Road Trip 2009: Day Four

Saturday, June 13th - We woke up with a start this morning. Or rather, Kat jumping up and saying, "Get up! We didn't set an alarm last night!" And she was right. We hadn't. And it was already 10:47am. Luckily, checkout wasn't until noon, but we did miss the continental breakfast by the poolside that I had been looking forward to.

On the road again, we traveled 15 miles south to the town of Riverside, IA, the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. This had been one of the first locations I wanted to visit when we were still in the planning stages for this trip. But alas, I didn't know what to expect or see. As we pulled off the highway, we were immediately greeted by the Riverside town sign, with the greeting, "Where the Best Begins," but interestingly, the "Best" had been crossed out and replaced with the word "Trek." To burn the moment in all of our minds, Arp used his Samsung smart phone to play the theme from "Star Trek: The Original Series."


A moment of pure geekdom.

The town itself was relatively small. So small, in fact, that we almost missed a small business called "The Voyage Home." Half the store was dedicated to "Star Trek" and the 25th anniversary of Trek Fest and the other half to the history of the town, including the shooting in the town of the short reality miniseries called "Invasion Iowa," starring William Shatner. I will admit I'm a little bummed that we'll be missing Trek Fest, as it's actually occurring in just two weekends (Trek Fest occurs the last Saturday of every June in Riverside.) This year, George Takei, Walter Koenig, and Nichelle Nichols are all attending, which sounds awesome. For next year, they're hoping to coax Leonard Nimoy and Chris Pine (the actor portraying James Kirk in the current JJ Abrams' film) into joining Trek Fest.


Outside the store was a shuttlecraft lovingly built out of wood, plastic, paper, and old computer parts. It sat on a trailer, to be transported at a moment's notice to wherever it is needed, much like the store's larger Enterprise model, which was sadly away at a parade this afternoon.

The store itself is a collection of Star Trek goodies, past and present, including posters, comic books, action figures, toys, books, movies, etc. Also available are a number of souvenirs, most related to Trek Fest, but also a couple to "Invasion Iowa" and of course, Riverside itself. I couldn't help but revel at many of the items, especially the photos and props from "Invasion Iowa." Let me tell you. "Invasion Iowa" is a great series that I hope soon makes its way to DVD. Basically, William Shatner goes to Riverside, IA to "shoot" a short science fiction film. Of course, what they're shooting isn't for real, and it's the making of this fake movie that is the show. Through Shatner's actions, we meet the inhabitants of Riverside, and it ends up being extremely touching. He recruits many of them for the movie itself, as either cast or crew, and in the end, when he reveals the show's true intentions, he presents everyone involved with items or cash to help them as thanks for their time. It was a beautiful thing by the end of it all.

So I got to see a number of great props from the show, as well as some incredible candids. The women there were extremely friendly, and pointed us in the direction of where to find the ACTUAL future birthplace of James T. Kirk, just up the street. We drove, parked, and found it without too much trouble, nestled behind a salon and a store called Vintageville. It was a rather large stone, denoting the words, "Future Birthplace of Captain James T Kirk, March 22, 2228." Interestingly, I didn't realize that the date is also the birth date of William Shatner. Huh.


We then went into Vintageville and met the very nice woman running the store who had lived in Riverside for eight years after moving there with her husband. We looked through the store, and after departing, made our way to Murphy's Pub, a local bar which also partakes in the Trek craze by hanging up a huge poster which reads, "Future Home of Shipyard Bar in 2258." Those who saw the new "Star Trek" film will know what this refers to.


With content hearts and full bellies, we hit the road again, our final destination to be North Sioux City, South Dakota. But we had other plans before setting off in that direction. Namely: Omaha. And just why might we want to go to Omaha, Nebraska? One word: steak.

We traveled the full extent of Iowa, stopping a number of times for locations found via roadsideamerica.com.


The first was a giant cow in Iowa City.


The second was a bank that Bonnie and Clyde robbed back in 1934 in Stuart.

The third was a water tower painted completely in yellow with a smiley face in Adair.


And the fourth was a VW bug converted into a huge steel spider in Avoca. These were all very cool and certainly helped break up the monotony of the drives. Kat even went as far as to make her own "IOWA" board similar to that of a "BINGO" board with names of different cities we were hoping to find. Unfortunately, she never did get "IOWA" by the time we reached Nebraska.

