American Soul Food

This week found us in beautiful Tennessee. Our first stop was Memphis. The weather continued to be good/bad. Good in that we left the heavy rains behind in the upper Midwest, bad because we are now suffering from a record breaking heat wave. Most days have been over 95 degrees with high humidity. Thank God we have an air conditioner in our fifth-wheel. On hot days like this it tends to run non-stop until late in the evening when it can finally keep up with the outside heat.

Standing Out in the Crowd – We picked an interesting church to visit this weekend, Long View Heights church. We usually try to find a church with a fairly large congregation and this one fit that requirement without a doubt. It was a nice large stone church with a large, black congregation. Not that there is anything wrong with that. We were just a bit surprised to be the only non-black people there. It didn’t bother me as much as it seemed to bother Mellie. After all, I’m use to being the only blond guy around in our Filipino gatherings. But we had a great time. Everyone was so welcoming and the choir was awesome. Man, they could really sing! Can I get an Amen from the congregation on that?

Graceland and the King – It was 30 years ago when Elvis passed away. We missed the big memorial “celebration” (can you call it that?) by one week. Even though he has been gone for a long time, his fans keep coming. They get $25 and up for the tour of his house, a lot more if you want the deluxe tour which includes his two jet airplanes. It was fun just the same to see and even feel the excitement of this place called Graceland.

Neeley’s Barbeque – Now this place is definitely in the running! Dry rubbed ribs with vinegar based sauce on the side, now this is getting good! We went to Neeley’s, one of Memphis’ best barbeque joints, on Saturday evening. The food was great, the service so-so and the décor mediocre but after all that’s why they call it a barbeque joint! We found this Memphis style of barbeque so enticing we ended up going out for barbeque again on Monday and again on Thursday. Three times in a week must mean something. Of the three places we visited though Neeley’s was the best.

Grand Ole Opry – Moving on down the road we found ourselves in Nashville home of the Grand Ole Opry. So we went to the Tuesday night show and had a ball! They really know how to put on a show. I guess they should since they have been doing it for over 80 years. What began as a simple radio broadcast in 1925 is today a live-entertainment phenomenon. There was a sad moment though when the legendary Little Jimmy Dickens announced that he was not feeling too well. Seems he had a sore neck but perhaps it was caused he thought when he was getting ready for the show putting on some toilet water and the lid came down and hit the back of his head! I think the highlight of the evening for me was hearing the band Little Texas sing their hit “Thank God for Texas”. Porter Wagoner and Dale Watson were great too.

The Corvette Mecca – We took a side trip up to Bowling Green Kentucky to visit the National Corvette Museum and tour the Corvette factory. I’ve never owned a corvette although it was high on my dream list when I was a kid. When the factory tour guide asked “so who owns a Corvette?” almost every hand in the group went up. I guess it was good that we discretely parked our Ford truck way in the back of the parking lot. They even have Corvette only parking spots, right next to the handicapped. I could make a remark about that but better not. I don’t want to offend any handicapped folks out there.

Road Revelation #12 – Feed your soul. Man does not live on bread alone. You have to feed not only your stomach but also your soul. That may come from experiencing an energy packed sermon backed up by a first rate choir, seeing a legend’s home like Elvis’ Graceland or participating in an American tradition called the Grand Ole Opry. We went back for seconds and even thirds this week! Can I get another Amen!

Wagons Ho!

It’s the 20th of August and we are saying goodbye to Iowa. It’s been a wonderful time but we have roads to burn, places to see and barbeque awaiting. Our time in Iowa was packed with family visits, great food and celebrations. All of us Lande boys have birthdays in August so it was natural to have one big birthday celebration. That occurred on Sunday the 19th. We feasted on Norwegian delicacies such as Kumla (potato dumplings) and Lefsa (sort of the Norwegian version of tortillas) plus we had our favorite birthday cake, chocolate upside down cake. My grandma named it that. Seems the original name was Devil’s Float cake. She refused to bake anything associated with the devil and so renaming it made it ok. Oh, and yours truly baked a rhubarb pie!

We are off to see the wizard the wonderful wizard of Oz!

