We continued our drive into Chicago. As we drew nearer the �Second City�, the traffic got worse and worse and the drivers were more aggressive and it was Sunday afternoon. Glad I wasn�t out there during rush hour. I�ve never really liked Chicago. I can�t tell you why. My brother loves it. If he didn�t live here, I would most likely never go near the place. We checked in at our motel near O�Hare Field, one of the world�s busiest and ugliest airports. We joined my brother at a nearby sports bar to watch the first half of the game. Both the game and the bar were depressing. The Packers looked terrible. At half-time we went to my brother�s place to watch the second half, joined by his wife Loni, who is not from Wisconsin and therefore cannot really understand �Packer Passion�. The Packer performance did not improve. The evening improved when we went to L. Woods Restaurant, a theme restaurant based on the old Wisconsin supper clubs complete with knotty pine walls, hung with old photos and hunting and fishing trophies and a menu featuring meat loaf specials and breaded whitefish. The food was good, too. My brother kept us laughing with his stories.
The next morning we began our drive through almost the entire length of Illinois. Illinois is called the Prairie State for good reason � it�s flat and the scenery is uninteresting. We did find one interesting spot, Franks Grove Rest Stop, named for an early pioneer. It had some interesting information and a pleasant little park attached. The rest of the drive through Illinois was boring. We lunched in St. Louis which, in my mind, is another non-descript mid-western city with deteriorating roads, forgettable architecture, except maybe the Gateway Arch, and what appear to be joyless people. Other than that it�s a fine place. We continued on into Missouri. I was surprised at how varied the scenery was. It continued to be a depressing, grey day but the varied scenery helped make the trip a little more enjoyable.
We got to Jefferson City, the only state capital without an interstate highway, to find that there was no room at the inn. The gubernatorial inauguration was the next day and there was not a hotel or motel room to be had. We ended up near Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri�s tourist capital. It has all the �attractions� of an over-built, over-hyped tourist destination, yet somehow it does have a certain charm. We wanted to stay at a Best Western, near the lake but when we got there it was closed. All the lights were on but no one would answer the door. I imagine they didn�t expect anyone on a Monday night in the middle of winter. We ended up staying at a Comfort Inn right on the highway in Osage Beach, which was comfortable but blandly, non-memorable. We opted to eat at a Sports Bar. We chose it, and other Sports Bars, which have become the American version of the English pub, because we know we�ll get edible food, a wide choice of beers, friendly conversation, if we want it, and, we can always watch whatever sports event is on the TV.
The Beautiful
The next day dawned misty but beautiful. We finished riding through the hills of Missouri as we headed for Kansas. Kansas, our next state, wasn�t ugly but it sure wasn�t beautiful. It was just flat. It was another gray day as we sped along seeing neither many landmarks or much other traffic just miles and miles of miles and miles. The towns were all small until we got to Wichita. I thought about how I would not want to have been raised in such places but I also realize that, for a lot of people, these might be great places to live. I�d last about a week. We finally reached our destination, Dodge City and checked into another Comfort Inn right on the highway. They were almost full and so I couldn�t get a non-smoking room but the accommodating clerk provided me with a de-ionizer that I ran while Michael and I were out for dinner.
An Aside
One constant on our trip, is the unremitting friendliness and helpfulness of the motel clerks. One might think a good attitude would be rare for people working at a minimum wage job, but that isn�t so. Almost every clerk we encountered went the extra step to help us out. Here it was a de-ionizer. In Osage Beach the clerk took a half hour to find my Comfort Inn rewards number. In Taos which was to be our next stop, the clerk moved things around so we could have a room on the first floor with direct access to the parking lot. These people are not owners or managers. They are just doing their job. In my global travels, I have found helpfulness to be a rare attribute except in parts of Asia and in the U.S. It has to be a cultural thing. We got the same treatment in the restaurant we chose, The Freight House. The servers went out of their way to help us get what we wanted even though it was busy, it was near closing time and the kitchen was not cooperating. The bad news was wondering how a restaurant that is so proud of their aged beef and charges accordingly can serve canned green beans as a vegetable. Frozen would be bad enough but I was shocked. I haven�t gotten canned green beans in a restaurant in years.
(Continued)