Americana Travels,
Pt 8: Lawrence to Kansas City
May 19th, 2012 – Ow. Ow ow ow ow ow. Man, I woke
up sore in places that I shouldn’t be sore. Back and shoulders, shoulders and
back. Only thing that doesn’t seem to hurt are my eyelashes, and last I checked
. . . they didn’t have nerve endings. But hey! I’m no doctor, so really . . .
what do I know.
Woke up in Lawrence, Kansas, which is a good thing since
this is where we went to sleep. As I mentioned, I’m sore all over and I can’t
explain why, other than just wear and tear from driving. The beds have been
comfortable all along the way, so I’m wondering if it’s one of those situations
where ya’ just get so relaxed after a day of stress and the body just goes into
rigor. I don’t know. Just theorizing. Anyway . . . big day today, but not
really. We’re pretty much only driving a handful of miles to our next nights
stay, but we’re cramming in a bajillion things to see.
Quick aside: Samuel has gone missing. After the whole
Amarillo debacle, he simply . . . disappeared. I shit you not, folks. We didn’t
chuck him into a river, we didn’t encase him in cement, we didn’t travel to
Mordor and drop him in Mount Doom. He just vanished. We’re a little creeped out
by the whole thing. Think about it for a sec . . . we found him at the bottom
of a pool in Santa Fe, New Mexico, had car problems in Amarillo, Texas, the
very next day and then lost sight of him en route to Tulsa, Oklahoma. We
haven’t seen him since. Poor hapless bastard that picks him up . . . .
Alright, so the day kinda ‘ goes like this . . . after our
typical morning routine of cleansing and packing, we went back to downtown
Lawrence to get some more cupcakes (gluten-free, of course) and we stopped for
some souvenirs. That took all of twenty minutes, and then we were back on the
road in search of the Moon Marble Company located in the town of Bonner
Springs. Just a stone’s throw from the banks of the Kansas River, this little
marble company and oddball toy store sat in a non-descript shack of a building
with a set of train tracks running mere feet from its back door. I’ve been in a
number of toy stores in my life, but this one may very well have been the
coolest of them all. We walked in to the store and were immediately informed
that there was a marble making presentation going on at the moment and if we
hurry, we can catch the last bits of it. We found the back of the store and
there was a bleacher section that was constructed, and even featured a large
screen television set showing a close up of the man’s work to those in the
back. It was completely interesting as this guy stood there with some wands of something
(it turns out it was glass) and a big ass torch. He kept putting the wands into
the open flame and before long, dude created a marble. Apparently, this marble
making thing is a big deal and falls under the category of art . . . we perused
the cabinets with curiosity and saw tons of marbles, some elegant and
intricately detailed, some made with far out colors, some simple and plain. But,
after watching the demonstration, a new appreciation grew within me.
Of special note, we may have found out where Samuel came from in the first place:
We left the Moon Marble Company and made our way to Shawnee
to see the All Electric House. Oh, before that, we stopped at Starbuck’s for
some get up and go, and Mrs. Pope gracefully tossed half of her free refill all
over the hood of Harmony the Honda. Now, I wouldn’t normally be telling you all
this, but this is actually a rather important part of the story. The night
before or earlier in the morning, it had apparently rained and left the rig
covered in dirt. I mean, it almost looked like we’d gone mud boggin’ down by
the river. So, Mrs. Pope pours almost thirty-two ounces of iced coffee on the
hood of the car and announced emphatically that we had to get the car washed. For
those who know Mrs. Pope, you know this had to be dealt with immediately. So, we
bypassed the next two stops in search of the car wash and found one a few
blocks from the All Electric House. Hehe . . . it was fun. I haven’t been in a
car wash in like . . . I don’t know, a million years? So naturally, I documented
the whole experience with our trusty camera. Watch below:
Practically felt like you were in the car with us, huh?
Okay, after the silliness was over, we checked into the All
Electric House and found out that we had to pay an entrance fee to the Johnson
County History Museum. I’m sorry . . . did someone say history? I love history.