Oh,and we also stopped in Des Moines hoping to see the first bar that Slipknot (heavy metal band that originated in Des Moines) had played at when they formed back in the mid-90s. The name of the venue was the Safari Club back then, and a few years after was renamed Hairy Mairys. We searched for it under that name, only to discover that it had been changed yet again a few years ago and was now called the Dublin Bar. Unfortunately, it was no longer a place to hear new rock and punk music like it had been before. Now, it was simply another Irish pub. Oh well.


So Des Moines didn't quite live up to what I had been expecting, but that was all about to turnaround with our trip to Omaha. Our restaurant of choice? The Omaha Chophouse. We had an incredibly nice waiter, ordered a lovely bottle of Merlot, and each enjoyed a choice Omaha steak.


Kat and I each had a NY strip and Arp had a porterhouse. It was an incredibly tasty meal, as you would expect from a company that produces steaks and ships them around the world.


From there, we had another 100 miles to drive through the dead of night to North Sioux City, where we finally reached our final destination at a Country Inn and Suites. And when I say dead of night, I mean it, as there were times on the highway when there were absolutely NO lights. Nothing on the horizon. Nothing on the road other than us. No moon. No stars. Nothing. We are definitely not in Jersey anymore.

Road Trip 2009: Day Three - Part 2

Friday, June 12th (cont) - The first thing you notice when you step off the above ground train at Wrigley Field is how the stadium is literally built into the surrounding neighborhood. Rooftops from nearby buildings overlook the ivy grown walls of the outfield while street venders fill the area directly outside the stadium. I've been to Fenway in Boston, and the difference there is that they actually close down the streets surrounding the stadium. In Chicago, it seems they can't, though the fans make the area almost impassable by car or bus.


I loved the feel of the stadium, the history of it all, which it has a lot of since it was built back in 1914. The scoreboard is all done by hand, with large wooden number boards being used to replace the number of runs scored each inning. There aren't many men's rooms, so they've instituted a trough system, in which men stand side by side and basically urinate into a large, open, steel pan together. In some case, you actually face other men across a brick barrier, almost forcing conversation while you relieve yourself. Maybe I missed out, but I chose not to engage others in conversation while I emptied my bladder.


Then, there's the footlong Chicago Style Dawgs, topped with any number of toppings from cheese, chili, sport peppers, onions, kraut, pickle spear, ketchup, mustard, relish, and more. We each got one in addition to an order of chili cheese fries and Old Style beers (the local brew.)


The game itself was beautiful, sunny, though a little chilly. We had bought three tickets on StubHub yesterday, two together, and another a few seats away. I chose the irregular seat, and kept on moving as people filled in seats around us. Sort of fun, meeting new people every time I sat down.

The final score was 7-4, with the Twins beating the Cubs, upsetting a large number of Cubs fans but exciting the large contingent of Twins fans in attendance. After the game, we got back on the subway, piled into Faith, and drove off towards our final destination: Coralville, IA.

The drive was pleasant, with the sun slowly fading beyond the horizon. We hit a little traffic, but then it was smooth sailing. At least, until we neared the Mississippi River. Then things got a little strange.

The first thing we experienced was what looked like a police manhunt. We had stopped at a Love's Rest Stop, and a local police car had followed us in, eyeballing us from what I could tell. I then noticed the next two cars also had cops behind them. This is when I began to feel like something was going on.

We got back on Route 80 and continued, only to get stopped a few miles later. But we weren't the only ones stopped - the police had stopped the ENTIRE HIGHWAY. We were towards the front of the blockage, and could see that a flashing police car was sitting in the middle of both lanes. Finally, they let us by, and we noticed a car on the side of the road, with MA plates and an open passengers side door. Our conclusion? Someone had stolen a car with Massachusetts plates, and then fled the cops. That would explain why we were followed, and why the traffic was backed up. Of course, we can't confirm any of this, but it was a little strange, nonetheless.

Anyway, we continued, and night fell as we approached the Iowa border. Rain drops began to fall, and we dropped to one lane to cross the majestic Mississippi. Unfortunately, we couldn't see much, and reached the other side without much fanfare.


A few miles into Iowa, we saw the "Welcome to Iowa" sign and decided to pull over to flash a few photos (as we've done the whole trip.) The situation was a little rough, with the rain falling, and tractor trailer trucks going 70+ mph past us. I deftly pulled the car off the road, maybe 40 feet from the sign, and Kat and Arp leaned out their windows to shoot what they could. I told them to keep it quick as I was worried about police, and suddenly, Kat blurts out, "Drive! Benni drive! There's someone out here!" I suddenly noticed a low voice, saying something I couldn't understand, and stepped on the gas without thinking about it. We were back on the road within seconds.

