Troy! Oh Boy!

Often, I have heard Troy referred to as the butt hole of New York. That is harsh and uncalled for.

It actually resembles the backlot at Universal Studios. Wait. Maybe I have that backwards. I went to visit on a rainy day with my friend Bob.

Lots to know about Troy...In 1840 (the start of modernity for us visual culturists) Troy was the fourth wealthiest community in the country and TROY HAS MORE TIFFANY WINDOWS PER SQUARE MILE THAN ANY OTHER CITY IN THE US. That fact alone sent my decorative arts heart beating rapidly. Hey! Even the frat house on First Street had a Tiffany window. Bob and I attempted a church entry to see the windows at St. Paul's but the church was locked tighter than a drum. But all was not lost, the Troy library building was such a treat. It actually reminded me of the Boston Library without the John Singer Sargent Murals. The windows were spectacular. Behind the checkout desk is a huge window depicting Aldus delivering a copy of the Dante's Divine Comedy with the following quote in the right hand corner "Study as if you were to live forever and live as if you were to die tomorrow." I gotta think about that....The window was designed for Tiffany by Frederick Wilson whose primary focus seemed to be church windows. He must have relished a secular subject like this one. The other windows in the Libary were extraordinary. I wish I could have lit them for my photos but that option didn't exist. I am starting to think that if you were anybody doing anything of import in the gilded age...you had Tiffany Studios do your windows, Frederick Law Olmstead do your garden, Augustus Saint Gaudens do your statuary and John Singer Sargent paint your picture, even if you lived up in the sticks like Troy or Saratoga. Bob and I didn't get to see the Tiffany windows at The Bush Memorial Center at Russell Sage either. It was locked....I am coming back. There is an underground railroad walking tour Saturday morning...I think I gotta check it out. Other things you need to know about Troy; Herman Melville lived here for a while and published two books (before Moby Dick), The night before Christmas was published and written here in 1823. The Age of Innocence, Scent of a Woman, Ironweed, and The Bostonians were shot here. I mean if Scorcese liked it, who am I to disagree?

Victorian Decay - Sharon Springs New York

Like an eighty year old wearing a mini skirt, Sharon Springs is ignorant of its own anachronism.
The pavilions, the shuttered baths, the abandoned hotels, all speak to a glorious past - at the same time conveying an optimism that some prince might come along and rescue it-as a visitor, you get caught up in this fever too. "Isn't this place amazing? What if....Oh man, I would love to...." It is seductive in a way. The potential so thick you can taste it . The Korean Investment group who collectively flaked must have gotten caught up in it too... their neglect was far more insidious though, closing the remaining hotels and baths with the intention of "restoring" them, and then nothing. So now, any life that was left; the remaining Orthodox Jews, the few old school Sharon Springs devotees are gone, the hotels burning, or collapsing, and the life getting sucked out of the vacuum that is Sharon Springs.
The landscape reminded me of a dusty diorama in an unvisited museum.... once loved, once looked at.
Sharon Springs is the Yang to Saratoga Springs Yin.
Bizarro World.

Mr. Lincoln or is that Mr. Big?

Mansfield Ohio-the all American City. Filming location of one of my favorite films; The Shawshank Redemption. You can even do a self driving tour of the locations of the film. Julie and I wanted to eat our fried chicken in a scenic spot and we hit the jackpot. The bicentennial parade was in full swing, (see previous video of shriners in mini-cars) and we got to meet the good people of the Lincoln Highway association of Ohio. I even had a close encounter with "Big" Lincoln who bore a strong resemblance to Carrie Bradshaw's b.f.
The marker we are standing in front of was hand-casted by one of the members of the Mansfield Lincoln Highway Association. He makes them for the whole country!

I think you can't top this experience. So the rest of my posts will be about new discoveries around Saratoga Springs. We are in fact, here in Saratoga, safe and sound. Chumley is coming out of his haze and very happy to see his grandparents.

Thanks for reading about my adventures on the road. Please check the blog every now and then and feel free to comment and stay in touch.

Oh Hi Oh!!

Van Wert Ohio. Fried Chicken and Arnold Stang. What could be better? The best Fried Chicken I have had in 9 years. (The best is still somewhere on the road to Chelsea Vermont). Served by a very small and charming man who looked and spoke exactly like Arnold Stang. (I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Stang in the early 80's on a Dow Scrubbing Bubbles commercial.) This guy was his doppleganger. We skipped the awesome pie, which I regret profoundly. By far Balyeats was the best road food discovery on the Lincoln Highway. In continuous business since the 20's, it is worth the pilgrimage. The chicken was moist, not greasy, the crispy skin was crunchy and flavorful. Julie and I split one order. We weren't stuffed, but profoundly satisfied. I'll reveal where we enjoyed this road picnic in the next entry. The other bonus in Van Wert-next to the restaurant a second empire court house not to be believed. Just plain gloriousness all around.

