OLA: Standing at the Crossroads of America 2

a dinosaur 's tail crashes into a building wall at The Children's Museum!

The third definition of a crossroad is this: a place where many roads intersect. And that is Indiana, the Crossroads of America! All intersecting at Indianapolis are four major interstate highways, more than any other American city: I 65, I 69, I 70, and I 74.  If you look at the map, Indiana literally looks like a cobweb! But this is not the only reason why many roads intersect in the state. The Indiana Motor Speedway draws thousands of motorists to the Indy 500 in this, the Racing Capital of the World!

 

Indiana Motor Speedway @ Racing Capital of the World

Last year we were at the other popular speedway, the Daytona 400 in the northeastern coast of Florida. There, obviously newer, even the colorful seats are an attraction. But this one in Speedway, Indiana, an Indianapolis burb, was founded in 1090 and is the country’s oldest racing institution. It is host to the 500-mile Indy 500. Another favorite, NASCAR’s Brickyard 40, was scheduled that weekend, probably why there was a long row of Corvettes in every color parked in front of the Museum.

row of Corvettes in different colors in front of
Indiana Motor Speedway Racing Capital Museum

At the corner of Gliceratops and Triceratops Avenues (make-believe streets in downtown Indianapolis) is the top-ranked Children’s Museum. I was startled by a huge dinosaur coming out of a building wall and another whose head is going into the top floor of an adjacent buiilding! I took as many photos as I can for my 5-year old grandson Enzo who lives in Calgary, Alberta. Through the city center is a copy of the San Antonio River Walk, Canal Walk. Although not as beautiful, it is still a very relaxing place to be.

a covered bridge in Eunochsburg

tree at the Greensburg courthouse tower

Iowa beat Indiana in that two of its covered bridges were featured in the movie, The Bridges of Madison County. But with almost 40 covered bridges around the state, it is considered to be the Covered Bridges Capital of the World! One of them is only 10 miles away at Eunochsburg, one of 3 old German towns we visited. Not far is Greensburg where a tree is growing out of the tower of its courthouse! And also only ten minutes away is Oldenburg, an old town called the Village of the Spires, has a self-sufficient convent of the Sister of St. Francis founded in 1851.

three of the village spires in Oldenburg

water slide at the flea market in Indian Lakes Resort

With Bill’s knee surgery, however, most of the time we simply relaxed in our campground in Batesville, Indiana. Luckily, the Indian Lakes Resort, off I 74, is a very nice place to be. It has a 9-hole golf course, private sites for more than 200 families, a large lake with plenty of water activities, a large clubhouse with pool and spa, a great adult lodge, a teen center, a large restaurant/general store/gas station, and lots of activities. During one of the weekends we were there, there was even a special Open House with a flea market, concerts, free movies with free popcorn, car show, golf carts contest, a water slide, etc. 

vintage RVs in front of the campground

There was even an RV dealer in front of the campground that had vintage 1940 trailers! And about a mile east was a cool little Junkyard Art Home!  And we began making friends again, in this state where many roads intersect, east meets west, old meets new, and junk meets art.  It is also where many people meet and make new friends like Karl & Pat Klein and Woody & Donna Caudill!

junkyard art home near the campground

WOW: Becoming More Than Tourists

colorful murals on old grain elevators off I-80 in Omaha, Nebraska 

We started this cruising lifestyle right after Bill sold his business in February 2009. We went to the Philippines for a 2-month visit, after which we visited Bill's friend in Taiwan for 2 weeks and flirted briefly with the idea of teaching English there! But as soon as we were back in Seattle, we sold most of our belongings in about 3 garage sales and several listings on craigslist and bought Star, our very first RV. Then we had our condo rented out, off we went to become full time tourist!

We have completed these trips: from Seattle to the Arctic Circle and back to Seattle-July to September 2009,  from Seattle through Mexico to Florida-September 2009 to March 2010, and from Florida back to Seattle-April 2010 to February 2011.  On this last trip, we bought our current RV/dinghy, M’A ‘turn. Then we visited the Philippines and HK for 3 months and now we are on the 2nd month of our 4th trip, from Seattle back to Florida (June 2011 to March 2012)...about 50,000 miles among Star, Vino, & M'A'turn!

