Tuesday – Wednesday (Jul 19)
Another hot, humid morning. It’s not really my thing. The lsat few days have made me very mosquito-averse, so I am apprehensive about opening my doors to the world, but there’s really not very many bugs up here on the heights today – about f—ing time.
I make my second trip back down the hill, through McGregor, past last night’s dockside restaurant then back northward along the Mississippi to Marquette (Iowa), driving under the bridge that will take me east. I’m taking a little chunk of this morning to visit Effigy Mounds National Historical Monument. The basic idea at this very interesting place is that these Ancient Americans didn’t just build burial mounds, they built mounds in the shape of animals, which you can’t really get a sense of unless see them from the air. So … aliens I guess … The Visitors Center was afraid to say so, but it’s pretty clear it had to be for the benefit of aliens. I have no time for a walk-through and besides it has started raining, but I want to return and spend some time here someday.
Back to Marquette and loop up onto the bridge that takes me across the mighty Mississippi to Prairie du Chen. I enjoyed a great little coffee shop, which I am very happy to say I found without benefit of Yelp! Well … real time anyway. I had seen it on Yelp yesterday when I had phone reception, but I have no ATT bars in Prairie du Chen. I drove to where I thought downtown should be and drove along the main drag, and boom! there it was!
Fun drive along the Wisconsin River and across the state till 45 miles out of Milwaukee. The fun was over at a dead stop traffic jam on I-84 at exit 287. On Mike’s advice I got off and headed north and made my way to Fox Point on the suburban boulevards and it was actually much more interesting than the stupid interstate.
He cooked a great bachelor meal – pre-made crab cakes and deli salads. Yum! Tonight is the actual full moon, and we celebrated it by making the short drive down to Lake Michigan and walking the beach for a while – very cool.
Wednesday
The non-freeway route from Fox Point to downtown Milwaukee is a series of wide leafy boulevards through a couple more tidy white suburbs. It’s very pretty. It exudes prosperity and calm all the way. There’s even a little stretch called Henry Clay Drive, which makes a Kentuckian feel at home!
I met Mike at the Museum and we had a nice lunch. Then his daughter Anna, who I remember as a 3-ish year old gave me a nice museum tour – she is a big deal in the business office there. I cruised the museum on my own tlll closing time. I planned a sort of meandering path back to Fox Point, taking a detour to check out a neighborhood she pointed out on the map. Turns out rush hour isn’t the best time for that sort of thing, so I cut it short and put myself in the traffic stream heading north to the ‘burbs.
Home for more reminiscing, then dinner at a nice little Mexican place in the Third Ward, an up and coming hipster-ish neighborhood a little south of city center.
Thursday
Mike is off to work. He is retired, but volunteers at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (the “Liberty” part should have been a hint to me that I wasn’t going to like them) doing some unquestionably good things, but also providing legalistic cover for the retrograde policies of the Scott Walker administration. I think Walker is a horrible and not very bright tool of the plutocrats with horrible policies, so we had to agree to disagree on that stuff. If only I could just keep my mouth shut.
Anyway, this morning I had a much healthier breakfast than I am used to – good yogurt and granola and fruit. Set me up well for the awful day ahead. I put my travel game face on and headed out into the downpour. No leafy avenues today, drive straight to I-75 south to get this day done.
It went quite well past Milwaukee and the outer reaches of the Chicago megaplex, even through the first few tolls. At one point I missed a toll! This is all new to me, but nobody stops you if you drive through the electronic toll section but don’t have the electronic toll gizmo, rather they take a picture of every car which drives through, and eventually run you down like the cheating dog you are. Well, I dutifully paid six of them but missed one, so come and get me if it means that much to you State of Illinois.
The whole experience wasn’t too bad, only one big traffic stoppage, and then I was heading through the wide open spaces, down to Indianapolis on I-65. Another really violent, dark thunderstorm happened. I drove slow, and even pulled off for a while, no big deal, but … as the storm was clearing around Lafayette I found myself in a 15 mile backup, a semi full of sugar … SUGAR!! got broadsided and closed the interstate down for a while.
This is why I hate having to be somewhere. This would suck any time, but knowing that my nice, patient family members are sitting, waiting for me at a restaurant on the other side if Indianopolis makes it very stressful.
I lost an hour when I entered the Eastern time in northern Indiana, so I’m even later than I would have been. I finally arrive at Sero’s, and there they all are, waiting at the corner booth, their food dishes bussed away long ago. Then of course, I was the one everybody wanted to hear about, and I also was the one who really needed to keep my mouth busy eating. But we got through it, then adjourned to Doug’s house for more catching up. It was really very, very nice. Cousin Elbert gave me a print of a family picture he’s had forever that I’d never seen (or at least remembered). We covered a lot of familiar ground, but also a little new ground, which makes it even better!