POP QUIZ

Post your guesses on the blog.

1. Super unleaded is cheaper than unleaded across the midwest, any idea why?
2. Where am I?


Clue:

3. In which Wyoming town is it illegal to park your car if you have out-of-town license plates?
Hint: This small town was a planned community built in the 1920's around a company that no longer exists, and the name of the town was changed to that of the new company which purchased the original one and is in the same industry.

4. What is Dan Quayle's home town?

Extra credit: can you identify this building and tell Judy about it? (Listed on National Register of Historic places) It is downtown, not far from the Quayle museum, one block from Nick's Café -- famous for tenderloin and home made pies - we had a slice of rhubarb for breakfast, both being rhubarb freaks. The pie was perfectly tangy with a flaky, delicious crust. The mystery building is located on the NW corner of North Jefferson and West Market (Market becomes East Market on the other side of Jefferson. Jefferson is the old Lincoln Highway route 24.)

Whats up with this?

We kept seeing these signs all over the midwest.
(http://www.kumandgo.com)
I have no other comment.

Lincoln Nebraska, and on to Iowa

Well. I was so sad about Miss Emily. I knew it was inevitable but I was still so sad. That combined with bad internet luck curtailed my blogging. But, I have time now to share some cool stuff.
I actually got to see one of the buildings that I studied in undergrad and graduate school. The State Capital Building in Lincoln, Nebraska. What a majestic, impressive building. In my lexicon, I put it in the Daily Planet School of Architecture. Sort of Gothic Intimidation meets Depression Modern.
I LOVE THIS BUILDING. I also love the Los Angeles Public Library Building which was designed by the same architect: Bertram Goodhue. He designed some buildings in Balboa Park for the 1915 Pan Pacific Exhibition (beating out my favorite architect of all time Irving Gill.) He even did the master plan for Cal Tech in California. Julie and I were driving down Goodhue Blvd. in Lincoln, and lo and behold we saw this vision. This was the tallest thing on the prairie for miles. I think that was the point. Can't you just imagine Jimmy Olsen running out the door to catch the latest scoop?

We spent the night outside of Des Moines. The next day I was determined to have some Lincoln Highway experiences and dragged Julie to Ames, Iowa to see the Campus of Iowa State,(Sorry Jan), and try a butter burger at Culvers, a mid-western chain. I am compelled to say..Butterburgers are AS GOOD AS IN and OUT BURGERS. Heresy. I know. They have irregular edges, a square shape, and taste really really good. I ordered a double and gave Chumley one patty. He concurred.
We schlepped to Tama, Iowa to see the Ultimate Lincoln Highway relic, and boy was I happy!! Chumley not so much. He really hates being in the car and even though he was on doggie downers he was still stressing. I think that this trip can't be over soon enough for him.
We managed to stay on the Lincoln highway for another 30 miles or so and then in order to avoid Chicago we ditched route 30 and found an alternate two lane road through Illinois and Indiana. More later.

Chumley

"Hmmm.... hope we aren't there yet."

"Maybe there is another BBQ place ahead"

"It is only 9am and I am so tired, someone must have slipped me a mickey"

"Apparently I will be spending the rest of my life in this back seat"

I hope I NEVER have to see these guys on the road again!"

Quick Trip

Dawn over Day's Inn, Evanston, Wyoming

Rawlins, Wyoming, rare skateboarding Pronghorn.

Judy and I judged the Rawlins 2008 Pronghorn art competition, you can see more 2007 Pronghorn art here http://www.rawlins-wyoming.com/Pronghorn/pronghorn2007.htm

Lincoln Nebraska. The Telephone Building, which Julie took a liking to. (see Judy's post about architecture in Lincoln)

If you visit be prepared for one-way streets!

Odd industrial park outside Clinton, Iowa.

We happened upon a several things we were not looking for.

Crossing the Mississippi River at Clinton, Iowa.

Covered Bridge in a stunningly pretty town not too far past Clinton, but in adjoining Illinois, maybe Morrison.

A picture of my favorite sign of the trip (Julie) did not turn out, it was a travel agency in Dan Quayle's hometown which bragged:

"We also know where Not to go"

Rest In Peace Emily Beverly Bemmerstein

Emily passed away today after a long struggle with a liver tumor and complications from Cushings disease. She was adopted on June 23, 1999 and we think she was around 13 or 14. Emily now joins her late brother H. Bones Mahoney and her human boyfriend Mik Mikkelson. She will be greatly missed. Fans of Vivian DeLongpaw can make contributions to Boston Buddies in her memory.