I love trying to pull myself out of modern times and imagine what life was like
in the grainy photos lined across the walls of these places, or reading the
stories and putting myself in the places that actually made history. I know, I’m
weird, but y’all should know that about me by now. This museum was one of the
better ones that I had been to in that it was really interactive, especially
for the children who would come through on class trips or whatever. Here’s the
shocker about Kansas . . . the state is heavy on agriculture. That should have
been read with a little sarcasm. The museum, although it was laid out in a
circular pattern, seemed to take up a lot of room, provide the guests with a
ton of information, and, as mentioned before, was very interactive and
edutaining. At 2:30pm, we were ushered into the All Electric House Tour. We sat
and watched a short film on the history of the house and how it was marketed as
the House of the Future . . . of course, in 1954, this house certainly was. We
walked through the house and got see this structure completely refurbished with
all of the original parts it had from 1954. There were some bizarre features to
it, but some that were so awesome and cutting edge that they would have
appeared sci-fi back then, and to this day, have a little of that campy sci-fi
feel to it. Also, Mrs. Pope and I commented on this afterwards, the way the
architect planned this little 1,100 square foot ranch-style house is underutilized
with today’s architecture. How many times do we go into a new construction
house and find electrical outlets in areas of the house that can’t be used or,
worse yet, just not enough electrical outlets! In this day and age where we are
so dependent on electricity to power our technology, why is it that a modern
living room only has one electrical outlet? This 1954 model had electrical
outlets every two feet around the floor moldings so that the furniture could be
laid out in a multitude of different patterns. The coolest part was that the
television/radio was hidden by a false painting behind an automated moveable
screen. With the flip of a switch, the painting slid to the left and in its
place was the television with a radio set built in. Just the coolest house . .
. well, at least until we tour Bill Gates’ house.
From there, we went to Fritz’s hamburger hut or something
like that. This was a cool restaurant and a little kitschy in that there were
electric trains that ran around the ceiling perimeter of the place and dropped
your order down a hydraulic lift to your table. I mean, how frickin’ cool,
right! So, the deal is, you figure out what you want, you pick up the telephone
handset that’s mounted at the table, you call in your order, and a few minutes
later, a train comes hauling ass down the track above the line of tables and,
with the aid of a blocker, drops the basket of food onto a stainless steel
elevator, which then lowers to the table top. And the prices were so much
cheaper than what we’re used to paying back home. A meal for three was about
twenty bucks. I say three coz I ate enough for two people . . . double bacon
cheeseburger and a hot dog, with some frings and a coke. If you’re ever in
Kansas, I highly recommend a stop at this place for the novelty, and the food
was decent enough for a Midwest burger stand.
Navigator Jack then led us towards Weston, Missouri . . . or
at least, we thought that’s where he was taking us. Just after I made some
grand announcement that Mrs. Pope was the pilot of this craft and Jack was the
navigator, therefore, making me the co-pilot to act as a check and balance to
the two of them, the electronic bastard took us to our hotel in Kansas City
instead. It turned out alright since I needed to use the restroom and a
breather from all of the traveling, but a few minutes after we got checked in,
we were on the road again, and headed to Weston . . . for the World’s Largest
Ball of String (Not Twine). We drove through some scenic areas of Missouri and
much like Kansas before it and Oklahoma before that, I was impressed and a bit surprised
at how beautiful the scenery was. Lots of trees, lots of fields growing
something, lots of rolling hills and pastures. I’m not sure why everyone talks
so much shit about this part of the country. Of course, I’m sure almost every
state in the U.S. is beautiful in May.
We pulled into Weston, found a parking space next to the
location of the Ball of String, and proceeded to wander around a parking lot
for a few minutes trying to locate the monstrous ball of string. I was in the
process of searching the internet with my phone when I saw a picture that
looked familiar . . . I looked up, glanced around to get my bearings, and in
the corner of a restaurant, I saw the Ball of String. We walked over towards it
and recognized that it was in the outside seating area of a beer garden, and
when Mrs. Pope asked if I wanted a drink, I immediately responded with a “Hell
yes!” So we were seated in the outdoor seating area, two tables away from the
Ball of String, with two parties between us . . . a long haired mechanic and
his gawking family, and a leathered and cragged face family chain smoking
through all courses of their meal. We ordered a couple of salads, and I surprisingly
ate the whole thing despite having consumed a massive lunch. The beer was
excellent! When the mechanic and his family got up to leave, I snapped a quick
photo of the ball, and a short while later, paid the bill and took a quick
drive through the rest of Weston. Cute town. Desolate town.
Mrs. Pope wanted to load up on wine for the remainder of our
trip, especially since we weren’t planning on leaving Kansas City until Monday
morning, so we drove around looking for a liquor store. Navigator Jack led us
to Leavenworth, Kansas and the nearest liquor store. Mrs. Pope picked out three
bottles of red wine and we then proceeded to make our way back to the hotel. We
got in at just about 8:00pm and Mrs. Pope started working on the pile of laundry
that we have amassed, and I, I of course started working on the blog.
And here it is, twenty past nine and I’m practically done.
Looks like I’ll get some reading time in before I hit the sack.
We’ll see you folks tomorrow!
Pope
“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” --
Pope
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