Friday – Saturday
Late breakfast at the Waffle House with Doug and Patty, really enjoyed it. Then off to Kentucky.
I am in New Palestine, which is east of Indy, and the suburb I am going to in Louisville is also in the east end, so Maps alternate route suggestion is a much more interesting path than just blasting straight south on boring old I-65. Start out going southeast on equally boring I-74 then cut south on US 421 through the hills of eastern Indiana. Two cool features:
- I drive for about 20 miles along the edge of a wooded area that is now a National Wildlife Refuge but was a munitions factory and test range in WW2. The only NWR I ever heard of that makes you sign a release just to walk around in it :)
- I cross the mighty Ohio at Madison IN, which is a very pretty and historic town.
I do not escape the crappy traffic that has been my Indiana theme. Even the country road Doug pointed me down to cut off some I-74 managed to have a twelve minute backup at a four way stop in the middle of central Indiana nowhere. I’m pretty much over the traffic and freeway repair situation here in the midwest.
Very pleasant after that, the green hills of southern Indiana, then the Ohio River at Madison IN, Madison is a very pretty town. I scored relatively cheap diesel and took a few minutes to drive along the riverside park with it’s beautiful view of the Kentucky hills.
Then cross the river on US 421 to US 42. I stop for dinner at a little crappy diner in the little crossroads town of Bedford. Pretty depressing spot. Everybody stopped to stare at the city dude as I entered. The just off work crew of men up front were smoking in the restaurant. Ah Kentucky!
On to I-65 (again) to Lloyd’s condo. My buddies have all gone to a minor league baseball game. I wanted to go, but the construction backups back on I-74 have me quite a bit behind schedule. They squirreled away a key for me outside the condo, and I am in! So it works out very well, I arrive and can shower and settle in quietly before starting the weekend’s jolly partying.
Saturday
Everybody dispersed to do their thing. I went to Heine Brothers – a very successful local chain of coffee/juice shops and got my wifi fix. Then I cruised the old neighborhoods for a couple of hours. My old house. Ekim’s old house. All the little corners of Audubon Park where so many memorable things happened. I very much enjoyed myself.
Then home to get ready for the Main Event.
We checked the schedule again to confirm that it is indeed a cash bar!! What did we pay $60 for? It therefore seemed appropriate to get quite a bit more pre-loaded before the event. Have another beer at the man cave, then a nice little tumbler of the quality whiskey that Lloyd’s brother keeps there. Some of us (but not the driver) got a little baked on top of that. Then we were off!
I was drunk and stoned enough that I am pretty sure I was entertaining to the hundred or so co-alums assembled at the banquet tables. For better or worse it seems I was a bit of a nerd legend from back then.
Sunday
A little hung over. Heine’s again, with the fellas this time. Turns out we have an almost identical coffee house routine. They each also got a house coffee in a mug and some kind of little goodie. Yay, I’m among my people! Then Lloyd goes off to do his thing, Ekim heads to the airport, and I pack up, and that’s it for the reunion crew.
Ekim successfully guilt-tripped me into visiting his mom Wilma at the assisted living place a few miles away. I’m glad he did. She was a really great second mom to me growing up and is still very fun to talk to. We rehashed the old days yet some more.
Dang it’s unpleasantly humid today. I had planned various outdoor things, a walk along the creek in Seneca Park for instance, but it’s so fucking hot I’m not leaving the air conditioned van.
Fried oysters are very popular here for some ridiculous reason. Back in the day, Moore’s Tavern on Preston was locally famous for them. I decided I wanted some, and ended up with an oyster po’ boy at the Fishery, a made-over fast food stop in St Matthews, and it really hit the spot. Today’s cruise took me down Zorn Avenue to the river, which is always great.
Yesterday I learned that we all had to decamp from the man cave today. With this in mind at the reunion I managed to talk my into a place to stay tonight at with classmate Dickie, Ekim’s cousin and one of my and Lloyd’s good friends from back in the day. Near the agreed upon dinner time I stop my tour and head back to his house. We have a real nice evening, eating and watching HBO and talking.
Monday – Tuesday
Dickie is mostly retired, but he still bills a few high quality hours. I got to watch him make a few bucks sitting on his sofa laying out HVAC on his laptop. Experience – it’s worth a lot! We say our goodbyes, and I’m off.
