Chicago and Frank Lloyd Wright

Note:  I published 2 blogs today... our experience with Bessie and the Pawn Star follows this since they are in reverse order.

Chicago proved to be MUCH BETTER than Indianapolis (which to be fair, we only drove around on the outer loop).  Our campground was in a County Park fairly close to the city and was brand new.  It had only been open 2-3 weeks.  After settling in we drove downtown.  The Navy Pier was a not quite as much fun as I remembered, but they had completed the big Ferris wheel (sort of like the “Eye” in London) and riding it gave us a nice overview of the city. 

  We had researched another good segway trail and got them out and rode both South and North along the Lake Side trail.  Along the North side where the “beaches” were they had buoyed off a lane for swimmers.  They all had on wet suits and when we asked one how cold the water was, she shook my hand.  It was freezing!!  We realized the swimmers were practicing for a triathlon when we rode along the South side and saw the staging and signs (wave 47, gather here in this “cattle gate”). 

Deb taking a picture of Dave with swimmer and "Eye" in background!

  We rode all the way to the Museum district and wished we had planned more time in Chicago.  We also rode through Grant Park.  The fountain there reminded us of Trevi in Rome, and we remembered it was here that Obama spoke after his first election (and Keith was there). 

  Our only disappointment was that none of the sports bars were carrying the Panther/Patriot game.  We settled in at “Harry Carey’s” on the Navy Pier and when they didn’t have it, called around to several others.  But since it was a preseason game, the NFL Network was only carrying it on its 2^nd tier.  We would have to make do, with checking for updates on our phone and on the scroll of the local game. (Finally Cam found his stride, but someone put some “stick-um” on Corey’s gloves!)

Saturday, was Frank Lloyd Wright Day.  We had tickets to tour his home and studio and to take a walking tour of Oak Park, to see some of the houses he designed (from the outside).  Our guide, Felix, was an architect and was very knowledgeable. The house was built before Wright developed his Prarie style and was his take on a Victorian.

  The children’s playroom which was huge with a rounded vaulted ceiling was the most impressive.   It had a gallery, where the children performed, and a grand piano was recessed under the gallery and over a stairwell.  The risers and a panel were hinged so that they could be opened to allow the sound to come into the room.  The art glass in this room and the dining room were amazing.

Dave in Children's room... note gallery above him, glass on ceiling, piano lower left

Piano suspended in stairwell

  His studio was octagonal shaped with more art glass and was built in the “round” (a series of twisted octagons) with an atrium in the middle (is this where Ben got the idea for the office in Greenville?).  The drafters sat on the bottom tier and the artists (including a potter – how messy must that have been!) were on the top level.  Wright’s office and library were interesting for the psychological twists.  In his office, folks sat on “black and blue” chairs so uncomfortable that they didn’t stay long!  His looked the same, but had cushions and a more comfortable “fit”.  In the library, where the “pin up” boards were and where he did most of his sketching and work, light was brought in through art glass clearstory windows above eye level, and through a skylight, so that while the area was bathed in light, the windows did not distract the clients from looking at his proposed (or dictated, in Wright’s case!) drawings.   Another example of this was the way he twisted a window 90 degrees in a bathroom, to allow light in, but to obstruct the view of the bathroom from outside.

Gallery in studio.  Felix in blue

Window twisted in bathroom

About the time we were gathering for the walking tour, the “bottom let out” and the misty rain of the morning gave way to torrents.  But Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts are hearty souls, and only one couple of our 10 member group gave up.  (Yes, we love FLW, plus we were already wet after the first house AND we had paid so much for the non-refundable tickets…!!)  The second house was the most amazing to me.

We decided to dry out at Revolution, a local brew pub.  It was really in “NoDa (on steroids, with a Cuban twist!)”.  The beer was interesting, and the food was amazing.  Luckily we had to wait long enough for a seat, to see how big the portions were, so we split a burger - great beef with pulled pork.  Dave was in heaven!

As I write this, Dave is reading the Observer and telling me about Steve Smith giving the crowd a bow as he left the game, being ejected for a fight.  The world must be spinning OK, for the front page is taken up by the Copal Grill sign being on Craig’s List.  We decided that Noah Lazus, the developer of the Music Factory, should buy up all the signs to go with the JFG sign, and create a “sculpture garden” there.  The paper also said that gas in SC was now $1.69… we’re paying twice that!  BUT the weather has been pleasant and cool.  I even wore a sweater one night!

On to Taliesin in Wisconsin:  Frank Lloyd Wright’s 2^nd studio.

Bessie and the Pawn Stars

Before we left Charlotte, Dave bought two “For Sale” signs to put on Bessie.  As we were rolling through the cornfields and soybean fields of Indiana, she logged her 70,000^th mile.  That’s not much for 16, but she’s at the point where things are breaking fairly regularly (see posts about brakes and gear shifts in New England!).  I taped them into the windows as we were leaving Kentucky.  Before we even turned her off at the campground near Indianapolis, we were approached by a guy who wanted to know about her.  He had just bought a used RV, and wanted a 2^nd one so that his “big family” could travel together.  “I’m a serious buyer,” he said as he peaked inside.  “We’ll go to the bank, and it’ll be a cash deal.  I’ll be back with the wife in about a ½ hour after you set up.”

