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JULY 9 IAN
Loud pipes might save lives, but they also tell your mother you are trying to sneak out the back door without saying goodbye – curses foiled again! Some of the more observant of you may have noticed we didn’t quite follow the route planned – I will let Brian fill you in there. BRIAN
Okay, I forgot a small but fundamental bit for my GPS, so we had a small change of plans. But it did get us back to the Similkameen valley and introduced us to Orofino, a fine new winery near the Nighthawk border crossing. We are now spending the night with Peter & Jane Powell near Concunully, WA, which as the picture of the day shows, is delightful. IAN
Whoever is parading around doing their little rain dance can stop now – thanks. Quick restaurant review – if you ever in Kettle Falls Washington and are looking for a fine piece of buttered toast (without jam – just buttered), the Bulldog Inn is highly recommend – other wise keep going down the road to Colville. I think whoever is in charge of Montana’s highway department owns a motorcycle (or two). The roads are great, and any speed limit merely a suggestion – although the local drivers tend towards moronic. BRIAN
The day began with the bucolic vista of pasture from the porch of the Powell bunk house. Yes, the weather changes have been more like climate changes so far, but nothing that a layer of Gore-Tex can’t handle. I can only echo Ian‘s enthusiasm for the roads. I’m sure the views are also terrific, but confirmation will require another trip - on a clear day. IAN
Going to the Sun Road through Glacier National Park is, in a word, spectacular. Always thought you were supposed to earn views like that by walking. Must be what riding through the Alps is like – this being a mountain stage and all, I was expecting Lance Armstrong in his yellow jersey to blow by going up the hill. Had a bit of a revelation this morning, if your bald, want to ride around on a motorcycle without a helmet and smoke a cigar, it probably works better on a Harley then a Beemer. BRIAN
Our first FLW building was a modest example. The “Going to the Sun Highway” is awe-inspiring; just as I remembered it from the ‘50’s except that it is now the Going to the Sun Road. I’m sure there is a legal or bureaucratic explanation for the change. East of the mountains the light changes as well as the topography. Tonight we are at Koski’s Motel in Glasgow MT. IAN
Heads song “We’re on the Road to Nowhere”, out of my head everything would be perfect. Everybody sing: Well we know where
we’re goin’
Not being plugged in to satellite radio, I concentrated on absorbing the subtle changes in light and landscape of North Dakota for about 12 hours…. I think I need satellite radio. IAN
Seeing as we are now across the Mississippi River, and the focus of the trip changes tomorrow from just getting from A to B… we made it, yah! Now some fun facts from the GPS: total miles 2202; moving average speed 57.2 miles/hour; IAN’s maximum speed 98 miles/hour. So its pretty hot out here right now and I truly am hoping that this Frank Lloyd Wright fellow designed a Dairy Queen or TCBY because you can really work up a sweat driving around in circles trying to find his buildings. BRIAN
We crossed Minnesota today, We found one FLW house, which is the picture of the day, in fact the only picture today. Finding it took us into Minneapolis and St Paul, which was a blessing and a curse. The curse was the heat. But it allowed us to traverse Lake/Marshall from one end to the other, and get a taste of these cities. I would like to come back. Tonight, we are in La Crosse, and another cultural first; our server at dinner spent her spring break in Winnipeg because her friends were too young to drink in Orlando. Is this really the Canadian competitive advantage? IAN
So I’m thinking that maybe the Wisconsin Department of Highways should be renamed the Wisconsin Department of Harley-Davidson – as those seem to be the only other bikes on the road and here we are in yet another state that hasn’t met a twisted bit of pavement it didn’t like – yee- hah! Taliesen was
absolutely remarkable. BRIAN
A heavy dose of FLW today, with a 4 hour tour of Taliesen. Not only is each building a beautiful object but they are placed to enhance each other and the land itself appears to have been shaped to complete the experience. IAN
What a day…and it ends with the wackiest play in baseball – the pitcher balks in a running in the bottom of the 10th inning! Over the next couple of days I will be loading ALL of the pictures to the server linked from the pictures page, but consider yourselves warned - some of the files are 8Mb files (and bigger). BRIAN
Don’t expect erudition in these journal entries. They are posted late at night after a celebratory glass of Oban. With that disclaimer, today was perfect on two of the three elements of the trip; there were no curvy roads but the day included a tour of the Johnson Wax Building, and an outside look at three Racine FLW houses. The last required a clandestine approach to Wingspread, which can’t be seen from the road. Finally, a brilliant Brewers’ game from great seats at Miller Park in Milwaukee. IAN