We're not entirely sure what happened, but it seems as though there are one of three options: 1) a hitchhiker was sitting in the forest by the sign, looking for a ride when curious passerbys would surely stop at the sign, 2) it was a police car, hidden in the woods, telling us to move on, or 3) a scary highway ghost. Arp couldn't make out what the voice said, but definitely heard a "Hey" followed by some other garbled words.

We were all shaken up a bit, so we pulled over at the next rest stop. The rain was now falling a little more steadily and we took shelter inside. After we used the restrooms, we were approached by an Iowa Rest Stop Maintenance man. I didn't catch his name, but he had one tooth and a number of what I can only assume were prison tattoos. I wasn't sure what to expect, especially after our most recent encounter, but he ended up being a friendly guy who was really excited to show us the new HELP computer set up in the foyer of the rest stop. It showed you weather, traffic, roadwork, current events, etc. We thanked him (as we learned about the severity of the oncoming storm), and departed, a little more rested than when we had entered.

We drove on for another 60 miles through the rain, and reached Coralville, IA, where our Best Western awaited. But not just any Best Western. This place was actually called the Cantebury Inn and Suites with an attached Restaurant and Pub called the House of Lords. It had a drawbridge with a small moat leading to the lobby, a couple of towers with flags flying, and gargoyles everywhere. On top of that, our room had doors overlooking the interior pool area. It was a nice distraction from the troubles of the night.



One last tidbit for you about the day. Once we got into Coralville, it was already 11:15pm, so we didn't have many choices for dinner. We ended up going to the Burger King drive thru. I wasn't sure what kind of service we might expect, but to our surprise, the man on the other end of the speaker was spunky. But even more than just spunky. For example, I told him that I'd like the 6-piece Burger Shot meal with onion rings and coke. He remarked, "Cool man. Good choice." Then I told him I also wanted the new Burger Extreme 3-cheese XT meal with onion rings and a coke. This time, his response, "Dude, THAT is a great burger. An excellent choice." Finally, I gave him my order, a number 6 with onion rings and a diet coke. His thoughts? "Good one. You'll really like it."

We all laughed at this slightly peculiar service at such a late time of night, and could only imagine that this guy was either really enthusiastic at what he does, or he was high. Or on speed. I only say this because he almost forgot to take my money. I actually had to say, "Hey man. Let me give you the $21.06 I owe you." And he said, "Oh yeah. Thanks dude."

And that was how our night ended. In our Castle, with our zesty sauce and rings of onion. I passed out after some Adult Swim and looked forward to what the continental breakfast had in store for us in the morning.

Road Trip 2009: Day Three - Part 1

Friday, June 12th - Today is best characterized by something Kat said. I don't remember her exact quote, so I'll paraphrase. She said, "Even though we're all the way out in Illinois, things don't seem so different. Living in Jersey gives you the best of the city, the best of the country, and prepares you for almost anything."

By the time we crossed the Mississippi River and entered IOWA, she rethought her comments, for we had truly entered a different world. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The day began in a flurry of booking tonight's hotel, finding mass transit to the Cubs game, and trying to figure out what our plan for tomorrow would be. We made it out of the hotel by checkout and then proceeded to the Orange Line Subway System where there was a Park and Ride.


The payment system for the Park and Ride wasn't quite as sophisticated as we're used to. It consisted of a board of slots with the number of the parking spaces above the slots where you folded your money three times, and then pressed it in through the tiny opening. You were then instructed to clear the slot with a car key. It was a little strange, but honestly, our car wasn't towed, so all was well.

We quickly learned the layout of the Chicago subway system (understand the Loop and you understand the key to getting around) and proceeded to the Red Line. The funny thing about the stop for Wrigley Field is that it's simply called "Addison Street." Nothing more. I actually had to cross-coordinate the location of the field with the nearest subway spot to find out which to take. You think they would have called it something like "Wrigley Field."

Of course, we could have just followed all the Cubs fans. That may have been a little easier.

Enjoy the rest of the pictures as it looks like we're on our way for Saturday's travels. I'll need to tell you about the rest of Friday tonight when we reach North Sioux City, SD. A long way to go today, but that means that tomorrow, we'll be at Mt. Rushmore. Awesome.

