Day 19 - Glorious corn fields and the odd Kentuck Knob

Pennsylvania:

Feeling better today. I hardly ate anything the past couple of days so as not to aggravate the squigglies in my stomach. My sour outlook was sugared by this kind motel lady I called to reserve a room. She said she loved me and her name was Lilyanne. Couldn't wait to meet her. I sped through Lancaster County and enjoyed watching real Amish folk doing their business at highway pace. No more photographs this time. My improved health made me curious again...the point of this trip. I noticed the lush corn, the wide blue sky, the blue flowers on the roadside, and I realized...there are hardly any trees in the county. Open space and fields of crops. It was great to be alive.

I made it to Markleysburg, a puny highway town. I had to stay in the vicinity because I have reservations for tomorrow to see Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. I passed Lilyanne's "Inn" and kept on driving. Traveler's Inn consisted of two white trailers and a small house next to them. I just couldn't do it so I fled like a cowardly chicken. I found another inn but I think they're mostly cabins owned by Menonites. The best room I've had so far on this trip.

I headed on over to the "other" FLW house in the area, Kentuck Knob. Very nice little house, famous for its hexagonal skylights and triangular patterns. To be honest, my regard for the architect dropped a notch. Granted he was 86 when he worked on this house, but some of his ideas didn't make sense. You have to sidle sideways into the narrow hallways as he believed hallways are places you walk through and are unimportant. The closets were almost to the door because he didn't believe in attics and basements for they create cesspool for junk. I can understand...I hate junk...but I think he could've done a better job designing the interiors. I mean, there's no way an obese guest could through the hall. Just because genius architect was puny...

Anyway, Fallingwater, his masterpiece, is in the pipeline for tomorrow. Maybe the greatest architect of his time...as he dubbed himself...will reclaim Notch 1.

Day 6 - Bison's my best friend

Bartlesville, Oklahoma:

Originally I only wanted to go to Oklahoma because Bartlesville has the only FLW skyscraper anywhere. I was browsing through my research and came upon Tallgrass Prairie Preserve thirty miles from my destination. I read about thousands of bison and birds and an impulse came over me. I went to the town of Pawhuska, but on the way there I realized that I never knew what backcountry driving was all about. One-lane roads, signless turns, folks who thought I was Cherokee, folks who mistook me for Kiowa.

Finally my GPS gave up. Couldn't find the way to the Preserve, so I dropped by the Pawhuska Chamber of Commerce. A lady with exaggerated cotton candy hair said, "You're gonna have to turn left where that drugstore is then keep going." When I asked how long, she smiled. "Until it looks like no civilization anymore."

I drove that road over twenty miles until I realized I was offroading on dirt and gravel. I closed my eyes and prayed my little Scion wheels wouldn't burst. But my little Clive made it, thank goodness. I knew I was at the right place when a dozen bison barred my way like they were gangsta. One looked me in the eye sideways and I stared back without blinking. When he gave way, the rest gave way. I have to say that seeing bison in the wild gave me the good chills. It was such a great magical feeling that I get the tinglies just writing about it.

Tall prairie grass parted the dirt road. When I'm manic, I feel happy - but it's not really happiness. It's something less. But being at the reserve brought such pure joy - something that we experience mostly in childhood. I thought of my sister and my brother with whom I've shared the most joyous moments in my life - like our Nagcarlan vacation, the impromptu party they threw me when I was six, and watching episodes of Little House on the Prairie and loving every minute of it. I am so grateful to have persevered and visited this place. I know now that every experience makes me stronger and the memories conjured while driving endless miles cure my busy mind a little.

After the Preserve I drove to Bartlesville to look for FLW's concrete and copper Price Tower. It was absolutely great. I was humbled to see it. But it didn't hold a candle to super bison that nodded to me. I love them so.

Day 5 - Tilapia, Gumby, and Bonnie

Dallas:

Staying an extra day in Dallas to unwind my muscles and catch up on sleep – which is good because I’m going to be driving 7-8 hours to reach Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Looking forward to seeing Frank Lloyd Wright’s only skyscraper and other fun stuff beside...all payback for my failed attempt to track down Wright’s Dallas Theater Center. It was in a wealthy neighborhood with private parks, and if I did pass his work, trees and hedges obscured it.

Today was still a great day. I lucked out when I set off to find two hard-to-locate places of interest. I set off early in search of a 38-foot robot sculpture which didn’t exactly have an address. I was driving around downtown looking at the sites when I saw this gleaming silver Gumby hanging low, playing the guitar, surrounded by metal birds. Awesome to behold.

The next event was seeking out the gravesite of Bonnie Parker (of Bonnie and Clyde fame). Again this should've been a terrible grave to find since the only Internet direction was...Drive inside, you’ll see a fork. There’s a hedge in the middle. She’s on the other side of the hedge. Thankfully I saw some stragglers drifting about, and I knew I'd found the resting place of one of the most violent criminals that ever was.

Again I have to mention how low-key drivers are in Dallas. No aggressive L.A. drivers. No honking. No road rage. Even I fell into the lull of driving under 40 mph. The locals I’ve met have been very gracious. I drove around residential streets, some of which give the Platinum Triangle of Beverly Hills/Bel Air/Holmby Hills a run for the money, and hung out at a park. And the canopy trees are breathtaking.