Don’t laugh, but if you ever get the chance to go, go to Milwaukee – especially if its summer time. The place is literally street party after street party. If anybody finds a fairly new black Backline belt between Racine and Milwaukee – it’s mine. I think I have dealt with the picture resolution in way that should allow for easier downloads, and the first all of the pictures up to July 14 are up on the offsite server. And now via email from his Blackberry, Brian Wallace (guess we are all grown up now as we get our own rooms here in Chicago). BRIAN
An easy day. Milwaukee has followed Bilbao's lead with a spectacular new art museum, this one by Calatrava. It includes a mechanical brise de soleil that opens and closes for no apparent practical purpose, but is dramatic. We had a quiet ride down Lake Michigan and into Chicago, poking around some lovely Milwaukee and north Chicago neighborhoods looking for more FLW work. IAN
Quick note that there likely won’t be much updating while we are here in Chicago. And just to crank up the spooky quotient – it seems like all of the books in the lobby of the hotel are exclusively
about Frank Lloyd Wright! BRIAN
Marilyn arrived and we took the Red Line to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs trounce the Pirates. I really like Chicago. MARILYN
Within 2 hours of arriving at O’Hare, I was at Wrigley Field and already completely in love with Chicago. And baseball? Was that amusement or horror on Ian’s face when I asked how many innings made up a game? Italian food at Coco Pazzo Café ended a wonderful day. JULY 18 MARILYN
My day to pay homage to Frank. Oak Park and then his brilliant Robie House. Imagine a house that will take 8 million dollars to restore! It will be worth every penny. “Butter” for dinner. It yelled “martini” upon entering and I can’t remember anything else. IAN
Cardboard Box: $2 Shipping : $15 Socks & Shirts : $90 Sending your dirty laundry home: PRICELESS BRIAN
A day without any of the Odyssey elements: no FLW, no MC,
no MLB, but lots of Chicago and a sale at Marshall Fields on Pink shirts. MARILYN
Marilyn’s Excellent Adventure: an architectural river cruise, The Museum of Contemporary Art, a fine private gallery and a Brasserie. IAN
There is a moment in “The Book”, where Ewan Macgregor as he is unpacking his kit states that all he can think about at that point in time is packing it all back up and getting back on his bike and riding as soon as possible – pretty much where I was through most of the 4 days in Chicago. It was mighty nice getting back to the road. Drove by the RV and Manufactured Home Hall of Fame somewhere in Indiana (no surprise as that’s all there is to do in Indiana – drive by things), and it got me thinking that there must be enough Hall of Fames in lots of interesting places to route another trip through…hmmmm. BRIAN
We hadn’t planned to use the interstates much, but today was an exception with 350 miles to cover before a 7:00 ball game at Jacobs Field. (Actually, we managed to miss the start of the game by forgetting that the time changed at the Indiana/Ohio border.) So the day’s diversions were the people and vehicles we shared the road with. I was fascinated by a pristine black closed semi from a Chicago Lamborghini dealer and we rode for a couple of hours and lunched with a delightful Indiana Harley rider, recently back from Iraq, being headhunted by a company in Akron. Another good day but the home team lost. IAN
As we appropriately toasted Norah Wallace (my grandmother), with our nightly scotch in Glasgow Montana (her place of birth – metaphorically), in a hotel room of a certain character and price (her nature – no metaphor needed), it is here in Detroit after seeing the Tigers play that we toast Bob Wallace (my grandfather), and note that the world has been short one Detroit Tigers fan for too long. I have decided to rename Route 6 along the south shore of Lake Erie west of Cleveland the Lost Espresso Highway as we came upon a single “coffee” shop (as pictured), over the course of traveling 60 miles. BRIAN
What can I say? Ian stole all my lines. We detoured through Ann Arbor to find another FLW house. Norah (my mother, see above) sat in the U of Michigan library there on her 50th birthday and wrote letters to her children, musing on her life ‘til then. On another historical note is that this week is the anniversary of the 1967 Detroit riots. IAN
The Black Bike reminded me of it’s 20 Year Vintage today as an electrical glitch will restrict us to day time driving for the next little while. While the field (and I do mean field, grass and all), replacement of the headlight bulb itself was a success the problem persisted. Now it could be that the second-hand headlight won at auction on E-Bay wasn’t such a good deal, or the last remaining original replays have failed and probably should have been replaced before this trip – live and learn. BRIAN
First a Kinko stop and then another caffeine challenge,
this time from Dearborn to Toledo and after 11:00 before finding something
meeting our jaded west coast tastes.
