Toto, we're not in kansas any more

It’s the 25 year anniversary of the original road trip movie with Dan aroid- I would look it up but no signal here in the Rockies- I should not be writing but should be looking at the amazing view

So let’s go a few days back

 

We left Ohio and headed west through Indiana and Amish country- it’s not polite and against their religion to take photos of Amish- we tried but sinned a bit- though tried not to make it obvious- we drove through the Amish heritage trail and enjoyed the greenery and craftsmanship of the Amish ( got a souvenir)- other than views Indiana was not impressive- but a heritage site is a major point in Indiana- so state #25

Illinois was next- I have been here before so nothing new- but we detoured through south Chicago- Obama  birth place- and though my brother is a big though not allowed to vote supporter- we hurried out of there.

We drove across Illinois and entered Iowa- and looked for a place to crash- but Davenport- a big city on the Mississippi river was fully booked- not a single room available- an unusual thing when there is no convention and no special event- the blame is on the weather- recent floods have blacked out all of eastern Iowa-so the population moved from their homes to hotels with generators-  is was late already when we started calling ahead for a round- 2 hours later… we found 1 room and crashed- this is what happens after driving to much with cruise control- bad quality but  still… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEQywpxnOGM

 

 

The next morning we looked for special attractions in Iowa-and believe me it’s hard to find- so we found a nice place that does wood work- on the left is a chicken

On the right is an Iowa style – Gym bicycle (it’s actually a schnitzel maker- a schnitzel hammer was not invented yet)

 

But the biggest attractions was Iowa’s world largest wall nit rocking chair- there are largest chairs but from other trees- or for other functionalities (like non rocking chairs)- but not like this

The bellow photo is a common Iowa view- the left silo is just a corn silo but the right one holds another type of grain- ICBMs- all of America’s rockets are stored in corn fields.

 

 

Amish country carriage and Amish food

 

Iowa has a bad rep- it is very green and pretty- but we missed the world largest Swedish coffee mug  - again there are larger Coffey mugs- but Norway ones in Finland- but you can’t fiind a bigger Swedish one. So we moved on to the bridges of Madison county

 

My mother was excited so she hit this electric pole- the car survived but the pole was in pain- as a result- the west side of Iowa went dark

 

Lucky for us we moved on- escaped the CFPD (corn fields police department) and went briefly through north Missouri and drove by the city with no beds or showers in their suite (Kansas city) which is not in Kansas – and then we entered Kansas.

Usually a drive through any state would not count- but I did all there is to do in Kansas- and the list contains

1.

2.

And 3…

That’s it- nothing to do- s a drive through (6 hours) makes is # 26

Dorothy has no idea how grateful she should be for that tornado- we longed for a whirlwind for ourselves but were not so fortunate                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

 

By night fall we reached Colorado springs and we didn’t forget to say the sentence in the subject

 

I like Ohio- but so far Denver is the most beautiful state I have ever been too- so took a tour to the top of pikes peak- in the neigBearhood of 4000+ meters – making it my highest land point ever – and drove down on bicycles (real ones’ not Iowa’s)  - 19 miles down hill thses are sock gloves the traditional photo

a mountain lion, of course

 little big horn ship-

 

Wasted the rest of the day on shopping and drove a couple of hours in the afternoon looking for bears-

 and there he was (or was is a she bear?)- climbed fig tree and ate and ate and ate- did not care that we were staring ad taking photos

This brown bear is actually a black bear- though it was brown

 

This ended 3 days ago- closing this post- too many photos for email already

More coming soon

 

p.s- if I ever get a good signal- family movies will be posted on you tube- look for my profile (ILeprichaun)

on dead racoons, leprichauns and angels

Oh so much to tell so little time- it’s short stories week


How to kill a dead raccoon?
It’s very easy any way- you just drive in south ohio- sooner or later a dead one will seat on the road- it’s kind of a hangout for them
It was sleeping in the middle of the road- so I moved directly on top him but it hit the bottom of my car- so I killed it after it was dead- still not nice…
I still haven’t seen a live rackoon not in a zoo

So my car was punished and is now in detention 4 hours away from here- in buffalo new York – after being in 4 states in 1 day on Thursday- I ended up in olean new York – we had a demo to do and something was broken in shipping so I took Sean (a sales guys) rental SUV with the cart to the office and he took my car to fly home- so it’s there now, with nothing else to do but watching the plains go by- still no plan on how to get it back…

The way to Olean was interesting – 3.5 hours drive at night is always fun- especially when the gas light turns on- and all the gas stations on the way are closed… I passed by 4 stations in small town- no life- and no way to pay even with a credit card- drove close to 50 miles with the gas light on- using no gas on downhill, closing the AC- finally got to a gas station.

So after a day at the hospital with only a salad (lots of 1000 islands sauce…) we were about to go back- with each other’s car when this woman comes and offers free pizza- she was making it for people at the hospital who went home- so we shared some- and took some for the way- she only asked to pay it forward (yes, like the movie) so I redeemed it by releasing a moth… later
So I drive back with a red full moon and 3 hours later I get sleepy so I stop at a junk food place with the tray of pizza from the pizza lady, that place which was closed- so I move next door- to ‘pizza hut’ with a tray from another store- they had no bin on the outside so I am hiding the tray behind my back while ordering soup- and throwing the other tray away in the bathroom
The waitress talks on the phone with her boyfriend who broke his finger and apologizes to me for not being quick- crazy nation

Speaking of nation- I went to Plymouth rock which is where the 1st immigrants landed- and seen a replica of the original mayflower and where they lived and such- they would be please to know that their city is now a shopping mall- but they gave honor to the Indians who were friendly to them…big mistake… he could have changed the world- now the Indians are stuck in reservations with casinos.