I had a really nice breakfast at a new place a few blocks away, Then I visit cousin Craig at his appliance shop. I still think I’m doing the Lewis and Clark thing on my return, so I stop in a bookstore for a book … which they don’t have … which is just as well because I ended up not doing it anyway!
I’ve spent my whole Louisville time in the east part of town, so I decide to leave by way of Main Street, which starts in the heart of downtown a couple of blocks from the river, then takes one through the range of economic conditions in Louisville. Including block of urban wasteland that were cleared back in the 70’s and haven’t come back since. All the way across the city to the Sherman Minton Bridge and New Albany.
New Albany, seemed like a nice place today, which is certainly not how I remember it. The weather today is (relatively) nice also – the kind of hot you expect in an Ohio Valley summer, not pleasant, but you can handle it. Unlike yesterday was so hot and still and humid that it was a little hard to function.
I eschew the I-64 in favor of taking New Albany Main Street west out of town to the romantically named Corydon Pike, the old state road to my destination, Corydon. I used to drive this with my mom in the 60’s, but the only familiar things were the names of the towns. I arrived at the lovely house on the hill of cousins Estel Lee and Mildred. An hour or so later cousins Doug and Patty arrived from Indianapolis. We all five old people and the little dog fit ourselves into Estel’s huge Chevy SUV and drove over to the Big Boy for a nice Senior special at the dinner buffet.
Monday
Today’s plan is to drive around Crawford County seeing the old spots and visiting relatives if we find any.
First stop: Marengo. This was the part that wore me out. It was really cool, though somewhat depressing to poke through the tumbledown wreck that is Aunt Hurcel’s house. Actually it’s not tumbledown, it’s foundation is still sturdy enough to support the tire inventory of the gas station next door. But is sure is neglected and full of trash.
The gas station itself has morphed into mostly an auto parts store over the years. Off the main road as they are, they don’t sell much gas, but the sell the only auto parts for 40 miles. They do an okay business. Cousin Errol was manning the counter, and pretty soon cousin Eric came over from his farm. Nice!
Doug and Mildred could have reminisced forever, and I thought they were going to for a while! I was ready to go after 20 monutes. I had to make a little scene eventually, to get us the heck out of there and on the road to lunch. Lunch was good country cooking – broasted chicken and fresh-snapped beans. I’m not sure I’d ever appreciated the distinctive cuisine around here.
We took the back way to Temple and the fucking huge gravel quarry which has taken over the valley. Doug says it’s been there for thirty years, which just shows how old I am. We again rehashed the story of how Uncle Temple used to own all that land, before the city slickers bought it from him for a pittance, and have been extracting a more than tidy profit from it ever since.
Spent some time staring at the house where he grew up, and where I spent time, then onward to English IN. Which is still very disconcerting …
Because the entire town of my youth, west of Uncle Temple’s house is gone! Some kind of consortium got funding to raze it and plant grass and that’s it! Three or four miles of flat level floodplain that somebody mows a few times a summer, and that’s Old English. New English is up the hill a few miles on Route 62. As Wikipedia sez: “From 1959 to 1990, English suffered six floods”, so they moved the whole town. Doug’s right, somebody made a lot of money off of that.
After the quick tour of English, Doug tried to cajole us into stopping at the family cemetery, but I’ve had it. I said no thanks and the ladies backed me up! We did do one more interesting thing, which was take a detour through Milltown. It’s just another little podunk town, except it’s in the Blue River and now has a quite thriving kayak and canoe rental business! The Blue River doesn’t look like much to me, but evidently it’s scenic enough to get the city slickers up here on the weekends to float around. Cool!
Another big storm fell upon us as we made the short down down 337 from Milltown back to Corydon. This one was pretty intense for a while, and I think all of us wished Doug would slow down or pull over, but that’s not how he rolls. We didn’t get home until almost 7PM and I for one was quite worn out by the Big Day. Doug and Patty headed back to New Palestine. Estel Lee and Mildred kindly let me stay over one more night to start fresh tomorrow.
The front part of the basement is Estel Lee’s man cave, my bedroom is in the back. I leave him to his re-runs and go upstairs to hang with Mildred. How nice to stay here one more night! Mildred is named for my mother Mildred, and our evening reminded me of a typical evening at our house growing up in the 60’s. Me and Aunt Mildred hung out in our chairs and each worked on our respective crossword puzzles and listened to the Democratic Convention waiting for Bill to come on. We did talk politics for a little while and I got to vent (gently) about her and my other Trump-loving relatives, then we went back to our puzzles. :-|