One Month on the road.

We started our day with a visit to my sculpture in Toledo, Ohio. This sculpture ranks as one of my favorites over the past 40 plus years. This sculpture is a Memorial that marked the 100^th birthday of the Art Tatum. When I saw the announcement for the competition I went for it with a vengeance. I was going to win this because of love of my love of Jazz and blues and this was an opportunity to make a statement about my ideas and feelings.

The main judges for the sculpture was Jon Hendricks a unique figure in the history of Jazz. There was a bit of controversy about the only old white guy winning it but I was the only one of the finalists that was in contact with who and what Art Tatum was and still is. Plus they liked the sculpture.

My family rarely gets to see any of my public work and this was a perfect opportunity. We get to Toledo and they have changed the name of the arena and I can’t find it?  We stopped in front of an art gallery and Andrea goes in to ask if anybody may have seen the sculpture or know where the City Arena was? Nobody-know-nothing. The Arena had a new name and my sculpture had the magnetic attraction of cardboard. We found it, we saw and we were gone. Andrea took over the driving and I got to sit and watch Ohio slip by.

We listen to Pandora and talk about what ever is in the air. When we finally got a break from the evil concrete of the Ohio Turnpike and found asphalt the RV went from a jackhammer experience to a fluid rocking. The shuffle of Louis Jordan’s Blue Light Boogie with the now gentle undulation of the RV lulled me into the remembrances of all the trips that Jim Morgan and I made across America.

In a 1970 VW van we made many trips, usually with art or antiques as the anchor for the trip. We would leave San Francisco or Minneapolis or Kansas City or NYC and go.

Music – Food –Art ( the true MFA) and friends, if that doesn’t get you covered we probably aren’t friends.

We stopped for at exit 60 of I 90 East. We asked the toll taker where she would go for lunch. In about 5 blocks we found ourselves on the shore of Lake Erie at Jack’s drive in. This little place was packed, we got the last table. It was bright warm and the table clothes had to be reject shower curtains. It felt great. Andrea got the Potato pancake ( one filled the plate) lily a spicy chicken salad with fries and I went for the fresh Lake Erie Perch. We all scored on our lunches. To finish off we had a piece of home made Raspberry pie. Jacks is a really good place. If you are ever in the area stop in Westfield Township and eat at Jacks.

About 3 o’clock we arrived in Niagara Falls (USA side.)  The plan was simple, find a place to park the RV and get a ride in the Maid of The Mist. On the water, directly in front of the falls seemed like the best place to view them. It costs $13.50 and there is no break for seniors? As you are about to enter the boat you are given a large, blue poncho ( one size fits all (up to 350 pounds.) This trip is a real experience. Forget that it is a tourist thing and think about it as a totally cool, remarkable and amazing experience. You really need the poncho and even with it on you still get pretty soaked. The power and the beauty is amazing. You gotta do it. Kinda like standing in front of a moving train but you get to tell the tale.

We left Niagara on route 104. This road was a wonderful surprise. The country side is lush and expansive. I keep think about what it might have been like to see this land for the first time? Route 104 is a two lane road that started in an abandoned section of North Eastern Niagara falls. What a sad journey through derelict businesses, schools and churches. Porches on house resembled lonely sway back horses. So Sad!

As we drove the neighbor hoods went up scale and then eased into fall colors and romantic country side. We finished our day 36 miles east of Niagara in a muddy camp ground with a mild Deliverance feel.