(Who has a problem?) We ran
into several thousand other BMWs convened for the annual Owners Association
do at a county fair ground in the middle of Ohio. Very hot and tents everywhere (few rvs here). Interesting as it was I don’t think I will
plan my next holiday around this event.
On to Mansfield, OH and another posh Super 8, only to find that here,
too, motorcycles dominate. It seems
to be a major race weekend at the nearby Mid-Ohio Course. After careful consideration, we will stick
to our plans for tomorrow – no stop to watch motorcycles going really fast,
but on to Canton, OH to search out a bit more of Frank’s work and some windy
roads to Pittsburgh, where the Pirates take on Colorado. IAN
One no longer gets lost but makes certain “policy decisions” trying to resolve the conflict between ones current location and the desired destination, rerouting as required…or so I have been told. BRIAN
Digital navigators have no imagination. Some of us navigate more intuitively, by ever diminishing approximations. For example, we had lunch in West Virginia today, in Newell (rhymes with poll), the home of
Server: “Are you traveling somewhere?” Ian: “We’re going to Boston.” Server: “What are you doing in Newell?” Ian: “It’s between Seattle and Boston.” Server: “That’s really strange.”
IAN
The classic pictures of Falling Water consistently have a sense of drama built up around them: at dusk with the lights on; winter time with snow and ice, fall in all its glory, a roaring falls, and always without the presence of the residents. This picture however is a rarity – height of summer, crawling with tourists and barely a trickle over the falls. Very much like the rarest of motorcycles – a bone stock Harley-Davidson. BRIAN
Pittsburgh was another delightful surprise – clean, interesting, apparently safe and active. Today we didn’t go a long way. We rode through lovely wooded hills in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and spent two hours at Falling Water, it seemed a short day, but as we always seem to do, we didn’t arrive at our destination (Baltimore) until 8:00. <editor> The boys took the day off today so here are a few emails from “The Fans” Sent: Tue Jul 12 15:54:42
2005 Subject: Where are our
updates?!?! Those of us who have to
WORK for a living are relying on you to update your website so we can live vicariously
through you! C'mon fellas, get on it!!!! I hope you are having a
WONDERFUL trip. Love you, Erin Subject: the ride Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005
16:52:14 -0400 Wayace
& Ian The
posture you take when you ride signifies that you are linking absolute and
relative, sky and ground,
heaven and earth, like two wings of a bird, integrating the skylike deathless
nature of mind and the ground of our transient, mortal nature. Cheers, MFP Subject: Hello Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 14:44:10 -0700 Hi Ian, happy to hear
that you are on the road with uncle Brian - the dream of every male in the
world come true. What about saddle
soreness ... or is that just a myth? I can tell I don't have to wish you a
lot of fun .... you are having it. May the angel of
motorbikes of all makes be watching over you both. Cheers. Inga Subject: Thanks; Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005
09:26:37 -0400 Thanks Ian and
Brian! Wish you a great
trip! We are looking forward to read about your trip. You know if you
change your route, you are always welcome to stay in our home in Atlanta. Arne and Anna Sent: Mon Jul 25 14:36:11
2005 Subject: Re: The Odyssey Hi! Thanks for the email. We
have been checking out your blog all along. Shirley says that you
should check out the original home of Buffalo wings. It's called the Anchor Bar
& Grill. Have fun. Bob PS - I understand Ian's
angst over your directional issue! Love Shirley Sent: Mon Jul 25 08:55:18
2005 Subject: Hi there in
Baltimore, Washington, NY . . or somewhere I am really enjoying your
website and its daily posting. You guys are having WAY too
much fun. It will difficult to get back to normal, whatever that is. See you in a couple of
