[Sketch Trip America] Episode 18: Lowell and Rose Davis

Carthage

To take care of dinner, we decided to go into town. City of Carthage was only ten minutes away. We were used to camping and preferred making food for the sake of convenience. However, it didn't seem like a good idea to cook near beautiful buildings in Lowell's Red Oak II. Thankfully, earlier, Lowell mentioned a place to eat in town, so we headed straight to there. When we entered Carthage, the reds from the sunset were gone and the yellows were already diminishing, then soon only the blues remained in the sky. Buildings were mostly low-lying, there seems to be nothing protruding above the horizon line. A straight line was drawn across, then there was a blue sky above and the city below it. This very simple silhouette, or rather the simple straight line, expunged the image right out of my head, the image of a city I had that is all vertical and complex.

"Why? Can't a city be flat and horizontal? Should there be buildings that are taller than two stories? This is Missouri!" The city of Carthage proclaimed.

"Sure, of course, there's nothing wrong with a city that is flat. All the better reason that no one will be falling off any tall buildings to die." Perhaps because I drove all day in Missouri where there was no hills and mountains, I admitted at once of Carthage's argument. But I was suddenly curious, too.

"Do you even know what mountains are?" I asked.

"What? Mountains? Are you kidding me? Of course, I've heard of them. Haven't seen one, but heard they're pretty tall. Are they taller than the electric poles?" I suspected the answer to be something like this.

Actually, the only things that were standing taller than the horizon were the electric poles and the restaurant signs.

 

The restaurant we found was a buffet restaurant called Sirloin Stockade. If you ordered a steak, the salad bar was also included. Or one can simply just use the salad bar. Pretty similar to VIPS restaurants that I have been to in Korea. But the price was about one third of what VIPS charged. One sixth, in actuality, since the steaks were twice as big as theirs. It tastes much better, too. You may already know this, but the beef price in Korea is highly inflated. It has a lot to do with the structure of beef distribution. There were so many layers in the system, the end consumers are burdened with all the extra costs. Some says even the president cannot fix the beef distribution problem. Does that mean if the President of Korea can fix the beef problem, there would be nothing he or she cannot fix? If the President can fix beef problem in Korea, that president can achieve the unification of the South and the North probably. In a country with that much economical strength, if an average person was asked what he or she wanted to eat, the answer would be beef. There is a popular comedy skit in Korea and the line always end up as, "if you make a lot of money, you go buy beef and eat it." It is pretty sickening to think that the people are being ripped off by systematic fraud in Korea. It is not just the problem with beef for sure, but now that I'm sitting with a scrumptious piece of beef steak in front me that is also inexpensive, I couldn't help but was reminded of the sad reality of my home country. It certainly is going backward nowadays. After eating a full buffet meal with two steaks, the price we paid was $31. 





      

Boots Court Motel

Boots Court Motel is a famous Route 66 spot. It happened to be on the way to the restaurant. One cannot miss it while going through Carthage traveling on Route 66. It is a place of history and nostalgia for travelers of Route 66. It first opened in 1939 and still operating. A classic example of Streamline Modern Architecture which is a late type of the Art Deco, with curving forms and long horizontal lines.

'Air-Conditioned', 'Radio in Every Room'. When was the time to brag about such things…? It actually would be right now. To have a radio from many decades ago in every room in the year 2014 is certainly something to brag about. If the trend is over then it's out-dated. But if it's well past time, then it becomes worthwhile again. Such is  life.

I found pictures online and the radios in the rooms looked like these. It's more than what they can brag about. If the furniture and objects in the rooms reminded us a certain time period that had passed, then it was a place of memories and nostalgia. Boots Court was part of that history. After driving several hundred miles, take shower and    pour a glass of beer then listened to Chuck Berry coming out of that old radio, it was a fantastic day.

Get Your Ki-cks on the Rou-te sixty si-x.

When we came back to Red Oak II, it was well past 9:30. Even at this late hour, Lowell and Rose had invited us into their house. In Lowell's studio, we got to see Lowell's picture books, paintings in various publications, news articles about Lowell, other numerous paintings, and a glass case filled with the miniature figurines that made Lowell famous worldwide.