Our 5th trip will be from Florida to Nova Scotia to Nevada (April to November 2012) , after which we may return to Asia or begin our European tour! You may see the two maps on our left side bar to see our progress! We started out as tourists, armed with a bucket list of 50 states and 88 countries. Thus far we have visited 27 and 5, respectively…certainly a long way yet to go. But now our 2 boards are heavy with  our collection of magnets and are we glad we bought our Nikon SLR!

A tourist is defined as a person who is traveling for pleasure. We have certainly fitted that description! Just look at our last 3 posts which cover the Great Plains. Driving through the I-80 leaving Omaha and going to Council Bluffs, Iowa, we spotted these huge old grain elevators painted with murals! Then, while our RV’s heating/air-conditioning system was being repaired at Camping World, were told there is a unique rotary jail that served as the county jail from 1882-1969!  Yes, that’s right…rotary!

the model of the rotary jail

The jail has 3 floors and looks like…a large bird cage, actually! It is cranked by hand to let any cell open to a fixed door on each floor which has 10 cells. Designed for 2, sometimes 5 were made to fit each one! The ground floor of the shell had tables for free time.  Efficiency, not only in space but in guards (needed only 2), and security were the reasons for the design. It was discontinued when it suffered a slight tilt and people realized that it could be a fire/death trap.

Carol with an inmate

From this place of inhumane conditions, we next found the Grotto of Redemption. The problem was it is about 70 miles from I-35, our route to Minnesota! That meant about a 3 hour diversion and about $65 in gas. But the little ad on the Iowa travel mag said it is considered to be the Eighth Wonder of the World, much like what Filipinos say of the Ifugao Rice Terraces in the Philippines! So we unhooked our ‘turn, left our M’A at a church parking lot in Clear Lake, Iowa and proceeded to West Bend.

frontal view of the Grotto 

Indeed, the Grotto is a very special place. It is a complex of 9 grottos (Garden of Eden, 3 grottos of the Stations of the Cross, Stable of Bethlehem, Jesus'  home in Nazareth, the Trinity, Ten Commandments, and Gethsemane), made from 43 different kinds of gems. The most delicate stones are in the Grotto inside the Christmas Chapel. They were made entirely by the hands of 3 men. Father Dobberstein, who studied geology in Germany before migrating to America and entering the priesthood, offered to build this shrine to the Blessed Virgin for her intercession when he was with pneumonia.

back view of the Grotto

He became a pastor in West Bend in 1898 and started collecting rocks and gems from all over the US with the help of his right hand, Matthew Szerensce. Work on the Grotto officially started in 1912 and upon his death in 1954, about 80 % of the plan was done. 8 years before his death, Rev. L.H. Greving started to assist him in the parish. Together with Matthew, he continued his work after the death of Father Dobberstein until his own passing in 2002.

Grotto of Incarnation
at the Christmas Chapel

Now the Grotto is estimated to be worth over $2M in materials, priceless in labor!  That was, I thought, a true, though little, pilgrimage! A pilgrim is a person who travels, especially over some distance, to a sacred place as an act of devotion. There was a smile of my face…we are probably becoming more than tourists! And that song I have come to love so much, America the Beautiful, took on greater significance. ‘O beautiful for spacious skies…..O beautiful, for pilgrim feet!

The better known first stanza is for America’s natural beauty which we have certainly visited as tourists. But the second is for America’s human beauty which we are also discovering as pilgrims! After all, Bill and his forefathers were pilgrims and I may have just become one! When we visit Wisconsin, we plan to make another little pilgrimage to Holy Hill, suggested to us by our friend, Didi Manarang, Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Customs in the Philippines. And we will embark on more!