weeks. D E R E K R E I M E R Subject: Greetings from the West Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 10:18:50 -0700 Gentlemen – As I mentioned to Dad, I visit your website
daily. Unfortunately Greg and I have neither the equipment, nor the patience (OK, Greg might, but I
certainly don’t!) to do something similar for our Ireland trip. Besides, there is too much Guinness to be
drunk to have time for tinkering with a website!!!! But I LOVE yours! I have been showing it to anyone who
will allow me to. Things are a little nutty in the Rose City
(remind me again why your route missed this strategic stopping point? We have a FLW house here too ya know…
and a baseball team called The Beavers… ahem… yeah, OK. I guess I can see why you missed it…) Back to work for me. I hope you are having a
good day and you have found yourself some better coffee wherever you are! Love to you both, Erin Sent: Mon Jul 18 15:32:55
2005 Subject: A Long Way Home Brian, … so I took advantage of
the brief hiatus to visit your site and walk in your
steps (ride in your tracks?), metaphorically, through the journal entries you have
penned so far. It sounds (and looks) like you're having a splendid time. The photos
are brilliant, as is the narrative. Your having embarked with a purpose (baseball plus
FLW) gives the narrative an extra dimension of coherence that is not usually found in the
accounts given by others of their more desultory and unfocussed ramblings. New York is not that far
away and I know that time there is precious. If the Village Vanguard (Jimmy Greene is
playing this week) doesn't work, then you must either go to the Blue Note (Chris Botti,
then Charlie Haden and others) or to Balthazar (the latter, just for dinner). (Have I
directed you to that wonderful restaurant before?) Here are links to websites
for all three: http://www.villagevanguard.net/frames.htm http://www.bluenotejazz.com/newyork/index.shtml http://www.frommers.com/destinations/newyorkcity/D39058.html Ride safely and say hello
to Marilyn. Cheers, Tom Sent: Fri Jul 15 19:30:23
2005 Subject: Re: The Odyssey Looks like you are having a
good trip and a lot of fun. Deep, deep, deep down inside do you
think you should have paid more for your motorcycle? Don't worry it
is not too late, we can make the arrangements. John Sent: Mon Jul 11 08:57:42
2005 Subject: love the pictures Brilliant! Now I too can vicariously wend
my way across the continent! Thank you. Much love from, your vicarious road
warrior, Suze Subject: Most entertaining Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005
13:03:04 -0700 keeping up with
your entries. Funny stuff. Summer arrived in Vancouver Saturday afternoon and
....... it's still here believe it
or not MURRAY THOMPSON "I
spend most of my money on beer and pizza, the rest I just waste" Subject: Well??? Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2005
17:52:53 -0700 July
11th and NO JOURNAL no pictures???? Really
!!!! Luis Subject: Que pasa with the
info?? Date: Sun, 24 Jul 2005
13:47:03 -0700 Cannot
see anything in ur webpage WTFAY?? Hugs Luis JULY 26 IAN
I am beginning to understand all too well the term “CrackBerry”…think we will need some rules for the next trip. Whoever it was that stopped their little rain dance a couple of weeks ago, thanks again but please feel free to start that up again any time. BRIAN
I We picked a heat wave to ride into Manhattan. I had remembered that the Holland Tunnel is unpleasant; on a bike in the heat it was toxic. But dinner at Angelo’s in Little Italy made up for the discomfort of getting here. IAN
Big thanks to my pal Randy Ezratty for giving us the $50 dollar tour of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new digs and the XM production studios in the Time Warner building here in NYC. I would also like to thank him, as I was with family and all, for not bringing up some of the more infamous escapades during my previous life here in New York. Thanks Randy BRIAN
I echo Ian’s thanks to
Randy, except for the discretion part.