Lowell's figurines that portray life in Missoura brought him a great success and he toured the world with them. With the money he bought the old houses and store buildings from his old town and moved to Red Oak II. Some of the houses in town are actually owned by other people and families. There were many more exciting plans ahead for this charming town. We talked and shared stories with Lowell and Rose about many different things. The night was getting deep Red Oak II.  

End of Episode 18.

*         *         *

In the next episode, we enter Lowell's General Store building to stay for the night. At first, Sumi and I thought an antique building from a Western movie, but as the time nears midnight, the General Store turns into the place of the living dead.  



 

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[Sketch Trip America] Episode 12: You Corrupt Dragon! Here Comes the Ruler of Justice!

Missouri

Sinclair

On Rt 266(part of Rt 66 at some point in time) in Paris Spring,

20 miles west from Springfield.

"Wait! A ton of old stuff!"

"Stop the car!"

We've passed several Rt 66 museums along the way. Museums were full of shiny things that were long removed from where it belonged. For travelers in pursuit of old times, museum full of shiny object the time had been removed from wasn't very impressive. What finally stopped us was this tiny little gas station on the side of a dirt flying winding road. To be exact, it used to be a gas station and now it stood with all kinds of objects and cars with time hammered onto them cluttered all around it.

The name of the gas station is Sinclair. Opened in 1926.

Sinclair was filled with things that made one wonder what they were once used for. The gas pump was one of them. It took me a while to figure out that the scale on the transparent tank is to tell how much of the gasoline was extracted from the tank. One would watch the scale on the tank to see how much they needed to pay. Watching at it, I thought this analog method might have created some dispute over whether there were more or less gasoline for what one had paid. As soon as the scale became numbers, there might have been less disputes like that. Then, I remembered that some gas station owners tweaked the pump so that meters would show slightly more than what was actually pumped out and and made profit over time. This kind of news was quite frequent as I recall. Staring at the tank, I pondered on what had happened. When the tank became no longer transparent, the way to check it with our own eyes disappeared altogether. Then, there came meters in the place of our eyes. The numbers on meters changed at constant rates and speed. It was digital. People lost the means to check as the spectacular array of numbers changing, and soon, digital became trustworthy. The truth hid behind the splendor forever unchecked.

This transparency of an old analog gas pump, small neighborly disputes over few pennies, were not a mere section of frugal life of bygone days. It was a weapon that protected lives of people from the giant wrong-doings. The scales on the transparent tank of an old gas pump, was the mystical sword that would fend off the evil dragon called corruption. I thought we shouldn't let the truths in life turn into something else that's invisible. I suddenly wanted to raise the sword of justice high and mighty.

You corrupt dragon, I will slay you with the edge of my ruler of justice!

"Sumi, I'll lure his head and you stab in between his butt cheek!"

"Okay. You dragon of corruption, here comes the big wedgie of justice!"

Bzzzzzzz, zchunk, zchunkkk! Bzzzzzzik!

Until the day the charade of deception finally disappear!

Visit Jingoogk's original blog in Korean here:  http://blog.naver.com/hwangjinkook/220184427827

          

[Sketch Trip America] Episode 11: The Genuine Route 66

The Genuine Rt 66 begins: 

Day 5. Missouri

6:40 AM. I was woken up by fresh and crisp early morning air.  I went to sleep in my underwear with no blanket but this morning, I found myself under a blanket. Sumi must've covered me up, but she wasn't there next to me. She must be up and doing something already. It is not uncommon that I wake up and Sumi is not around. She tends to get out and do something as soon as she opens her eyes in the morning, such as walking, taking photographs or etc.

I, on the other hand, was still wrapped in the blanket in the tent, while looking outside through the entrance. Beyond this thin layer, morning light was getting brighter and there were various bird calls, meandering fog, sweet smelling soil, and pungent smell of phytoncide that surrounding trees emit. This mixture of air was seeping through tent interior. Even a five star hotel couldn't provide this. I was beginning to feel the positive aspects of camping. If you set aside little bit of effort and discomfort, it is simply much better to camp than to stay at a conventional lodging. Fresh air and the positive energy from the forest began to enter my body. I may be turning into a god of the forest. My body started to elevate into the air. This must be levitation that people talk about. I was afloat with the air of the forest, then I heard a voice coming from Sumi.

