After a long drive, I have made it to Springfield, Missouri. Before I backtrack and recount the day's travels, I feel the need to draw attention to the fact that I am writing this from a comfortable bed on a sun porch with the sounds of cicadas and frogs in my ears. I am not in corn land anymore, folks. I feel like I'm in a Carson McCullers or William Faulkner novel. Even though I know I'm in the wrong part of the country for those two and I'm still technically the Midwest. It is definitely a different environment all together from what I've seen so far. It feels like Southern summertime. It's 90 degrees, steamy, with the glow of a near full moon, and a kind of electric activity in the air. But let me rewind...
I woke up this morning in West Baden or technically French Lick, Indiana. I never explained this, but French Lick and West Baden are two communities right up against each other but, until recently, when the state government forced them to consolidate for the purposes of school zoning, they had remained for most of their history as separate, and rather contentious entities. The origins of the two communities are rooted in the mineral springs here, and started their lives as competing resorts and hotels, which then grew into competing communities.
So, technically, when I said I was in West Baden, I was actually staying in French Lick. The confusion is understandable for an outsider, since the area is so small that they only recently acquired a second stop light (not actually sure if that is on the West Baden or French Lick side).
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| The hotels in their heydays. Can you feel the tension? |
I learned all of this and much much more at the French Lick Museum (or is it the West Baden Museum?). I had attempted to visit them yesterday, but they were closed for the Fourth of July. So, early this morning, I eagerly packed up and fled Granny's track house in favor of the museum. There, I met the most helpful and friendly woman, Lynn, who gave me and a couple other visitors a detailed and impassioned tour of the history of the area. I got a hold of loads of more circus resources, both literally in the form of primary source documents like circus tickets and letters between performers, and in terms of the references and facts that Lynn bestowed upon me.
Facts like the invention of the seat wagon, used by many circuses during the time, that enabled the seating to be folded out from a wagon base and reduce the set up time for the show.
I also learned many random facts about the area, like for example, that the mineral water that made the area so famous, bottled as Pluto water, is no longer bottled and sold because in the 1970s the FDA shut them down because the water was found to have trace amounts of lithium in it. No wonder it was so popular.
Also, that tomato juice was first made here, because the chef at the West Baden Springs Hotel ran out of oranges one morning and so, in desperation, he juiced the tomatoes. After this "invention," they bottled and sold their own tomato juice. So we all have West Baden, Indiana to thank for our bloody marys.
And for all you sports fans out there (and those who know me know this doesn't apply to me), West Baden is the birth place of basketball star Larry Bird. There's a sports bar/restaurant here devoted to him, that is apparently pretty terrible. I never tried it, so I can't attest to its mediocrity.
I spent a long time at the museum, and could have stayed longer, but I still had to drive the sevenish hours to Springfield today, so I bid adieu to Lynn and hit the road again. I drove through the rest of Indiana (more corn). Drove through Southern Illinois (more corn). Somewhere in between I passed Bourbon, Indiana, and, after all that corn, I was tempted to pull over to test out this place's namesake. But I kept going.
Then suddenly I found myself in Missouri and saw...NO CORN. I was shocked. As soon as I crossed the Missouri border and passed the iconic St. Louis arch, the terrain changed dramatically.
Rolling hills, craggy cliff sides, vast stretches of verdant woods. IN God's Wildness indeed!
Now, don't get me wrong. I have nothing against corn. In fact, corn to me signals summertime. But after driving for days and seeing the same cornfields outside my window with little to no variation, it was a breath of fresh air to see a new, and varied landscape. The Missouri roadways have their own quirks that kept my interest piqued on my drive.
In particular, they have the most interesting array of billboards dotting the sides of the roads. Sadly, because of my lack of solo road trip photography skills I was unable to document this accurately, but the first humorous sign grouping I saw began with one billboard that said "RENT ME" in big letters, followed by a second billboard that read "JESUS." Most likely this second sign was not actually affiliated with the first, but their close proximity made it hard not to connect the two. A few miles down the road, another billboard simply said, "Pleasure Zone."
Also, in the midst of many billboards advertising Adult Superstores, including another Lion's Den Adult Superstore, I saw my favorite billboard of the day, which read "Profanity is not Attractive." This sign was made all the more ironic by the fact that I was listening to the attractively profane hip hop mix made for me by my roommate, the DJing dentist, Mr. Maciek Dolata. I guess this girl is going to have to clean up her sailor mouth (and her sailor-tongued soundtrack) before Missouri. The fact that all of the speed signs included a maximum and minimum speed limit only added to the dichotomous climate of peculiarity of the drive. This place sure is pulled in two directions, and just can't seem to decide whether it wants to embark into the realm of hedonistic sin or righteous salvation. Maybe that's the energy in the night air that I'm feeling.
Another side note, in addition to all the erotica, Missouri seems to grow its fair share of exotica too, as in exotic animals. I saw one field that had several llamas and alpacas grazing alongside a couple emus and a herd of burros. Sadly, I was too slow to snap a picture (also, after my failed attempt to document "RENT ME, JESUS," which almost resulted in me running off the road, I figured I should holster my camera phone).
