wineries a couple weeks later down highway 50 toward Mount Sterling and Owensville.  Our first stop was Wenwood Farm Winery a few miles south of Mount Sterling. This is some of the prettiest country in Missouri...the Gasconade River Valley and the river bluffs and hills.  Even in drought it is pretty.

Wenwood is probably the biggest winery we visited. It has a regular schedule of live entertainment, a fairly large outdoor seating area and a small gallery of local artists' work. You can find some of their wine in Jefferson City stores so they have significant production. We were visiting on a week day and were the only people there at the time. Us and the three farm dogs that were the friendly greeting committee. We went into the little barn-like building and met the hostess, a local jewelry artist who lives down the road and doubles as the wine pourer. We like dry wines and usually reds but we had some very good whites and reds. The winemaker follows the French tradition of blending wine varieties so most of their wines are a mix of different grape types. They use the term "meritage" to describe the wine but don't use that term on the labels. Meritage is a California contrived (proprietary) name for certain grape variety wine combinations. The winery has been in business for ten years and produced an anniversary sherry that was good.  Donna bought a couple bottles and I got a bottle of sherry.

Farther down US 50 we found White Mule Winery - which is also a bed and breakfast. It took us a while to find someone to greet us. The place was open and we were wandering around but it just took a while to rustle someone up.  Again, we were greeted by the winery dog...a shaved Australian Shepherd who was very hot and enjoyed laying on the cool concrete floor. We had a good tasting session and liked several of the wines. I ended up buying a red dessert wine and a nice crisp white wine. The one thing about visiting these small farm wineries is that you can't be put off by the smell of manure. These are working farms or are located in active farm localities. In farm country, that is the smell of money. 

The other winery we visited was maybe our favorite just because it was easy to miss and sort of a novelty. The Phoenix Winery is located near the top of the second hill east of Mount Sterling on US 50. In local directions....go over Cave Hill and cross the Second Creek valley and climb up the next hill and you are there, more or less. There are two driveways so if you miss the first one, catch the second one. There are small signs posted.

We found the place and pulled into the yard. There was no sign of life. OK, maybe there was a chicken, I don't remember, exactly.  We got out and walked through the yard to the winery building but it was locked up. We stood around looking forlorn and finally an elderly man came out of the farm house and greeted us in sort of a German-accented mumble. He was the winemaker and had to unlock the building to let us in. It had been closed up for a while and it was hot inside. We had been having multiple 100 degree days and there was no serious attempt at cooling the building. Our host apparently hoped that maybe we would just go away but his wife made him come out. He took up his position behind the small counter and pulled out several partial bottles of wine from a small refrigerator. He was probably near 80 years old and was missing front teeth but he knows how to make wine. His was the best we had all day and we ended up buying five bottles. We talked a while. He is from the Rhine valley in Germany and he used to make beer as well as wine but gave up the beer making to concentrate on the wine. Now he is in some sort of association with a vineyard in Osage County and whatever they are doing seems to work. His wine was all under $10 a bottle, the cheapest prices of the day.

This proved to be an enjoyable exploration of some of the lesser known Missouri wineries. We also stopped off at the Swiss meat and sausage market and did a sausage tasting and, of course, bought some sausages. We had lunch at Clancy's Irish Pub in Rosebud, Missouri. We never made it to Hermann or Owensville.

Back Home

Left Joplin about 9 AM and was home by 1 PM. Worst traffic was at Lake of the Ozarks -- a typical Sunday in July. Jefferson City is still here...lightly toasted. My Hickory tree out front was wilted. I never saw a 30 foot tree wilt lie that. Beginning first aid. 

Mileage was 2,738 miles for the trip.

The mother Robin under my deck has chicks....maybe chick, I can't tell. I guess I'm a grandpa. She and her hubby are not happy t see me.  Wait until they see Watson.

I brought Watson home from Jill's. He has put on weight and not in a good mood. He will mellow out in a day or so.

Doing laundry....gotta go.

A good trip.

High Plains Drifter

I stayed at a different motel in Amarillo. It was better than the one I usually stay at and only $10 more. Still pretty shabby but the room was almost twice as big and I slept well. That was worth the extra $10 and the breakfast was OK.  Why are all the interstate motels run by little people from India or Pakistan?  They always seem to be having some sort of family crisis and are engaged in an energetic verbal exchange in Hindi. Sometimes this is over the phone, possibly long distance, but today they were all gathered around the computer having a loud discussion about something. No idea what.


Today was my trip from Amarillo to Joplin...mostly Oklahoma. Weather was good. Not too much traffic or too much road construction. Not too much to talk about.  I got back into Western Swing music again for a while -- High Plains Public Radio has a show called "Western Swing and Other Things" each Saturday morning and I just happened to be going through the Texas panhandle two Saturdays in a row.

I did stop at the Cherokee Trading Post a few miles west of Oklahoma City to soak up some Indian culture (American Indian this time). They have baskets and rugs and jewelry and tom-toms and rubber tomahawks...none of which have been anywhere close to an Indian until they were stocked on the shelves at the trading post. There is some authentic Indian crafts and artwork for sale but most of it comes from Asia. There is some Mexican stuff there too.   The place was packed...so many people that you could hardly get to the rubber tomahawks or the fake rattlesnakes. There were lots of kids -- all being told by their parents that they couldn't buy anything, touch anything or have anything. Why take them in to the "tradin' post" if they can't get something?

I walked around outside and took some pictures. They have a caged Buffalo but he was at the far end of the pen so no photos. Two ladies posed in front of the big fiberglass Indian while I took their picture for them.

 I was getting ready to snap a picture of a fiberglass Bison with the words "In God We Trust" emblazoned on his side when a man ran up and plopped a bright blue furry or feathered monkey on top of the Bison. He turned to me and said "He's a travelling monkey - I'm going to take his picture". The monkey was made out of a bright blue fur or feathery material and the guy was obviously gay. I admit that I'm not good at picking out gay people but I think that I had this one right. I asked where the monkey had been and he said that it had just been all the way to Oklahoma and now was on his way back to San Diego. I hesitated in my response because the man seemed to be unaware of the fact that he was standing smack in the middle of Oklahoma. He took the monkey's picture and I asked if I could also...after all, you don't see this every day. He said it was OK and that I'd have a good story to tell...yes, indeed. Before I could get the picture the guy started to jump into the picture for some reason. (So that explains the person trying to get into the picture). I mentioned that the monkey was getting some Indian culture and the guy said that he was part Cherokee himself.  Sometimes I think I have a target on my back because I seem to attract peculiar people on occasion. It used to be Hari Krishnas and then it went to Jesus Freaks. I kind of miss the Hari Krishnas. I'm hoping that the man and his monkey is just a quirk and not the next trend.

The rest of Oklahoma was fairly uneventful. I got to Joplin and checked in to my hotel and then went out to find something to eat. I drove up Rangeline Road a few blocks and began to see evidence of the tornado that tore through here last year. Much of the damage has been fixed or hauled away. The large number of vacant concrete slabs  probably mark the location of former businesses. There is one sign I saw that is twisted like a corkscrew but still standing next to one of the vacant slabs. There is an absence of trees and those that you see are small or seem stunted. I didn't go looking for any more storm evidence...I was trying to find a restaurant. I finally went back to an Applebees near the hotel.

I'll be home tomorrow.