Day 4 Milwaukee

It hasn't stopped raining since we got here.  Andrea is bummed because she had a picture of us walking 4 to 5 miles a day and it isn't happening. We leave tomorrow after my glasses arrive from Minneapolis ( I hope). It has been a nice stay. Steve and Jody have been great, Thalia and David have been very generous hosts and the every changing palette of grey skies has been worth watching.
Yesterday we had an impromptu visit to the Chicago Art Institute. There was a change in plans that made this the only window we had to make it down to Chicago. I am only going to make the family suffer 3 museums on the trip. Chicago, Philadelphia and the Modern in NYC. The opportunity to see Edward Hoppers Night Hawks, Ivan Albright, Seaurat, Georgia Okeefe, Arbus and the Miniature period rooms in the basement. In Philadelphia it is the Arensberg collection I want share and at the Modern it is everything.
This is all of the formal art I will subject the family to. We walked through Millennium park and saw the bean and crown fountain. It was successful trip.
We are 4 days short of a month on the road. Andrea and I have had only 2 fights of significant proportion.
One of my quests for this trip was the discovery of great pie. The chocolate-snickers-hershey-cream pie was a great one for Andrea and Lily but fruit pies are my favorite. In Pacifica, Rick Bennett of the the Salada each Cafe is a pie master. But I found a cherry pie that really rang my chimes. It was a Door County ( cherry capitol of America) Cherry pie. To start with the number of cherries in the pie was as high as the piece could support. It was packed. The corn starch or arrow root was very light it just added
a bit of continuity to the internal structure. The sugar content was exactly where it needed to be in order to coax the full flavor out of the cherries. And they cut the pie into 6 pieces so you really got a good size piece. The crust was thin and it was a shortening crust which I prefer to butter. YUM!

Lily meets Jackson P. for the first time

crown fountain chicago

Lily watches the magic sock monkey spirit emerge from Steve's bottle of wine

Andrea likes Raisin Bran but not rasins

The magic Pie!

Lily has gotten into the trip and her texting has dropped significantly. I didn't get the LA China Town sculpture  and the quality of fruit in Milwaukee is poor.
We don't know where we will end up tomorrow night but it will be East.

mystery meat at kegel's

Saurbraten. Pickled – Roasted – Beef

Prep time 3 days inactive and 5 hours active.

2 cups water

1 cup cider vinegar

1 cup red wine vinegar

1 medium onion, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, additional for seasoning meat

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 bay leaves

6 whole cloves

12 juniper berries

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 (3 1/2 to 4-pound) bottom round

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/3 cup sugar

18 dark old-fashioned gingersnaps (about 5 ounces), crushed

   1/2 cup seedless raisins, or dried fruit.

We hit Milwaukee on a Friday night. Andrea has talked about Milwaukee

Fish fries for the 15 years and here it was Friday night and Milwaukee.

Andrea called her best buddy Jody and asked her to find the most

traditional fish fry in the city. Jody did some research and the Potato

   pancakes from Kegel had been listed in Saveur magazine. A couple

   hours latter we are at KEGEL a German restaurant that has been open

   since 1927 or so. The place is classic German, dark wood, painted

   eating and drinking scenes above the wood and a general Teutonic

   tourist feel. A fun place with nostalgia for places that you have never

   been. One of my favorite German dishes is Saurbraten. The recipe above

  is a very good rendition of this flavorful and tender dish. Usually served

  with red cabbage and spaetzle or dumpling. Jody and Andrea go for the

  fish fry, Steve goes for the duck, Lily gets the cheese burger and I am so

  happy to order the Suarbraten. A wonderfully funky place with good

  friends and good beer we had some Gemütlichkeit  going.

  Please try to imagine a freshly made bed that has a magazine between the sheets.

  If you look you can see a slight embossed profile of the magazine.

  Now imagine the blanket is brown gravy and the magazine is the Saurbraten. I knew I

  was in trouble because the lake of brown could only mean that it was a cover up. No

  exaggeration here there was 3/8” of brown gravy filling the plate and only the outline of

  one piece of meat was expressing itself as a brown ridge. Steve and

  Jody were hosting us to this meal and I wasn’t gonna ask for the scuba gear so I could

  find my dinner. I lifted a corner of the meat to peek under and found some dry off color and vintage meat. My dinner was scary. But I was gonna take one for the team and I ate most of it. When I got home I prayed for the magic of Fernet Branca to do its stuff.

And it did.  Please consider this a cautionary tale when considering dinner at Kegel’s in Milawaukee

the lake of brown.

Highway 61

It is called the great river road and starts in Northern Mn. You can follow it all the way to the land of the blues. Minneapolis was a three night stay in a town that I had spent bits and pieces of 16 years in. I was personally surprised at my lack of any connection to to any of it? There was a moment where Lilly was watching some TV in the lower front room. I sat on her bed and remembered that this was the spot that I was when a radio DJ announced that John Lennon had been killed. I cried then and it all came back to me again. Soon after the Lennon shooting I did a sculpture titled Fates Mistake. Ronald Regan had been shot just before Lennon and If there was a deity why would he leave Regan alive and take John Lennon. It still pisses me off.