Next stop is Kansas City, home of the famous Kansas City style of barbeque. So naturally we had to include it in the agenda. I have visited Kansas City many times on business and was well acquainted with the restaurants. I selected one of my favorites, KC Masterpiece Barbeque. This place is famous for their sauce. I’m sure you have seen it in the stores. We went early for dinner at 5 o’clock to be sure that they would have enough burnt ends. Yeah, it’s one of their specialties. They take the burnt ends from the sirloins they smoke and fix them in a special way with their famous barbeque sauce. Mellie always asks for the burnt ends of the tri tip barbeques that I do and so I was sure this would be a big hit with her. Our rating on this barbeque? Well…any barbeque is good but I think our quest must continue. We will keep it in mind though when the final scoring takes place.

Branson Missouri, “Where Values Are The Difference”

Branson has been selected as one of the top 3 vacation destination in the US for the past several years. Imagine a born again Las Vegas. No gambling, no naked dancing girls (or boys), but with all of the performance theaters, restaurants, hotels and souvenir shops. That’s Branson. It was an enjoyable diversion. For my birthday, which happened to fall in the middle of our stay, we saw a performance by The Oak Ridge Boys. It was two hours of nonstop music. They have been performing together for over 30 years and seem to enjoy themselves as much as if it was their first year. Unlike some legendary rock bands, these guys actually look like they fit the part. Don’t you just hate seeing one of your teen idols now gray and paunchy up on the stage singing the old hits? It’s so sad, but not these guys. Like I said they just looked the part.

Road Revelation #11 – Do what you love, love what you do!
If there is any secret to life it must be this. Enjoy whatever you do and do what you enjoy. Look at the Oak ridge Boys. They have been doing what they love for over 30 years and still seem to be having fun. What a blessing and you know Elvira still sounds as fresh and enjoyable as when they first put it out almost 30 years ago. Now I'm a singin' Elvira;
Elvira My heart's on fire Elvira
Giddy Up Oom Poppa Omm Poppa Mow Mow
Giddy Up Oom Poppa Omm Poppa Mow Mow Heigh-ho Silver, away.

Who Cut the Cheese?

This week found us in Wisconsin, home of the world famous cheese. California may have “happy cows” but in Wisconsin it’s serious business. In just one cheese factory we visited they had over 50 varieties of cheese. That’s a lot of cheese to cut! Know how to tell if a cheese curd is fresh? It squeaks when you chew it. Believe me I now know the difference and only fresh cheese curds for me from now on!

Riding the Ducks – When it comes to seeing the Wisconsin Dells, nothing else will do but to ride the Ducks. I’m not talking about our feathered friends but 60 year old amphibian vehicles originally designed for use by the military during World War 2. These 7 ton rides have a top speed of 50 MPH on ground and 10 in water. The tour covers over 8 miles of fern covered dells, deep dark forests, narrow canyons and a cruise down the Wisconsin River with it’s towering sandstone cliffs. Perhaps one of the highlights of the trip was when the driver told everyone to turn around and look back at the house we had just passed. As we all craned our necks to look he explained that the house was nothing special he just wanted us to experience looking out of the rear end of a duck! What a view!

Architecture Wisconsin style – we visited a couple of famous houses while in Wisconsin. One was the “House on the Rocks”. This home is hard to describe, built by an eccentric on top of a cliff has views forever. The house is full of collections of stained glass, musical machines and antiques. The infinity room is particularly amazing, an unsupported room sticking out 218 feet, soaring 156 feet above the valley floor. In order to provide a bit of balance, we next visited the home of Frank Lloyd Wright. Taliesin is one of the most well known architecture examples in the world. The Mecca for Frank Lloyd Wright fans.

Concert on the Square in beautiful Downtown Baraboo – You know how much we enjoy evening concerts, especially free ones. So when we saw there was to be a free concert at the town square we couldn’t resist. The guest band for the evening, The Hank Thunander Band! What you have never heard of Hank Thunander? Well it’s truly amazing what one can do with an accordion. Hank together with a guitar player and drummer played a repertoire of ethnic, big band, old-time favorites and variety music for 2 hours. Without a doubt the crowd favorite was the polka medley. What else would you expect to find in Wisconsin but a guy with an accordion playing polkas. Ahh, savor the local spice!

Road Revelation #10 – STOP means stop! We were in the process of leaving the campground when our route took us through an area where the cars were parked a bit out on the street. I tried to miss them, really. Now don’t jump to conclusions, I didn’t hit anything but when Mellie said to STOP, I though the view in my mirrors seems to indicate I had enough room. The need to stop finally sunk in (supported by several campers hollering and pointing) I was about 2 inches from hitting a tree trunk with the trailer steps. Through God’s grace, a bit of backing up and three campers moving their cars we were able to safely pass without consequences. So when you hear STOP, you better!