Road Trip 2009: Day Two - Part 2

And now, for the exciting conclusion to Thursday, otherwise known as Day 2! Last time you were with us, we had just finished visiting the amazing fountain seen in the opening credits of "Married with Children."

From there, we continued our walk around lovely Grant Park in Chicago, and came across an incredible set of statues created by Magdalena Abakanowicz. The name of this particular piece of art? Agora. 106 cast iron figures created in Poland at the Srem Foundry between 2003 and 2006. These statues seem to represent how we walk around everyday, from one side to another, and then back again, hollow, not seeing or feeling because all anyone ever sees in us is our exterior.


Or maybe they're just awesome statues. Cause they were.

From there, we went to dinner at an incredible Italian restaurant called Giordano's. I had been there once before, and just had to go again to see if the last time I went was a fluke or if it was really THAT good. And I'm happy to say that it was just as good this time, if not better.


Kat, Arp, and I ordered a 12" stuffed crust pizza with green peppers, fresh tomatoes, and sausage. So satisfying. And filling. I had three slices and it was so incredibly rich that I had to roll out of the restaurant.


We weren't really sure where to go next, so we took some advice from a guy Arp had started a conversation with at the Giordano's bar. He had come up from Indianapolis for work and had been told to go to two places specifically: Giordano's for dinner, and Blue Chicago for live music. Since it was only a few blocks away, we walked over to a small building with just a bit of neon.


We entered, and immediately I felt a kinship with this place. We grabbed a table for the three of us and waited for the band to start playing. Tonight we were treated to the Shirley Johnson Blues Band. And it was everything you could ever want out of live Chicago blues. Five piece band plus the incredible vocalist, Shirley Johnson. They played three sets (though we could only stay for the first.) I remember leaning up against the wall, and could feel the pounding of the drums and bass guitar. The sax sounded magnificent, and the two guitars worked together, creating an aural experience that I simply loved. They played some classics, some new stuff, and all of it about hard lovin' women and cheatin' men. You just gotta love the blues!

So I had to buy Shirley's newest CD, "Blues Attack," and she even signed it herself. SO cool.


Once back out on the street, we went to get the car from the garage, and proceeded to our next Best Western for the night in Naperville, IL, about 20 miles west of Chicago. It was a nice distance away, and gave us a wonderfully restful feeling, which we all needed before we all passed out from another long and satisfying day.

Tomorrow, we proceed to the Chicago Cubs game, and then, into IOWA. What awaits us there? Stay tuned for more.

Road Trip 2009: Day Two - Part 1

The day started off as kind of a bummer, as you read earlier. The showers were rolling in, and our dreams of riding Maverick and Millenium Force at Cedar Point were dashed. Instead, we decided to hit the road and move our plans up a day.

In the car, we made our way slowly to Chicago through the inclement weather, searching for something to do today. The minigolf course under the mortuary was booked, the homemade X-Wing Fighter was already behind us, and the oldest Planetarium in the country would be closing before we got there. What were three crazy kids on the road supposed to do?

Well, we did what we do best: we utilized our technology. From the front seat, Arp and Kat used our built in GPS to search for things to do in Chicago while I used Arp's smartphone and my cell phone to research possible tickets to a Chicago Cubs game tomorrow. Within an hour, we not only had our next desination (the Buckingham Fountain in Chicago), but also tickets to the Cubs game tomorrow vs the Twins. Thanks technology!

We arrived in Chicago and parked in time for the sun to briefly appear. It was chilly, with the wind whipping off of Lake Michigan, but much nicer than it had been this morning. We made our way to the fountain, and arrived only a few minutes later. There it was! The fountain from the opening of the television show, "Married with Children." That's right. Kat and Arp had brought us to the fountain featured in the opening credits of a long dead tv series.

And it was awesome!

I'll have to elaborate more tonight, as we're actually running out of the hotel now to get to the Cubs game. It's at 1:20, and we're taking public transit to get to the stadium.

Check back tonight for the rest of Thursday's journey, and hopefully today as well.

Road Trip 2009: Day Two - Rain Delay

So the reason you don't plan things ahead on road trips is because the weather is an unknown beast that can sometimes take you by surprise and insist, "I will take from you what you want to be yours!"

And today, we wanted a trip to Cedar Point Amusement Park. But the 80% chance of rain and thunderstorms insists that it will take from us what we want so very much. So onto to Chicago we go! Which means we may open up a day later on down the line for more ADVENTURE!