On our final night in Minneapolis Andrea and I made dinner for Paul and Donna and had some good laughs. Then in the morning it was down Highway 61.

This is a great road that follows the Mississippi and takes you through beautiful small towns that back up against rocky bluffs. We drove down to Lacrosse ( Wisconsin) and Lacrescent  (Minnesota) found a camp site in between the two on an island in the river.

The camp ground ranks in the top three of the past 23 days. Green grass. Lots of trees and we are backed up to the river. Also there is a bar in the office and starting tonight is the Oktober Fest celebration that goes on for three days. A week long celebration with parades, Braurts and Beer. I glad we will be outa here latter today.

Last night I had the humiliating experience of not being able to start a camp fire. Making fire is basic MAN work. Very much like cleaning up dead animals that the cat drags in. We had no hatchet – no paper – no wax – gasoline – and the alcohol would go up to fast. SO! I tossed a log onto my propane stove to see if it would get started. The best that I could muster is a smoldering thing that we could have sent smoke signals with.

Fire - basic mans work

A new menu item for one of the Forage dinners

The river out the bed room window.

Next stop Milwaukee, Land Of Sausages and short skyscrapers.

The bottle form the far corner of the bottom shlef.

I came into Donnas house today and on the table was a bottle of Fernet Branca. The bottle was old and I recognized it as the bottle that I had brought from San Francisco when I first moved here in 1970. The bottle had belonged to my grandfather and I had gained control of it when he passed away in 1967. My grandfather had taught me to drink Fernet when I was a kid. In an Italian family If any one had any stomach issue, you drank Fernet. If you weren’t hungry and needed your appetite stimulated you drank Fernet. Fernet was the only alcoholics beverage that was legal during prohibition because of its medicinal properties.

Fernet has been a part of my life for over 50 years. Andrea and I finish all of our dinner parties with Fernet and frequently people will ask “what is this stuff.” I always replay that in the old days they listed the ingredients on the label but not any more.

Now, after 40 plus years of hiding in the back of a lower cupboard corner the ingredients present themselves. It is a big thing or me to have this family relic return to me. I had a great relationship with my grandfather and I attempted to do what ever he did. Fernet is the tradition he introduced me to and that I still partake in. This bottle will travel home with us and take its place in a prominent place in our kitchen, the heart of our house.

Minneapolis

The painted desert Bad Lands 

Minneapolis. The ride on highway 90 and 35W were bone jarring, mind numbing and painful. The worst roads we have encountered since we left the west coat. We were kind of a mess when we arrived at Donna and Paul’s place. Everybody got out and helped us park the Rv in back. Long poles pushed up branches and many garbage cans were moved. It actually spreads over two properties. We are going to make some Butter, cream, dark chocolate almond caramels for them.

We started the morning with breakfast at Bad Waitress café and then a long walk to Walgreen’s for a prescription and a road atlas. After years of seeing Pearl Vision commercials on TV I went to find one. My eyes have kinda gone south on the trip. I got new glasses six months ago and they were fine but over the past 5 or 6 weeks my distance vision has gone?

My eyes have change quickly and I need a new pair. What a bummer! I went prepared with a fedx invoice (my account) for the glasses to be shipped to Milwaukee, our next extended stop.

Today the 21^st an art project is being presented in so.  Cal. I designed the entire thing while on this trip?  I like what I designed and have fingers crossed for a win. The design came easy and a piece of it is really exciting for me. I will post a picture if I win.

The family has laughed a lot on this trip. It also has talked and of course bar brawls has sporadically broken out. The worst of the brawls was settled by Lily who had watched one episode of Doctor Phil and felt like she had it together. She came up with a great scheme that was worthy of day time TV.

I spent 1970 to 86 in Minneapolis and I don’t feel any nostalgia for the place? I am staying in the house I used to live in but I can’t find a remnant of emotional history.