The Wyoming Nebraska Haul

My friend Paul's earliest childhood memories are of driving across the U.S. with his family in 1965 and visiting the World's Fair in New York. He vividly recalled stopping in Little America somewhere in Wyoming. Based on that information, I had to pay homage to Paul's memory. Well. I can say one thing; the carpet is the same one from Paul's memory. Little America was an oasis of banality. That is all I can say. We spent the day zooming across Wyoming and stopped in Laramie for a really good lunch and fruitless quest looking for the Ames Brothers monument designed by HH Richardson and Augustus Saint Gaudens. I hope this will suffice...I did manage to have an A & W rootbeer float. That sort of assuaged my sadness over missing the monument. The A & W is also near the largest statue of Mary in the US. She oversees the dispensing of fried cheese curds which I have yet to try. I wonder if Mary communicates with Mr. Lincoln who is a few miles away from her on interstate 80. He is sort of scary and imposing looking from the Freeway. I always have thought of him as benevolent and kind but this sort of changed my opinion. Maybe he is ticked off that the Lincoln Highway has been replaced by I-80 here in Wyoming.

Wire Less

Our Internet access has been really bad. So I have not been posting nearly enough or as much as I want to. Julie and I are in Nebraska right now, at a restaurant with free Wifi and great salads, so all is right with the world. I wanted to add one thing to Julie's previous post. In the mining town of Eureka, the cast iron storefronts remain, there is a lovely beauty to their decrepit state. I think Chumley agrees. Also a cool burger stand with a GREAT name.

Eureka! Day One and Two

Posted Wednesday morning,
We are getting behind ourselves with the blog thing thanks to our ability to bring havoc to wifi wherever we stop on the Interstate, from Starbucks to State Line (fyi, very helpful ladies at the Nevada West Wendover welcome center, plus thick shady grass approved of by Chumley.)

Back at the sneaker tree, the road was impressively straight between the 'Nevada speed bumps' of low ranges so numerous they ran out of geologist's to name them after...'Fairview', 'Grayback' and 'New Pass' (check out the terrain view of the Google map below). It was hot, we went for many hours after the BBQ. Stacy, the GPS had to find Austin next (we had less choices than she did, it was the only town in miles.) Austin was an upturn in the road, sporting a perfectly restored western shop with a Lucky Jeans sign so shiny and upscale looking, that it left us un-intrigued. We went on to Eureka, again confusing Stacy as every state has its Eureka moment, it seems.


Hungrier, hotter, and so tired we stumbled over our words, we had our Eureka moment when the receptionist at the Best Western on the four-block main street looked at us and said, straight-faced 'sorry, we are all booked tonight'. There was a teacher convention rolling into town shortly. I warned Judy about teachers traveling in packs and how they can tear up a small town like Eureka, we had to move on -- tired and ready to stop as we were.

It was a desperate moment with the sun setting, more lonely road in front of us, staring at the Chinese-American restaurant, remembering the heartburn from Chinese American the night before.

We were a long, long way from any La Brea Bakeries or even Panera's, or french village bakeries.


It was time to break out the emergency cupcakes.
Thanks to Mike Ventre, the cooler contained two glorious cupcakes of the highest order, one chocolate frosted and one with an inch of vanilla frosting filled with raspberry inside... mmmmmmm........





View Larger Map

From Stockton to The Loneliest Road

We started out in Stockton looking for the remains of the Lincoln Highway. Believe it or not we found an outdoor shopping mall complete with Trader Joe's, called....drumroll..."Lincoln Center." There are a few references to the Lincoln Highway, roads, churches...but the old highwayis buried under route 99, which we took to up north and eventually hooked up with Interstate 80. We stopped in the Donner Pass and managed not to resort to the temptation of cannibalism, we did however take a mountain hike with Chumley. We learned all about erractics.
After getting through all the glory that is Reno...including missing the upcoming shows of the Alan Parsons Project, we got on The Loneliest Road -the alternative to the interstate that runs through Nevada. First off, a stop in Fallon for BIG ED's BARBEQUE. Julie was pretty adamant that she didn't want Pork Butt. So we got brisket and pulled pork sandwiches...dang they were good. We had to pass on the fried Catfish and the sweet potato pie, but Chum had some brisket and really liked it! I would say that Big Ed's was NOT as amazing as Interstate Bar-B-Q in Memphis but it held up pretty well. After Fallon, Route 50 really earns its' moniker. The terrain was actually wonderful. Long stretches of highway and the rare Adidas Tree. Often seen in rural areas, this offshoot of the rubber tree sprouts Nikes, New Balance, and frequently the most sought after PF Flyers. Julie will write more about Emergency cupcakes ... in a few hours. We need to get back on the road.