"What'cha doing sitting in your undies?"

My short levitation ended with her voice and from god's realm I landed back in the human realm. Swoop and squat. Sumi had gone to take shower when the bathroom was empty.

We had breakfast with Doen-Jang Jjigae(bean paste stew) and beef chili paste and made coffee afterwards. Daily routines that happen in the mornings in the woods are also the best part of camping. While I was thinking this, stars and stripes pattern on the paper cups came into my sight. Half jokingly, I said to Sumi,

"Oh, this is so American!"

Sumi replied piteously.

"There's nothing un-American about any of these."

Right. But then, I realized I hadn't seen much of Korean national flag patterns on anything when I was in Korea. Growing up, national flag was something that hung only from the flag pole. To me, it was refreshing to see American flag pattern on various uniforms of American Olympic athletes. American flag patterns on paper cups reminded me that I was far away from Korea.

For our morning work, Sumi painted the signs she saw yesterday and I drew Sumi in the campground as the backdrop. It was a beautiful sight.

"Now, this is truly American" I said jokingly, again.

"Stop it, you're a yankee to the bones." Sumi laughed hilariously then continued.

"You know, I bet Americans wouldn't know what I meant by yankee."

She's right. When you say, 'yankee' in Korea and 'yankee' in America, they mean two different things.

Yankee

The term 'Yankee' has many origins, but one notable is the Dutch origins. Since there were many Dutch colonists in New England, the Dutch given names Jan("John") was common. Then this had grown to include non-Dutch colonists as well in the area. Now, the term Yankee is to call people from New England or the Northeast, but outside the US, Yankee simply means anyone that's from America. Someone from the South or the Midwest might be taken aback if called a Yankee, but outside the US, a Yankee just means any American. However, this can sometimes be used as somewhat of a derogatory word, so it should be used cautiously.    

 

Now that we started talking 'American' things, I'd like to talk about a real American camping habit. In last year's Blue Ridge camping and this year's trip, I've noticed that Americans love to make camp fires. Even in the middle of summer, people get up in the morning and start the fire in the pit. As soon as there's a fire, everyone gathers and starts chatting around it. It is almost as if it were a ritual, or right out of movies when cowboys camp out in the wild west and the first thing they do is make a fire. Maybe it is the remnants from the old culture, or simply that people watched too much western movies like me. Making fire when camping must be a code engrained in genes of camping and leisure in every American.

After finishing some creative work, we started to pack around 10 AM. We continued to pack down stuff every day and after the fourth day, it was at an optimal level. Efficient packing and daily schedule gave us valuable time in the morning to do more artwork. Within an hour, we left Meramec campground. Good-bye, Meramec Cavern campground! You were alright, just a little disorderly. Kids ran around 'till very late and the guy who laughed silly through the night was pretty funny, though. Thanks to all, anyway!

We got on the Interstate 44. This section of Route 66 runs side by side with the Interstate for a while so we decided to cover more distance and enjoy the view of Rt 66.

Once out of city, highways look very different from the highways in Korea.

"When do we get on highway?"

"We are already on a highway."

"Really? This isn't a regular road?

When I first came to the States, I had asked Sumi this question. Being used to highways in Korea, to me, highways should be at least 4-5 lanes and covered in think concrete chunks. However, the highways in the States were mostly like the one I'm on now. Near cities, highways look like that of Korea, but once past the city boundary, instead of concrete median, a wide lawn spreads in between the lanes going opposite ways. There are usually two lanes on both ways, one for driving and the other for passing. Most drivers seemed clear on this concept and usually kept the passing lane open and drove on the right lane. Sumi said that people are better about the passing lanes in the eastern US in general, probably because there are less lanes on highways than the west or midwest. People know it by heart that the rules are there to their advantage. On the other hand, places like L. A., the drivers are relatively more reckless in changing lanes and driving on all 6-7 lanes all together. Shortage of something made the standard high for some people, I thought to myself. Sumi, of course, didn't forget to mention that Korean drivers are no better than L.A. drivers. I remembered a news commentary from few years back that people that do not know the concept of the passing lane outnumber the ones who know this basic driving rule.