I guess when I packed up and left this town I left completely.

The quality of food is much better than when I was here, espresso is more easily accessible and the old neighborhood  feels unchanged. Nice and creepy at the same time.

The organization of the city is very efficient, very Scando. Germanic. It is clearly a place that likes you to be different  - - - just not too different.

Lily does her interpretive dance to the ghost's of the Corn Palace.

Is it the socks, the sandals or the aloof attitude that make all the plaster women go for me.

badlands to mitchell

We left the White River camp this morning. We had spent the previous day doing nothing at the campsite. I completed my LA China Town Proposal, Lily and Andrea road bikes and walked along the white river. Maybe The RV has been accepted as our home.

First thing we do is drive into the Bad Lands. It is one of the least explored National Parks and it is a Stunner. The surrealist painter Yves Tanguay painted landscape of unspecified origin: plateaus, canyons, eroded cliffs and solitary pillars casting elongated shadows. This place feels like that. Tension between monuments is what a lot of contemporary sculptors attempt but only within the artificial confines of the gallery or museum do they nearly succeed. The Bad Lands are a magical place for me.

We drove out of the this best of all possible art installations and within 8 miles we entered the world of WALL drugs. What a crazy place. It has been here since 1931

And has grown from an oasis with a spring (water) to a wacky destination. I saw my first Jackalope here in 1971 and am happy to say there is still a wall of them. We had lunch,

And headed across the road to the Fireworks warehouse. Lordy Lordy take me now for I have entered heaven. Thousands of pounds of decorative explosives lined 10-foot high shelves. Forth of July 2011 is gonna be a really good one!

Wall drug jackalopes

A 4th Pacifica will never forget!

Hershey Snickers chocolate cream pie at the cross roads of hyw 14 and 15 Wyoming

End of the day in Mitchell

The Girls in the Bad Lands

On to Mitchell and the Corn Palace.

crazy horse and rushmore

Crazy Horse.

Yesterday we stopped and saw the Crazy Horse Memorial. I hadn't seen it in more than 30 years.
The last time I was there, there was only an out line and the plaster model of the  sculpture. The sculpture is now Ziolkowki's dream come true. It is passionate and beautiful. The artist never requested or accepted any government money. In order to keep your dream your own you can't make any deals with the devil.
I am not a fan of figurative statuary but Crazy Horse is the real deal. The energy and focus of the family and the people that have worked on it is evident in the resonance of the sculpture.
We continued on down the road and went to Mt. Rushmore. After crazy Horse Rushmore was stiff, formal and American in not the best sense. It is big and it is framed to let you know you are going to be seeing something important. It felt flat for me and the family. But it did succeed in the American way as a celebration of Super sizing.  The sculpture lacks grace the grace of Crazy Horse or the passion and it is clumsy by comparison. But Lily did get a great foot long Hot Dog at the snack bar.
We ended our day driving from Rapid city to the Bad Land's on high way 44. The ride is an invitation to experience the moon on earth. Beautiful and wonderfully other worldly. The camp ground is near empty and beautiful. Tomorrow - Wall Drug and Maybe the Corn Palace. I love South Dakota.

Cody Wyoming

Lily starts to understand the tree hogging thing.

Two weeks into our trip. Life in the RV is getting clearer. How to move in the space and not be in anybody else's way is the thing to learn, We spent a couple of good days in Yellowstone.  The park is great and I saw some things I had never seen before. The mud geyser area was very cool, Old Faithful was a dud but the ride from Fishing Bridge to Cody is as beautiful as any landscape that I have ever seen. It knocked us out.
Yesterday we stopped at the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum. What  a surprise. The Plains Indian section had some of the best Native American art I have ever seen. The display was high quality as an installation and the content was very honest. The abuse by the American government wasn't glossed over.
We pulled into our camp site about 4 PM and went about what felt like life. Lily spread out and did home work, Andrea worked on her Blog and researched our next days journey and I went out to the picnic table and cut onions, carrots and celery for a Scarlet Runner bean soup. It was 8 by the time we cleaned up and strolled the park. Latter in the evening I got a call from the music director of the New Billy Bob Thorton film (working title Jane Mansfield's car) and found out that 2 songs from my band ( The Fifty Foot Hose) are going to be included in the film. I am very excited to get two songs in the film and about 4 minutes of play. The Hose has survived over 40 years and slowly over time its status has continued to rise. Very Cool. It is too bad my partner in the Hose, David Blossom died some years back. David, if you can hear me - A new generation is going to hear what we did, I wish you were here to laugh with me.

