TIPPY TOE!!!
Y'all...last night's motel... (head shaking) You've all seen "Big", right? (If you haven't, quit reading this RIGHT NOW and find it somewhere.) Last night for me was like the scene where Tom Hanks spends his 1st night alone as an adult. Please tell me you know what I'm talking about. It was AWFUL!!
It doesn't look too bad, does it? Well, nothing looks too bad at 5:30 in the morning!! I got out of there as soon as there was enough sunlight for me to feel safe to get to my car!
I took lots of pictures, but this one might say it all - WTF is that rag on the night stand?? EWWW!!
Based on my experience, I've come up with a new reality show idea - it would be called "You Stayed WHERE?!?", and contestants would have to spend a certain amount of time in a motel and complete tasks to win something. Unfortunately, I would NOT have won anything last night if the challenge had been to take a shower, because that thing was GUH-ross! I slept totally clothed.
RoadsideAmerica stop #14 - Backyard zoo in York, NE. Just a bunch of stuff and signs that this guy made.
Seward, NE. I took a picture because I can drive that! 4135 miles? That's nothing! Looks like I've got next summer's trip idea...
RoadsideAmerica stop #15 - World's Largest Time Capsule, also in Seward, NE. They've got a car and a motorcycle and all kinds of stuff in there, and they'll open it in 2025. I guess they'll have to destroy the pyramid? That's a shame.
RoadsideAmerica stop #16 - grave shaped like a desk in Wyuka Cemetery, Nebraska City, NE. Now, I know I felt weird about taking a picture of Evel Knievel's grave, and I took two more today, and one tomorrow, but here's how I look at it - someone's thinking about these people. Does that make sense? I mean, I visit these graves initially out of curiousity, but then I always take a minute to think about the person. I don't know. I just want to make sure that everyone realizes that I mean no disrespect by taking these pictures. Shoot - if I were to be buried, I'd want something different. But I don't want to be buried, I want to be put in a field and the FBI can use me to study decomposition time under different circumstances. (They do that, you know?) I will HAUNT somebody if I end up in a cemetery with a lame marker. ANYWAY, this grave is sure enough shaped like a desk, and there are TEN names on it. Most of them are pretty young, and most of the dates are from the 1800s.
RoadsideAmerica stop #17 - Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph, MO. I debated on paying admission and going in, but the guy gave me a discount, and it was worth the four bucks! Creepy stuff, and of course I ended up in the morgue by myself... Brrr. One of the employees told me it WAS haunted, but I didn't get any details. I like the way this water torture is depicted with cellophane. I BOUGHT MY FIRST T-SHIRT HERE!!!
After this stop is when I believe I...HAD WAFFLE HOUSE!!! Sat at the bar, and the waitress said she'd bring me a menu. I said, "You can bring me a placemat, but I don't need a menu!"
It was also in this time frame that I tried to visit Kansas City's public library for my librarians friends (the parking garage is decorated like a HUGE bookshelf). Well, something/someone screwed up here - either Garmin or RoadsideAmerica or me. What do you want to bet it was me? Anyway, I typed the address I had into Garmin for the library, and I ended up in the residential area of a teeny, tiny, CUTE border town of KC. (shrug) and onto next stop. Well, then I finally SEE Kansas City (it was somewhere in here that I also took a quick trip into Kansas, which I don't think I was supposed to do), and O M G - Kansas City is HUGE. And traffic was CRAZY! So it's a blessing in disguise that I DIDN'T get the correct directions to go into downtown freakin' Kansas City.
Rest stop somewhere in Missouri that had this washer/soaper/dryer thing! You just stick your hands under and POOF - it's all done! Crazy.
RoadsideAmerica stop #18 - Jim the Wonder Dog Memorial Garden and gravesite, Marshall, MO. I cannot do justice to the story of Jim the Wonder Dog, but the park dedicated to him is beautiful with plaques all the way around a path that tell his story. By the last one, I was bawling. Oh, and I bought a Jim the Wonder Dog t-shirt, but only because the proceeds go to maintaining the park.
Also in the garden was this box for people to take and/or leave books - how cool is that? (NO, I didn't take any.)
Jim's grave. He was originally not allowed to be buried in the town cemetery, so his owners buried him just outside of it, but then the cemetery had to expand and he's right in with the people.
Me and the Missouri River in Boonville, MO. MUCH nicer than last night.
I had an experience when I went out to dinner that reaffirms my ability to make quick - albeit strange - connections with people. The main street is only 3 blocks long, so I'm walking down to see what my options are. About a half a block ahead of me, this guy opens a bar door, and then HOLDS IT OPEN FOR ME! He says, "You're coming in here, right?", and when he tells me they don't serve real food I laugh and say no, and thank him. That took maybe, what? One minute, tops. Well, I find a pizza place and have some pineapple and jalapeno (it was fabulous) and watch the tv for a little bit and start to walk back. That takes maybe an hour. As I'm walking past the bar, the same guy comes walking (stumbling) out, and he says, "You again!" I ask how he's doing, and he says, "Girl, I'm tired!" Then he asks where I ate, and when I tell him, he says, "Hell yeah, that's good pizza!", and we talked a little bit more. The point I'm trying to make is that if this DRUNK guy could remember me, then something was wrong with that rest stop couple. The last thing this guy said to me was "You look good in that pink shirt", and we both laughed and laughed and laughed, because we knew that I did NOT look good in that pink shirt, what with my dirty, straw-like hair and borderline sunburnt face. Then he said, "Girl, you're funny" and...laid down on a park bench. Good times.
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