Though, only two lanes, driving amongst calm drivers next to grassy knolls made me enjoy the drive. But when noon came, strong rays started to heat up the pavement.

The temperature in the Midwest was getting over 100 degrees and we'd been driving several hours on sun-scorched highway. Our destination wasn't anywhere near. Highway was boring to drive in the same way as in the US or in Korea, and our sweat-soaked bodies under afternoon heat had long forgotten about the fun or excitement of a road trip. Then, suddenly, a couple biker women appeared before our eyes. They had matching jackets and their long pony tails flowing in wind behind them like scarves. They've got to be the Rt 66 travelers. Their flowing pony tails perked us up instantly and we were reminded again that we also are travelers on the Route 66.

One thing we got from this boring drive that had some value was this Rt 66 map of Missouri from the visitor center. All sorts of places of interests was listed in detail. It is hard to get this kind of information elsewhere. Another thing we got from our highway drive was….

This half-burnt and acned face that I got from driving from east to west for few days. We alternated driving, but the side that exposed to the sun was always the left side of face because we were heading little bit southwest.

And because Sumi insisted on wearing tank top or sleeveless shirt, she also got half of her face, left arm and knee burnt.

We couldn't just head back east to avoid getting burnt only on the left side. So we endured it and kept on driving under the scorching afternoon heat. Sumi had tuned on NPR and in the radio show, they said the nude models in Paris were on strike. In Paris, the city operates figure drawing classes for its people, so the models were hired by the government. I wondered what it would be like to see nude models on strike, while we drove on Interstate 44. We also couldn't have imagined that in a few hours from here that we'd be pulled into a magic of this jewel-like place on Rt 66.

Next episode in [Sketch Trip America] will feature Gary, the guide to Route 66 and his mom and pop store Sinclair.

 

Visit Jingoogk's original blog in Korean here: 

http://blog.naver.com/hwangjinkook/220169895635 

Permalink: http://sketchtripamerica.blogspot.com/2014/12/sketch-trip-america-episode-11-genuine.html

[Sketch Trip America] Episode 8: Enter, Route 66!

We were happy to see the corn dragon in anticipation of the end of the cornfield. However, the real reason was that we had bought some beer and steak for camping tonight. A fire-breathing dragon. A dragon is a carnivore so it should know how tasty steak is. And maybe it will blow a warm firey breath to make our steak more delicious. And a cold beer on top of that! A true happiness! We ate sandwiches during the day to save cooking time for the last three days. This evening, we were going to enter the campground early and relax a bit with some wine we brought from home. In our calculation, we will be entering Route 66 tomorrow morning, so it is perfect time to celebrate our journey.

Sumi found this campground in Litchfield, Illinois, located near Lake Lou Yaeger. She said there are fish that eat men's testicles. This fish is from the Amazon but must've gotten loose in this lake somehow. Pacu fish killed two men in Papua New Guinea by biting off the testicles. This is from the internet so whether it's true or not, the lake has a story and Sumi excitedly headed us toward the lake. She seemed to want to catch the fish with me as bait. I'm not sure if my testicles would stay intact until I bring the fish up.

 

After driving winding country road for some time, we found the lake Lou Yeager. It was large and had many facilities for water sports. The campground… was not so great. Campground for tent was so-called 'primitive' site, which means there're no amenities like water or even barbecue grill. The fee was $12, but it was dirty. There was no shower, not to mention even a water faucet. People had left remnants of campfire here and there. Normally, there are sites with shower and sink even if a section of campground is primitive. Primitive camping can be fun but not for tonight. We needed some water and barbecue grill. The decisive moment was when we found cockroaches crawling all over the bathroom stalls. Sumi yelled 'Pass!' and instead looking for another campground, we decided to get on Route 66 right away. Yes, let's go! But, how about barbecue….?   