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Seattle Saturday morning

It is amazing how much work we have done on this trip. Carrying your house with you means you do house work. Cleaning, cooking and maintenance.  I am also designing a sculpture for a commission in LA's Chinatown. It is down to two of us so I have to do something kinda interesting?

 This morning we attempt to have Bagels with some SF friends

and around noon we will creep out of town. You never blast out town in one of these things.

When Lily was born Animal and Bennett were our only choices for God parents. When we asked them they said sure and then wanted to know what is it that God parents do.  In their case it is to love and spoil her like Italian Grandparents. Andrea and I only have one combined set of grandparents so a second set is a good thing. On a little shopping excursion Bennett bought Lily a new Mac Box Pro (orange.) It was such a generous gift and a surprise.  THANKS BENNETT.

Lily - cork - andrea - animal - mary - bennett

On a couple of evening we sat in the Gas lights back yard ( this is Bennett's BnB- the Best in Seattle) The evenings had a calm magic with a temperature that match your skin; perfect.

Tonight we end up in Spokane and then onto Butte and finally Yellowstone.

The captains chair is traveling south in fedx truck, the tool shelve has been screwed into the floor of the RV and we are as ready to go as we be.

Seattle - The Fairy God Fathers - and lots of work.

Seattle is currently extremely hot. Our RV is legally too wide for the street it is parked on.
But we have snuck by for 2 nights and we will hope for another.  In order to accommodate the 2 folding bikes that were awaiting us in Seattle. We are going to have to reconfigure our space. Space is the devil in the RV world. If you want a rig that you can drive in a city and park, you can't go bigger than 24 feet. We have too much stuff and none of it is actually extraneous.
So I unbolted the captains chair that sits behind the passengers seat. We wrapped it in shrink wrap and sent it home. We were left with the pedestal that the chair sat on.  It was decided by Andrea and I that we needed to open up space under the RV and get rid of the chair and fill that spot with a cabinet - and we did it.
This took close to 4 hours and much sweat as the sun was out in full brightness. Working in the tin can in the sun made me think of bad prison movies where the guy in the BOX. It is always summer and always the south. So I'm a sissy. We are going to spend an extra day in Seattle to get stuff ready for the Eastward leg of the trip. Spokane - Butte and then Yellowstone.
Mean while, Lily has learned to love the chicken N waffles from the Skillet diner. If you get to Seattle we all recommend you try the skillet diner on 14th st at Union.
Pictured is Lily with her first Chicken N waffles. She is a happy girl.
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Lily and her idiot dad. westport,wa.

Seattle

We left Westport and Drove through Aberdeen ( birth place of Curt Cobain.) We had a dangerous lunch at Betty's Kitchen "Home Cookin"  Betty's home must have been a scary place. Betty's was a bar with parking spaces for motor cycles. We went in and were charmed by Betty who was the waitress and at least 85. We should have left when she described a sandwich that contained a deep fried pork chop. The food was like special effects from a B quality horror flick. At least 3 ingredients were a MYSTERY.
Before I left Westport I placed a Craigs list ad for a traveling handy man/mechanic to repair our tail pipe. Before lunch was over we had an appointment with Troy. We landed and an hour latter Troy was here.
We talked about Hogans Hero episodes - All in the Family episodes - Stan Ridgeway ( a school chum from Bakersfield) Where his dad was shoot down in France during the second world war and was saved by the French resistance. He talked non stop from under the RV as I stood in the narrow street to direct cars away from his legs. It took an hour and half and 50 bucks but he did a good job.
Tonight we have dinner with our friends Animal and Bennett and then look for a legal place to put the RV.

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Westport, Wa.