I made great time on my drive to Springfield, and got to my destination right on time. A little word on my destination: this is the first of my couchsurfing experiments. I have never couchsurfed before, but I took the plunge for this trip because I figured it would save me a lot of money and it would be a great way to meet local types. So far, I am huge fan of this process. I am staying with a wonderful woman named Nancy Rose, who immediately took me under her wing. Although not religious (like myself), she has several friends who are either practicing Pentecosts or who grew up in the church (we are in the hotbed of Pentecostalism after all) and she has offered to introduce me to them. That and she took me to a most delicious Vietnamese restaurant: I almost wept for joy at having something other than fast food, or Amy's frozen organic dinners. We shared stories about travels and our lives, and are getting along quite wonderfully. I would wax more poetically on her and her stories, but I am getting quite sleepy so I will save more of that for tomorrow. We have plans to go to the First Friday Art Walk here, which I think will be a welcome respite after my Pentecostal extravaganza tomorrow. I'm sure some art, a stiff drink, and some good, non-fire and brimstoning company will be a nice antidote.
After dinner, she took me a nice walk around the neighborhood, through gardens and parks. As we neared her house again, we heard an owl hooting in the distance. The air was hot and sticky and, though I thought this weather would make me feel lethargic, it made me feel primed for adventuring. But, my travel worn body got the best of me and after talking a long, lovely, cool shower and finishing the evening with some ice cream, I excused myself to catch you all up on my day before trying to catch some z's.
And this is where I will leave you, my dears. I hope your dreams are filled with the buzzing lullabies of night critters. I'm sure mine will be.
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| Front and back of a 1918 ticket to a performance of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus |
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| Fold out circus V.I.P seats |
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| That lady is super high on spring water |
And for all you sports fans out there (and those who know me know this doesn't apply to me), West Baden is the birth place of basketball star Larry Bird. There's a sports bar/restaurant here devoted to him, that is apparently pretty terrible. I never tried it, so I can't attest to its mediocrity.
I spent a long time at the museum, and could have stayed longer, but I still had to drive the sevenish hours to Springfield today, so I bid adieu to Lynn and hit the road again. I drove through the rest of Indiana (more corn). Drove through Southern Illinois (more corn). Somewhere in between I passed Bourbon, Indiana, and, after all that corn, I was tempted to pull over to test out this place's namesake. But I kept going.
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| Terrible picture of the Bourbon water tower. I swear I wasn't drunk when I took this: I'm just really terrible at multitasking |
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| Ubiquitous St. Louis Arch photo, the taking of which caused me to take the wrong exit and get caught in a labyrinth of road construction and bridges. |
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| This pic does not do Missouri justice. This is some real beautiful country. Soundtrack: classic rock |
In particular, they have the most interesting array of billboards dotting the sides of the roads. Sadly, because of my lack of solo road trip photography skills I was unable to document this accurately, but the first humorous sign grouping I saw began with one billboard that said "RENT ME" in big letters, followed by a second billboard that read "JESUS." Most likely this second sign was not actually affiliated with the first, but their close proximity made it hard not to connect the two. A few miles down the road, another billboard simply said, "Pleasure Zone."
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| Never found out where that Pleasure Zone was. Perhaps I'll find it in Springfield? (wink wink nudge nudge) |
Another side note, in addition to all the erotica, Missouri seems to grow its fair share of exotica too, as in exotic animals. I saw one field that had several llamas and alpacas grazing alongside a couple emus and a herd of burros. Sadly, I was too slow to snap a picture (also, after my failed attempt to document "RENT ME, JESUS," which almost resulted in me running off the road, I figured I should holster my camera phone).
I made great time on my drive to Springfield, and got to my destination right on time. A little word on my destination: this is the first of my couchsurfing experiments. I have never couchsurfed before, but I took the plunge for this trip because I figured it would save me a lot of money and it would be a great way to meet local types. So far, I am huge fan of this process. I am staying with a wonderful woman named Nancy Rose, who immediately took me under her wing. Although not religious (like myself), she has several friends who are either practicing Pentecosts or who grew up in the church (we are in the hotbed of Pentecostalism after all) and she has offered to introduce me to them. That and she took me to a most delicious Vietnamese restaurant: I almost wept for joy at having something other than fast food, or Amy's frozen organic dinners. We shared stories about travels and our lives, and are getting along quite wonderfully. I would wax more poetically on her and her stories, but I am getting quite sleepy so I will save more of that for tomorrow. We have plans to go to the First Friday Art Walk here, which I think will be a welcome respite after my Pentecostal extravaganza tomorrow. I'm sure some art, a stiff drink, and some good, non-fire and brimstoning company will be a nice antidote.
After dinner, she took me a nice walk around the neighborhood, through gardens and parks. As we neared her house again, we heard an owl hooting in the distance. The air was hot and sticky and, though I thought this weather would make me feel lethargic, it made me feel primed for adventuring. But, my travel worn body got the best of me and after talking a long, lovely, cool shower and finishing the evening with some ice cream, I excused myself to catch you all up on my day before trying to catch some z's.
And this is where I will leave you, my dears. I hope your dreams are filled with the buzzing lullabies of night critters. I'm sure mine will be.
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