So what is the difference between Irish festival in Israel and US
I think I like the Israeli one better- it’s smaller, and you dance Irish dances and go to shows- same concept here but with a lot of shopping – but you have more shows, original Irish food like Italian sausage, Hawaiian smoothie and Greek gyros- but still had lots of fun.
The young Dubliners were a highlight of some kind of a highlight- playing Irish rock- the issue is they are not from Dublin- I was there I didn’t see them, and not so young any more- but still fun.

It was a hot day so we left the festival in the middle ant went to cool down in the lake-
You may have seen Baywatch- with the life gourds- but the lake watch are something else
You can probably recall the army days when you could sit on watch – the last/ first 10-15 minutes of every hour- and you sat on both- well here it’s the same- they get 15 minutes off- the problem is that all the life gourds are off duty at the same time- so the blow the horn- and everybody exists the water- the entire beach- I was surprised by the discipline – this happens every hour on the clock- they have cops ready to give tickets for those who want to enter the beaches unsupervised – these cops of course work only 15 minutes of every hour….
When in lake watch – follow these rules
No going deeper then chest high.
No jumping off somebody’s shoulders (mine)
They take out all the fun- safety is overrated.

So we went back to the festival grounds and after my near no gas incident with my car- I didn’t learn my lesson and actually ran out of gas with the rental- damn SUV gas eating monster
We get stuck in the middle of an intersection- so I get out and start pushing- and a Hammer looking car from behind- pulls over- this guy (Mark, mortgage broker)comes out and starts to push with me.
His wife(colleen , a yoga instructor who graduated today from yoga school) in the car pulls ahead of us and we nearly hit her car- but she is quick, and moves away- they pull us over to the side- and drive us to the gas station nearby.
We get a tank – but the SUV is hungry- and it’s not enough to get it started- so they drive us again… and back- road angels indeed
And they wouldn’t accept a dinner invitation- but in 2 weeks after Vegas – we will take them out.

On the road from akron to Olean last Thursday the road passes by Cleveland- so I listen to an Israeli collection and the cruelest song is played just as I go by the exit to my place- ‘ani hozer habayta (im coming home)’ which is a rip-off of an Italian song- so I am singing with it while driving away- do not pass go, or collect 200$ but drive 200 miles…

Are the French smarter than the Irish?
In Israel we have an Irish pass- mostly in the north- you drive and then the road will go down to a small creek and go up again very steeply- that is an irish pass- the problem is that if there are water in that creek- they have the right of way and you are stuck,- the French came up with a better solution of putting the road ABOVE the water- a new concept – and every such bridge is called ‘french creek’

Sunday was a leisurely so we went to a Canoe O event- O stands for orienteering – the idea is you go in a canoe in a very nice lake and race like in orienteering to get to as many points in a given time (2 hours) so we road like crazy- it was me, Alla and crazy Robert ( I need to load something on you tube) – at some areas there are points on land- so we drop Robert of and he runs to one side of an inlet and up a hill through a swamp to get us points, then we do another inlet so it’s my turn to run- I am a great sprinter but a bad long distance runner- the distance is short but after an hour of canoeing – it seems long and I am poorly dresses for running- sandals, and sweat pants already soaked with water- and they are heavy and pull me down- so I am lifting my skirts(pants) and running slowly like that barely breathing but I can’t stop (they guy was in a swamp…), raspberry thorns get stuck in my feet- I kind of make it there in time. Then we row quickly to the finish line with 2 minutes to spare (you get panelized heavily if you are late) and we come in 2nd place- not bad for my first canoe-o event. The 1st team cheated by the way- they were in better shape.


And finally the best shirt in the world- have you seen my ‘god made grass, men made booze, who do you trust?’, t-shirt
I love that shirt- I took it to the Irish fair and got so much attention (u know I love the attention)- 20-30 people actually stopped me to praise the shirt- I should have gotten then on camera- I asked one but he refused
Not lying, as god (AllA) is my witness, and lots more just see the shirt , laugh and walk away- I am looking for another festival to wear it again- special occasions only.

Oh I almost for forgot about the old man and the shoe- based on the classic the old man and the sea- Moti- my mother’s husband is 60 minus 4 days today- that is why we are all meeting in Denver to celebrate- my mom and shai are here in Cleveland now and we are driving there with a stop at cedar point today…. Any way- moti through his back and could not bend to tie his shoes
So he got a Romanian assistant to do that (my mom)- with a very funny scene which is now on you tube http://www.youtube.com/v/UQXiAG3NGK4

Since this is infect a blog- it’s time to movie it to a real one- the blogil will be published soon at an internet near you

And on the way to the lake we stopped at a gas station and asked for directions- a guy came out and was driving to his home which is just by where we were going and offered us to follow him- what are the odds of such a timing- that was angel 3 over the weekend (pizza, gas and road) so I must be lucky