Road Trip 2009: Day One

Well, I'm still alive after the first day. That's pretty good considering I only got four hours of sleep last night and we were up for eighteen hours today having driven all the way to Cleveland from New Jersey (a one day total of 540 miles.) Not too shabby.

But before I begin, be sure to check out the full trip report by Arp set up on the official road trip website here:

http://arpithicus.webs.com

He did a great job setting it up and it's rather amazing the amount of stuff he's included on this micro-site. I'll be more than likely concentrating on specifics about the trip, but will do my best to recap as well.

Anyway, the day began a little later than we wanted (8am instead of 6am), but it worked out as our Pimp Mobile was waiting for us at the Hertz Rental Center. A white, 2008 Ford Explorer, with four doors, three rows of seating, leather interior, GPS, satellite radio, and did I mention how we were freakin' sweet it was? Check out the photo above to see the three of us standing in front of our brave (and sexy) steed. We decided as soon as we picked her up that as a new member of our family, she needed a name. Knowing that we'd need a little faith to get across the country, we settled on Faith (after Faith Evans.)

The trip across Pennsylvania was beautiful. Arp and I switched off driving duties while Kat sat in the back, playing her DS and taking notes on mileage and money. The sun rolled in and out of the clouds, and every so often, we'd hit some traffic, but nothing too bad. We got Subway for lunch, and before we knew it, we were off again.

While on the road, we visited Sheetz Service Station ("Good Food Travels Fast"), AND, I also ate a banana, which is significant as this is the first full banana I've had in a VERY long time. (I grew up with a complete aversion to fruit. Luckily, I've made a full recovery as I've matured.) Oh, and Kat pumped gas, which is funny, because she never pumps gas (in Jersey, all gas stations are always full service.)

We finally made it to the Rock and Roll of Fame in Cleveland by 6:30pm. The structure sits on the bank of Lake Erie, along with the Cleveland Browns stadium. Gorgeous area of the city. The main exhibition area is made up of six floors, including a history of rock and roll, memorabilia hall, special and rotating attractions (featuring right now, ironically enough, a full area devoted to Bruce Springsteen), not to mention the Hall of Fame itself. It was pretty impressive, featuring a number of interesting items, including John Lennon's "uniform" from the cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," a slew of David Bowie stage outfits, old stage equipment built and modified for many of the Who's tours, and for me, the most amazing thing of all...

Up on one of the top floors was an exhibit dedicated to Pink Floyd's "The Wall," featuring a number of "bricks" in addition to some of the original stage puppets from the tour. As some of you may know, Pink Floyd only performed the full album on stage 29 times. One of my most treasured items is a bootleg video of one of the full sets they did as the show is absolutely amazing to see. And here, in front of me, was the 30 foot puppet of the floating school teacher. And the sandbag version of Pink, sitting in front of his TV. And all I wanted was to be able to capture this most incredible moment. But NO. NO PHOTOGRAPHY.

I must admit. That's pretty lame. No FLASH photography would be understandable, but NO PHOTOGRAPHY altogether? That just seems a bit excessive for a place with so much cool stuff that you just want to share with your friends. (Speaking of cool stuff to share with your friends, I picked up a pair of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drumsticks that will be AWESOME for Rock Band one I return to the city. Complete Setlist 2 - you are MINE!)

So now, with the evening now waning, we had three final objectives. 1) Find some alcohol. 2) Get some dinner. 3) Make our way to the hotel before we pass out. And we were able to accomplish ALL of these goals by 12:15am local time. As I said above, not too shabby.

We DID make an interesting side trip looking for the first two, however, finding ourselves in the area between downtown Cleveland and Shaker Heights, a stretch of land that will forever go down in history as "That place with abandoned churches, Rally's Jumbo Wings, Shrimp Boat, and 100% Fresh Water!" Yes, as you may have guessed, we passed through a rather dilapidated area of Cleveland, which made for some very deliriously hilarious musings as we looked for our dinner destination: Ruby Tuesdays.

Dinner was fantastic, and afterward, we hightailed it for the first of many Best Westerns we will be staying at (thanks AAA!) Tomorrow, we hope to make our way to Cedar Point Amusement Park, and then Friday, we go to Chicago!

I will leave you tonight with some lyrics from a song on a mix CD given to me by my very good friend Tracy (Thanks Trace.) The song? "Road Trippin'" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Enjoy.

"Road trippin with my two favorite allies
Fully loaded we got snacks and supplies
Its time to leave this town
Its time to steal away
Lets go get lost
Anywhere in the U.S.A."