Yesterday was beautiful sun, fog, and amazing landscape that was mixed with holiday traffic and a dropped tail pipe?!@#$%^&*(
Andrea and I are so out of the concept of holidays that a 250 mile trip took about 10 hours. After Astoria the road was open and we drove into pastoral salt water landscapes. We were punch drunk by the time we landed. I don't know who said what but for a good 15 minutes we all laughed till our sides hurt and we cried. Lord Buckley said that when we are laughing we are incandescent and want everyone we ever loved to share that moment with us and I agree.
We are in Westport because I have a sculpture in Hoquiam just across Gray's Bay. When we were installing that sculpture we came over here for dinner one night and I liked it. It is a blue collar sea side destination. The ocean is constantly trying to reduce all materials back to their organic origins.  Rust on steel, marine borers in pilings, paint that is faded and hangs like fall leaves. The area is a thin peninsula supported by serious fishing and tourism. Try and imagine a sea side board walk with all of the rides and concessions closed. The restaurants and salt water taffy shops are all that is left. Since I was a kid I liked this feeling. It isn't neat, clean or nice. There is not one Starbucks, Peets, McDonalads or any thing else that would make people feel safe. We park the RV and walked to a fish market that had the most beautiful selections of fresh fish I have ever seen. Andrea asked for a lunch recommendation and with great enthusiasm one of the fish mongerette's  lead us into the semi paved street. She directed us down 3 blocks to the yellow sign and then right, "look for the Little Mermaid and order the Ragin Cajun."  We walked past mountains of crab traps, boats that will never feel sea water again and cars with over 400,000 miles on broken odometers. The food was great, the place was a garage that had been converted to a deli - bar; what a winner. We will stop by again on the way out of town tomorrow. The place is off the un-beaten path. We walked back up the docks and went into the local maritime Museum which house one of the only class 1 Fresnel Light house lenses. It is displayed and functioning in it's own building. You walk in and this is IT. The experience In this building is what every church wants but usually comes up short. Without the weight or pretensions of Western religions, this 6,000 pounds of steel, glass and light inspires awe and knocks you out. Lily knew this was the real deal. Monsieur Fresnel makes most art look like self important Chihuahua poop.
The lens is worth a trip to west port. People go to Europe for the cathedrals, frescos and marbles statuary. Save your self some money and see the light.
What a great day!

Florence, Or. Sept.3

Florence is a place that the entire family loves. We tried to buy  a place here 2 years ago but couldn't get the sellers to agree to anything but a suitcase full of cash.  We couldn't find a suitcase so we lost the deal.

We arrived tired and road shaken and hungry. The rv park is great, just 2 blocks from the beach. We tried to walk it last night but the wind was dermabrasion strong. This morning was something else. Heceta beach has the feeling of one of Dali's late 30's landscapes. The beach goes on flat and wide for 3 to 4 miles. There is no drop off so you can walk for 400 feet into the ocean and only be knee high in water.  This shallow flatness allows the waves to wash up the beach as if they where poured out of a bucket. This flat surrealistic landscape is a place that all of us recognize as good for us. We hated to leave it 2 years ago and we will miss it when we go tomorrow.
Andrea is sitting n the sun with her NOOK, I am in the shade writing and Lily is watching Sponge Bob. The good episode where Sponge Bob explains the Myth of Sisyphus to Patrick.
Nice day today- much better than yesterday.

Day one

Yesterday was tough. Andrea packed up our house and the took all of that stuff and packed it into the RV.
I was running errands, tending to tire pressure, coolant levels, bungee madness and getting everybody lunch.
At 1 p.m.. we crept out of SF and picked through traffic. We were nervous, tired, scarred, and Lily was unglued?
She had just been asked to her first dance and had to say no. She had met new kids she liked and had to say bye. She is stuck in a 175 sq. foot tin can.
We finished out first day in Eureka. I hooked us up and we made a simple dinner. The fear, expectation and the understanding that we are out of our house for 3 months hit all of us. We are doing this.

Friday morning is peaceful, calm sunny and warm. We had tea out side on the grass in the morning sun.
It look and feel different than last night. Lily is crashed, Andrea is blogging and soon we pack up and head north along the coast. I don't know if I have mentioned that Lily - Cork -Andrea are not looking at each others blog entries until we return home.

Cork

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