Rounding Out Our Great Plains Adventure: OLA

a covered bridge from the 'Bridges of Madison County' in Winterset, Iowa

We were fearful for the next day when we had to cross the Midwest (the breadbasket of the US where the land is very fertile, ideal for oats, wheat, and corn. Central Luzon, the rice granary of the Philippines seems like a speck against these vast green and amber waves of grain, the graceful grain terraces, and the wind turbines that power them). There had been so much swelling of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers due to early melts, we didn’t know what to expect, and we had heard about the devastation.

grains terraces on the Great Plains

The Great Plains is that section of the Midwest that is the most flat, covering the states of North and South Dakota (except for the Black Hils), Nebraska, and Kansas. Often described as having the most homogeneous (and monotonous) topography of any part of the US, the region experiences the greatest extremes in temperature and climatic conditions. Winters are cold, with frequent snowy blizzards, while summers bring hot, dry winds. Before we left the eastern part of South Dakota, it was over 100 degrees!

wind turbines at dusk

The Great Plains also experience more tornadoes (remember Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz?) than any other region. Joplin, Missouri, close to the southeastern tip of Kansas was most recently devastated by a killer tornado. When the region was first being settled in the late 1800s, periods of good rainfall attracted a large numbers of settlers. Then several years of drought that turned fields into dry wastelands, discouraged them. The worst dust bowls occurred in the depression years of the 1930s.

the Corn Palace at Mitchell

It is only fitting that a proud testament to the hardworking people stands in Mitchell, South Dakota. The world’s only Corn Palace was started in 1882 and is rebuilt annually from 275,000 ears of corn at a cost of $130,000. Using 12 different colors of corn and trimmed by grass, rye, wheat, etc., an artist’s design is executed on a building shell. This year the design theme is called ‘American Pride.’ In Sioux Falls, the Missouri River is broken by pink granite rocks that create a pretty system of little waterfalls. 

`

Sioux Falls in the city of the same name

Boys Town, a national landmark in Omaha

Just southeast of the Badlands are the Sand Hills of central Nebraska but we didn’t know so we missed them and the famous Chimney Rock. But it was a pleasant surprise to know that it was in Omaha, Nebraska where Boys Town was born. In 1917 Father Flannagan bought Overlook Farm and dedicated his ‘home’ to the care, treatment, and education of at-risk children. There are now 14 centers in America saving millions of children. Between Omaha and Council Bluffs is also the longest pedestrian bridge linking 2 states. 

the longest pedestrian bridge connecting Nebraska and Iowa

Bill's first home in Omaha, Nebraska

Bill started his family in Omaha, where, after working for a year at Caterpillar Tractors’ HQ in Illinois (where he met his late wife), he was reassigned. All three of his children were born there at the very first house he ever bought.  He had just graduated from Pittsburg State University in his hometown in Kansas when he joined the earth-moving equipment giant. And it was also in Omaha where he moved on to Burroughs which finally brought him to Seattle, where thirty-five years later we would eventually meet!

sections of I-29 that hugged the Missouri River
 between Nebraska and Iowa, submerged by the river's flood waters

Rosemary, Jack, Bill, Joe and Susan,
with Bill in Kansas City

So we also drove to Kansas City to meet his only sister, Rosemary, her husband Jack, and her children Joe and Bill, and Susan, Joe’s wife. Ordinarily the trip from Omaha to Kansas City would have taken 3 hours at most. It took us four hours and 15 minutes, each way! I could not believe it. Memories of Manila floods that leveled our tiny home beside an overflowing creek welled in my mind as I saw flood waters, being released from dams, submerge big sections of I-29, a huge American freeway!

John Wayne's birthplace in Winterset, Iowa

But before we moved on, we stopped at Council Bluffs, Iowa where we had our RV checked out at Camping World. While they worked on the heating/airconditioning system, we discovered that the famous Bridges in Madison County was just 2 hours away in Winterset. That is where Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep denied each other the love of their life!  And the town is also John Wayne’s birthplace!!! His home is just the right size...if only it were yellow! How is that for rounding out our adventure in the Great Plains?

Malcolm X's birthplace on the same street at Bll's Omaha home

Next Stops: Minnesota and Wisconsin