TuzigootJournal: Raleigh

Friday afternoon we flew to Raleigh to visit Mike, Karen, and Jason. Airport was full of women wearing large hats or carrying large hat boxes arriving for Derby Day.

Jason got home late from an all-day field trip to the NC Outer Banks. ("Field trip:" Two words that arouse fear and loathing in Susie's teacher heart.) He reported to us on Kitty Hawk, the Bodie Lighthouse, the Lost Colony of Roanoke, and the bus ride.

Saturday morning we went to visit the newly expanded North Carolina Museum of Art. From a distance the new complex looks (I said) like a grain storage facility.

When you get up close and at an angle, you see a whole different perspective.

There are narrow, angled mirrors, so here you see three reflections of your photographer.

Inside it is very dramatic and impressive.

This sculpture honors the Tuskegee Airmen.

Outside: Life imitates art.

Instead of Rodin's Thinker, this is "Now what was I thinking about?" Or, "Senior Moment."

This is an NC artist's whirlygig.

For lunch we found a Raleigh barbecue joint: downhome decor, waitress, food, and clientelle. Great.

Late in the afternoon Jason and Coach Mike had a soccer game. We've managed to get to one or two of their games each year and always enjoy seeing his/their games. Here Jason launches a corner kick, but, alas, the defenders cleared it away.

Since we had a personal interest in this year's Derby, Mike recorded it while we were at the soccer game and we watched it when we got home - not knowing how it came out. Pretty exciting to see Calvin Borel win another one on the rail. As he's said, That's the shortest way. I'm still convinced that the guy I saw at the Wednesday morning workouts was Calvin.

When we checked the return flights for Sunday and Monday we found that the best option was to leave early Sunday morning. Arriving back in Louisville around noon, the airport was full of women with large hatboxes trying to get through security and to the gates. We were fortunate to be goin' when most people were comin' and vice versa.

Previously I mentioned my favorite travel writer, Paul Theroux. It happened that I bought a used book in the Raleigh airport, One For The Road, by Tony Horwitz, about his adventures hitchhiking the Australia outback. He quoted Theroux saying that conversing with strangers is a peculiarly American compulsion: "To get an American talking it is only necessary to be within shouting distance and wearing a smile." That is not my style, but as I settled into my seat and opened my book, right after reading that passage, on the connecting flight from Orlando to Louisville, I heard Susie, a couple of rows away, not for the first time, filling in a seatmate on our recent travels and family news. She has a great smile.

Louisville had a rainy weekend, not on the scale of Nashville and other locales further south, but still quite a bit of rain. We had thought that, weather permitting, we might leave Sunday afternoon, but it rained continuously so we stayed put. Monday dawned foggy, but with a clear day forecast.

The GPS told us the shortest route to Sioux City would be to go north to Indianapolis, then angle NW across IN and IL. But, the Weather Channel predicted severe thunderstorms in northern and central IL, so we took I-64 west from Louisville to St. Louis to skirt around that area. Trip was pretty routine, even though I missed one exit and we went right through downtown St. Louis on I-70. Susie got some pix through the window. Here's the arch and the waterfront. In the background is the bridge I was supposed to be on.

[Update. As this is written, Wed, May 5, Mandi and Paul have been in Nashville to check on their house. They've moved to Denver and their Nashville house is on the market. The garage flooded, the air conditioner was ruined, and insulation in the crawl space beneath the house was ruined. Damage estimate: $20K. They're working those problems and feel fortunate it was not worse. Update. Here's an awesome video about Nashville Flood.]

This being Monday, we had one and only one criterion for a campground: guaranteed access to ABC-TV for Dancing With Stars. After several calls, we found that essential characteristic at the Mark Twain Landing RV Resort, not too far from Hannibal. GPS took us about 20 miles on a narrow, paved country road, so we were getting a little nervous, but we emerged to a large and very nice campground.

Here's an internet picture of the Cannon Dam and the Mark Twain Lake.

Here's a next morning view of the lake from the boat ramp just down the road from our campground.

Long day, 410 miles, but we successfully avoided the t-storm area (and we did hear that the predicted storms did occur, but nothing severe, like tornadoes, thank goodness), found a nice park, and watched Dancing and, my show, 24. Between St. Louis and Mark Twain Lake we did drive through the edge of this shower, but it was nothing.