On my sister’s suggestion I wandered off to a seafood dive and ordered some tilapia with lemon pepper sauce. Delicious! To top it off, I came across Whole Foods while looking for a movie theater (which never happened). I drank a bottle of carrot juice and bought 3 apples and some olive oil. I feel like I need to swig the oil for my skin since I’m eating pretty lousy.

I put air in my tires…even though there was no gauge so I don’t know if I’m going to crash tomorrow. I also filled up on gas and cleaned my windshield. And I backed into a pole that wasn’t there the last time I checked. Thankfully, my car is elastic so the bumper just popped right up. I love my XB!

I also love the Whataburger logo...reminds me of Wonder Woman...

Day 1 - The toilet dilemma

Phoenix:

I left this morning feeling like a louse. My mother was right...I wasn't being fair to BaddicusFinch. Yet I left anyway. I'm pretty impulsive, a trait shared by the bipolar folks...but I'm not going to blame it on that. If anything, I'll blame the white kid who called me 'nip' then later scratched his head and tried 'beaner' when I was in junior high. He couldn't decide which slur to hurl at me since he was unsure of my ethnicity. I suppose ever since then I've had a phobia of racist people.

So I chose the southern states to cleanse my hatred once and for all. I'm positive I'll mostly meet good folks and some not so good. This will be my chance to say 'f-you, you dumbass' and tase them in the face.

I reached Phoenix, Arizona at a relatively early time. Baddicus had booked me a motel for a reasonable price, but on the way there I saw a motel called Budget with a sign advertising $23.99 rates. I immediately flipped a u-turn.

The complex has about twenty rooms, but when I pulled in, the other guests opened their doors to peek out. I noticed I was the only one with a car. Weirded out but wanting to stretch my dollars, I took the room. Again, it's not good to be impulsive. The cleaning crew, a mother and a daughter with missing teeth like out of a Dorothea Lange photograph, told me they'll send someone to fix my plugged toilet. I said fine and took a drive.

I went to see the Biltmore Hotel with a concrete block system designed by FL Wright. Very impressive by the way. The people looked healthy with their pearly teeth and golf clubs. I parked by a Bentley and a Jaguar thinking it would be alright. I snapped pictures and was stopped by a valet guy who said he needed my key because I parked in the fire zone. I told him I was almost done and pointed out that the luxury cars were also parked in the red zone. He gave me a sheepish smile and nodded at me. A decent guy. I liked him.

I also stopped by Wright's Carlson House and was disappointed. The famous circular home was nowhere to be seen...and that was because the house was surrounded by thick cement walls. MFKs.

Back at the Budget the toilet was still unusable, but the fine housekeeping staff had left a plunger. Thanks.

frank lloyd wright slammed and dunked

One of the attractions of going to Kansas City was seeing the church Frank Lloyd Wright designed. It was a twist in the gut to see that the great architect was karate slammed by churchies who had no idea whose bench they were sitting on. Cottage cheese was everywhere. 80s block glass lined outer walls giving it a Less Than Zero look. The clear glass windows with Lloyd's signature etching were wrenched out. Only one pane of glass was left. Painful...

The Battle for Seattle

Remember in Sixteen Candles how Anthony Michael Hall's character claims to have had a girlfriend from Canada, near Niagra Falls? Embarrassing, but I have to admit I had a similar lie when I was about to start high school.

Between the 8th and 9th grades, I took math classes in summer school at Santa Teresa High School. I have no idea why, because I was keeping up fine. "Enrichment," I suppose. Now Santa Teresa wasn't my neighborhood high school. It was two schools to the south, which was two rings further from central San Jose. In other words, the students were two shades paler on the color spectrum.

I didn't know anybody, and just to throw my two cents into the before-class conversation about girlfriends, I made up a girl "from Seattle." I remember immediately wishing I could recant my words, they hung in the air and I couldn't turn back. So now I'm coming clean!

While browsing the photos of upcoming Frank Lloyd Wright Lego sets (here and here), I find myself more drawn to the Space Needle set. I still can't believe I didn't ride the elevators up the Space Needle when I made my one trip to Seattle. That's up there with EzraPounded staring at the Statue of Liberty without actually getting up close and personal.

Beth Sholom, Frank Lloyd Wright, and a Pest

I was a pest in Philadelphia. I had a list of things to do and constantly bothered my sister who happened to be the driver. There was Betsy Ross' house because they had a squished penny machine, Independence Hall, The Philosophical Society where they carried Louis and Clark journals, the Liberty Bell, and all kinds of to do.

Finally, after hours of walking, we sat down for lunch at a Chinese fusion restaurant that was pretty much alright. No big whoop. Then I sprung it on her. I said, "After we see Edgar Allan Poe's house, can we swing by Beth Sholom?" I told her it was the only temple Frank Lloyd Wright ever built and that it was his last project before he died. It was imperative, I said.

It took an hour and a half to get to our destination using Stephanie's talking GPS contraption that freaked me out. BaddicusFinch adamantly refuses to use one of those. Once there, a line of police cars flanked the roads. They were ushering in well dressed Yom Kippur celebrants and there was no way I could pass in my t-shirt and jeans. Suddenly, I was wishing I was Sammy Davis, Jr. So we parked across the street and took some pictures.

The temple was very impressive. It looked like a Samurai headdress with lots of spikes. Thank you Stephanie for fulfilling my wishes!