It was a brilliant way to see this new space. I will be back to hear jazz in one of
those two beautiful rooms overlooking Columbus Circle. Battery Park, the new MOMA and a Yankees
game rounded out the day. Yankees
fans are loud and smug, and it’s charming. JULY 28 IAN
Family day today as we saw off my folks on their way home and where Keir and Kate most graciously went out of their way to get us up to to meet their new son. And as you can see the world balance has been restored with respect to the number of Tigers fans. BRIAN
With the best weather of the trip, we cruised up the venerable Sawmill and Merritt Parkways into New England. Lunch with Barb & Ross followed by supper with Kate, Keir & Eagan. All in all, a delight, but if you don’t get up in New York until 8:00, you will be late for lunch in Boston. IAN
I have one last polite
Canadian thank-you, to Duncan of Duncan’s
Beemers for fixing my headlight.
I was going to save this until I got out of Massachusetts (being a
persona non grata here), but I can’t keep it in anymore. The drivers here are by far the worst
drivers I have ever seen, ever, anywhere, bar none! And the driver information systems (road signs, etc), are even
worse. BRIAN
Ian found excellent bike service.
I found an excellent neighbourhood pub – O’Leary’s on Beacon
St. Fenway Park for our 8th
and final game: Scorecard & pencil $4.00 Sausages for 3 $16.00 Red Sox tickets
Free (thanks Ross) Watching Ian watching John Olerud hit a grand slam for the Red Sox
Priceless KEIR
With these two you can't keep up if you don't know where you are going. IAN
Not only are the sites where old Frank’s buildings are still to be seen are hallowed ground, but apparently to be held in even more reverence (judging by the number of genuflecting circles ridden around the various approaches until the right one was identified), are those sites of fallen ruins! Nice little bit of Karma unearthed at our LAST Frank stop – on good authority, Babe Ruth, while still a Yankee, was known to play tennis on the grounds of a residence designed by FLW up in Buffalo. BRIAN
Apparently, based on a docent’s questionable anecdote, to make another Frank stop would risk fate. So, I’m putting my dog-eared green book away. We dined in Erie, PA: Server: So what are you guys doing, hiking? Fishing? Ian: We’re riding motorcycles. Server: From where? Ian: Seattle. Server: I’d love to have a motorcycle. My uncle has one. Ian: So does mine. IAN
At last, back in the
West. I could feel the hairs on the
back of neck returning to the “at ease” position from hackles raised as soon
as we crossed back over the Mississippi River (the 3rd
coast). Not that there’s anything bad
about the rest of the continent but there is a lot of Flat Earth between here
and here. Must be something going on
in Sturgis as there is a definite flow of Motorcycles, Motorcycle Riders, and
Motorcycle Paraphernalia headed that way . BRIAN
Sorry for the hiatus in our reports, but all you missed were two long hot days – which took us from Pennsylvania to the edge of Wyoming. The northwest corner of Nebraska is spectacular, but it takes a long time to get there. Today was Wyoming, punctuated by a hamburger and a shake at the Yellowstone Drugstore in Shoshoni. Apparently its been there since 1909, and the blackboard told us that they had served some 29,000 shakes so far this year. BRIAN
Day 27, and our last as the odd couple. Our celebratory dinner was chicken burgers and sodas: that’s what there is in Clarkston, WA after 9:00 PM. Today we crossed Idaho on some wonderful roads - starting at about 4500 ft., we reached 8100 ft. and had several more ups and downs before ending up here at 750 ft. Tomorrow I plan to cross Washington from corner to corner and sleep in Victoria. It’s been too much fun. Thanks for following along and for the e-mails. IAN
Traditionally the most
scenic roads on a map are indicted by green dots (to quote the Turtle – “the green ones make me
horny”). The caveat here is that
the scenic routes in a state like Idaho are significantly more scenic than
those found in a state like, say North Dakota – actually that goes for pretty
much any road in Idaho. I am going to
miss my Yellow/ Ochre wearing-GPS using-MAC addled-Scotch drinking-BMW Boxer
riding brother of the road…sure you don’t want to continue onto Sturgis
Brian? BRIAN
There are thousands of Harleys heading east. Most wave. The exceptions are those riding in packs of 6 or more and those on pastels. Highways 260 & 261 west from Clarkston debunk the myth that there are no interesting roads in southeastern WA. There is, however, a speed limit of 50, of which the deputy sheriff reminded me. I managed to find my way back to the coast - the long way home |
