Central Time Zone
We’ve put a few miles under our tires and a few states behind our bumper in the past couple of weeks. Our last pit stop story came from Lexington, KY and the next will take you across the highways and biways of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconson.
After getting a little tipsy at the Woodford Bourbon distillary in Lexington, we got our ducks in a row and headed for Cincinnati, OH. We were on a mission to acquire some veggie oil and hoped to stay for the night before moving on to Hicksville, OH for Independence Day festivities. We checked out the Manifest Gallery and Drawing Center near downtown Cincinnati and secured a place to park overnight at their Essex St. Studios. The studios were housed in a large warehouse that was also home to The American Sign Museum, a gallery of old lighted signs.
Before settling in for the night five people packed five laptops into five seperate bags and walked to the nearest cafe/bar to get their fix of electricity and free wi-fi. The next morning those same five people were on their way again. Destination, Hicksville, OH to celebrate the Fourth of July with the Kristofolettis.
The warm welcome and gracious hospitality never diminished for the 4 1/2 days that we spent in Hicksville with Joe and Anna. We were fed three full, delicious meals a day with snacks in between and entertained with stories of times past and given lessons for future success. The house that Joe built from the ground up sits in a peaceful field of lush green grass with tall evergreens planted sporatically around it. One could easily spend an entire day (which Taylor and I did) on a blanket in the grass playing games, watching the clouds go by, and taking silly pictures.
We celebrated the fourth with an impressive display of fireworks in all colors and shapes. Sunday morning, Bob and Joe rose with the sun and went out to the lake to go fishing. Coming in day after day empty handed in Mexico, Bob finally had some luck and caught his fish. On Monday morning we all went down the street to the new high school to take a look at Joseph’s murals up close. They were quite impressive, as was the new school itself. After many hugs and kisses and good luck wishes we hit the two lane blacktop once more heading west.
We were on the search for oil again and our GPS brought us to Fort Wayne, IN. Aside from refueling we didn’t make any other stops in Indiana and drove on to Chicago, IL.
Sitting in the Windy City Cafe we laughed and made jokes as Annako stepped out of the train stop in a sweater and scarf and we sat comfortably eating lunch in our shorts and tank tops. A few hours spent walking the city we learned that Chicago is not called the Windy City just because and you never leave home without a sweater. Our first stop on this Tuesday afternoon was Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. The museum featured art by seven self-taught artists hailing from the great state of Ohio, as well as an exhibit of landscape drawings from the artists travels across the country and around the world. However, the most exciting exhibit found at Intuit was a permanent installation of the contents of artist Henry Darger’s living and working space which was located in Chicago. The Henry Darger Room Collection includes tracings, clippings from newspapers, magazines, comic books, cartoons, children’s books, coloring books, personal documents, and architectural elements, fixtures, and furnishings from Darger’s original room.
We also checked out the artwork on display at the Contemporary Art Museum.
Actually, it was an engaging exhibit for Taylor, making it a successful family outing.
We strolled through Millinium Park and took multiple dorky photographs with all of the other tourists in front of a gigantic silver bean. After pounding our puppies on the pavement all afternoon, we took a train ride to Annako’s house to visit with our friend and enjoy a nightcap of espressos and hot chocolate.
Madison, Wisconsin is nestled on a strip of land between two lakes. There are three times more bikes found in Madison than there are cars. It is now Thursday. We parked the bus in a lot by the boat landing and walked the path along the lake into the city. After spotting quite a few fish floating belly up, we learned that the lake, and the fish in it are polluted with chemicals. According to a posted sign, the state fish the Muskie, can be caught in the lake, but is only safe to eat once a month. While some of the other species are safe to eat as often as once a week. I decided better safe than sorry and ordered the pork burrito at lunch instead of the fish tacos. We strolled the cirular path around the state capitol building and Bob, Taylor, and I visited an Odd Wisconsin Exhibit at the History Museum while Seth and Jamie took Kentridge for a walk around the block. Getting back on the road before nightfall we drove slightly north to Sparta to get an early start on Friday at the Space and Bicycle Museum.