Left turn, right turn, after thirty minutes or so of driving, we reached a road end with brightly setting sun almost blinding us.

"After a left turn on that corner, it is Route 66!" I said after checking on the map.

Then, Sumi said, "It feels strange."

The road to Route 66 was shining so brightly, we couldn't even make out where the end was. Like Sumi said, strange lights seemed to wave at us from the end.

Advancing toward the end of light, we passed an old railroad track. We already knew what this meant. This railroad track, running almost parallel to Route 66, is part of America's great old railway system that stretches across the country, transporting goods between the East and the West, solemnly and quietly, hidden behind the automobile culture of America. If there's a railroad track, there would be Route 66. Then, as we made the left turn, the shining light moved to our right, and in front, there was a brand new road, wide and clear. It was Route 66. There was something moving about this. "This is an important moment!" Sumi shouted. I also cheered on. We yelled together, "Wow!, Yeah!, Whoo-hoo! Route 66! We've arrived!" We even clenched fists and threw our arms up in the air. But the road was really, very incredibly empty and quiet. No other cars on the route, if any, no one was shouting as we were. They all looked as though the sky would fall. We must be the only ones excited about Route 66 in ten miles radius. "This is disappointing," I said. "Why? it's great!" Sumi replied. So we shouted again some more. We give the road a meaning to travel. "Whaoo! Yahoo! Eeek, eek!" I took pictures of anything and everything that said 'Route 66'. Sumi yelled, "Oh, there's really Route 66 sign on the street!" Unfortunately, I missed that while looking at other signs on the road.

Entering Route 66

Litchfield, Illinois

August, 29th, 4:30 PM

Picture above is the official signage for Route 66 in Illinois. 1930-1940 means it was Route 66 during those years. Route 66 is a very old road that connected Chicago to LA passing through eight different states(built in 1926). Therefore, according to each states' plan, some sections were rerouted or combined with other roads. In other words, this sign reconnects the old Route 66, giving pointers in the entire route's history. If you made a turn at a fork and don't see this sign again in 10 miles or so, you can safely assume that you've made a wrong turn.

The pictures below are the road signs and store signs of the Old Route 66 in Litchfield.

 

After driving some more on the Route 66, we did find out we were not the only ones yelling and shouting about the route. The ones that are still driving on this road which is still as empty and quiet as we first got on, and going slower than the speed limit, then they are probably Route 66 travelers. If the back of the car was filled with stuff, then definitely Route 66 travelers. It may not appear as so on the surface, but all traveling on this road, whether living in America or not, are filled with modern American nostalgia and shouting about it.

The gas station with above pump was opened in 1926- the same year Route 66 opened. The last day the pump was working, gas price was $5.74 per 8.88 gallons. Looking at the old gas pump, I thought about everything that modern life had thrown out for the last 100 years. The things that were trendy at the time but outdated by two to three generations. Things that are simply forgotten. Roads that were just put aside with all these things still on them. So it naturally became the symbol of nostalgic memories of last 100 years of modern history. It felt like the beginning of our Route 66.

Pictures below are landscapes between Litchfield and Hamel in Illinois.

   

After excitedly driving on Route 66 for some time, we got to a motel called Inkeeper in Hamel. We looked for lodgings and campgrounds for a while and found this motel right by the road. It was run by a nice Indian family and it even had a barbecue grill for the guests in the back. 

8:30 PM. Inkeeper motel was like a beach on a resort. The surface of a small lake outside the window was wavering in warm breeze. Soothing moon light, the kind Indian family, and their children's laughter made me feel very relaxed. While barbecuing the steak, I didn't feel like we were right by a highway, but at a peaceful beach somewhere in the Maldives.

Steak and beer.

I normally don't drink Miller, but today, I'm drinking this, because of the design on the can. Reminds me of the slogan, "Live to Ride, Ride to Live." Perfectly fitting to celebrate our entering Route 66. From tomorrow, it's the actual beginning of our history museum tour of the route. Cheers! Route 66!  

Jingoogk's original blog is in Korean. You can read it here: 

http://blog.naver.com/hwangjinkook/220139772008