 If nothing else, it got Bessie clean.  I straightened and vacuumed while David checked the internet with his mi-fi to verify his price and made a list of what we would take, and what we would leave.  We figured we would be leaving $2000-$3000 worth of furnishings and equipment (not to mention at least $200 in groceries we wouldn’t be able to pack in the cooler or use in the truck).  “This is too good to be true,” we kept telling ourselves, “less than a 50-50 chance.”  But we had sold a house once on the afternoon we put the borrowed for sale sign up, why not?

His 2nd visit with his wife, who did not say a word, and son who was 17 and going to school on the internet (we had our mi-fi, but otherwise there was no internet in the campground and they were there for a week) definitely didn’t pan out!  They inspected our unit and then it became evident that their negotiating tactic was to show us their unit and impress us with the deal they had gotten.  “Guess what I paid” he said.  And Dave did guess twice what he reported as the price.  Or did he automatically half it?  He had already blown a couple of tires and had to replace them after buying it just a few days ago, and was worried about having it up on jacks to level it (the front tires were completely off the ground).  He probably had gotten a bargain, but we made it clear that while we might have some “wiggle room,” we weren’t giving Bessie away.  It seemed he became more vague the more he talked.  Something just didn’t ring true.  There was a “off the wall” factor and the “big family” was obviously absent.  He was a pawn broker with his dad, and while not Chumly, or Big Hoss (History Channel Pawn Star reference), we weren’t sure if he was playing with a full deck.  He wanted to research it a little once he got internet and would fly out and meet us with cash.  No offer was made.  While we exchanged email addresses, we would bet the farm that we won’t hear from him again.  And we’re not sure we want to sell Bessie to him regardless (though, if you “show us the money”…sorry Bessie) Right after he left, Dave went to raise the antennae, and the handle broke.  Is Bessie mad at us?  [Dave’s note:  just before Deb posted this I reminded her that we left them our card with the blog address,  so Chumly may be reading this.  Oops!  Chumly, we apologize but know that even I occasionally get roasted by Deb’s story telling.  She takes after her dad.]

We had planned to take the segways to a “South End/NoDa” sounding neighborhood in Indianapolis that had a bike trail along an abandoned railroad (why can’t Charlotte find one of these!!?), but after wasting an hour with Mr. Pawn Star, recovering from a 4 hr. drive that turned into 6, and being disappointed in the campground  (“Spa?  What internet site were you looking at?  We turned that thing off two years ago.”), we decided to eat “get it yourself or starve” and fall into bed early.  Let’s just say this wasn’t our favorite stop.  At least we got it out of the way near the first of the trip.  It’ll only go up from here.

The Grand Circle is Finger Licking Good!

Today we set out on a grand circle of the USA.  We plan to be out about a month.  That sounds long, but we feel like we are "pushing it" even before we start.  We have a lot of what we call "stop and drops" to reach our destinations on schedule.  I thought being retired meant you didn't have a schedule...c'est la vie.

We are taking the northern route out through Chicago, Denver, Lake Tahoe "ending" near Santa Cruz for our niece's wedding.  Then we plan to hit some of our favorite wineries and discover some new ones in Paso Robles.  There we hope to find a place to store Betsy the RV, and then go by truck down to San Diego then start east going through Tuscon, where Dave has an interest in a brewery, and San Antonio, one of the larger towns in Texas we haven't visited.  Then home.  That's the plan... we also hope to find some surprises along the way, and we already have!!

We plan to do about 300 miles per day in the RV, which made our first "stop and drop" in Corbin, Kentucky.  As we were pulling off I-75, there was a sign to "The Harland Sanders Cafe and Museum, Home of KFC".  Anyone who knows Dave, knows we had to stop.  After we settled Betsy into the campground, we took the truck there.  It was pretty much a regular KFC with a little museum attached.  The dining room has the original tables and you can see the first kitchen and a motel room from the Sanders Motor Lodge which used to be next door.  The motel room was in the original cafe as a marketing tool for the motor lodge.  The Colonel realized that the women usually checked out the rooms in his motor lodge before having their husbands book the room, so he put a mock up of a room inside the cafe right across from the women's bathroom!  In the display cases there was a 50 lb. barrel of seasoned flour that he would ship to the cafes once he started the franchise.  He would strip the barrel of all markings to keep his recipe and seasonings a secret.  The food was strictly KFC, but its hard to beat greasy chicken.  We bought enough for lunch along the road the next few days!!   On to Indianapolis.

If you could make it fit our diet, we'd come more often!

So much for the diet:  lunch for several days!!