Happiness - a Soft, Warm, DRY Bed

This week found us at the ever popular, annual Lande Family campout. The campout was held at Pine Lake State Park near Eldora. Now some of you might have the impression by now that we are spending this year camping out…wrong. In fact what we do is far from it. We generally sit inside our comfy trailer, air conditioner on high, lounging in our recliners and watch TV. I like the outdoors, it’s just that either it is too hot and humid or the bugs are out.

A Modern RV’ers Confession – A couple of days before the big campout event I decided it was time we figure out how to use the awning on our trailer. As I explained to Mellie, “We better try it out now so we won’t look like idiots at the campground”. Can you believe it? Over 6 weeks on the road and we had never used the awning. Not only that but we had never even used a picnic table. At the last minute we went on a shopping quest in hopes of finding a picnic tablecloth (no luck though). In the end everything went quite well. The awning deployed without a problem and came in quite handy when it began to rain. Yeah, it rained and thundered a lot!

Food, food and more food – I guess that is what camping is all about, at least here in Iowa anyway. Over the two days we were there we had feasted on brats, homemade chili, pizza made in the camp fire, smoores, toasted marshmallows, Belgian waffles, French toast, smoked turkey and of course my famous Santa Maria style tri-tip barbeque.

Urban Camper to the Rescue - As I mentioned we had some rain over the weekend. By Saturday night it was pouring down. I made a casual comment “if anyone wants to they could stay in our trailer. We have a spare bed after all”. Next thing I knew, I had six takers on the offer. It was fun though. We had beds made out wall to wall and the snoring was not even that bad. At least I didn’t hear any complaints.

Road Revelation #9 – Be prepared to share with fellow campers – We find that in every camp ground we stay at there are many friendly folks. It’s one of the benefits of this trip, to meet and visit with interesting people. It’s so rewarding to share. Maybe it’s just a story or extra sweet corn or a dry place to spend the night. Sharing is the essence of being a Good Camper.

Pass The Gravy

This is meat and potatoes country. Oh and don’t forget the sweet corn! It seems that we spend our time eating while planning what and where we will eat the next meal. We have sampled sweet corn from four different counties (so far). Everyone claims to have the best so we are compelled to try it and see for ourselves. Some more of my favorites; MaidRites (ground beef sandwiches), rhubarb pie, and fresh green beans right out of the garden.

Little Wall Lake - On a beautiful Sunday afternoon we went to Little Wall lake and had a picnic. This lake is about 3 miles from where I grew up. so memories of fishing, swimming and doing boy things ran through my memory that day. It was so nice and restful to just sit and wait for the sun to set.

Amana Colonies – This past week we took a side trip to southern Iowa and the Amana Colonies. Over 150 years ago a group of German immigrants established a communal settlement on 26,000 acres of land in the Iowa river valley. They founded seven villages and called their new home Amana. The name Amana was taken from the song of Solomon 4:8 and means “to remain true”. They farmed the land, established woolen mills, bakeries, meat shops, furniture shops and other businesses to provide their needs. Today, these businesses continue to thrive. Most are located in historical structures that are part of the National Historical Landmark called Amanas.

While in the Amanas, we toured the woolen mill, watched the craftsmen create beautiful handmade furniture out of walnut and cherry woods at the furniture factory and of course fattened up on some of the best German food this side of the Mississippi. The restaurants serve up huge portions “family style”. You want more? Just ask for a refill and another huge bowl of food will be served. I had to agree with a neighbor camper who exclaimed that he had to leave Amana “because there’s just too much good food to be had”.

National Balloon Festival, Indianola Iowa - We attended, or at least attempted to attend, the annual balloom festival in Indianola. When I say we attempted well we were about a half hour late from missing lift off. There were over 100 balloons and seeing them all up floating over the Iowa countryside was an impressive site to be sure. We ended up chasing them along with several hundred other crazy balloon enthusiasts. I guess I keep forgetting that things run on time here in Iowa, no Filipino time here.

Road Revelation #8 – Make sure to operate in local time. Not only is it important to adjust your clocks to the local time but to also consider the local customs and traditions. Around here in Iowa, if you snooze you lose.

Making Hay

Having had enough (for now) of Canada, it was time to head south for the good old USA. We crossed the border at Pembina just west of Minnesota in North Dakota. Passing through US Customs was a bit more difficult than the Canadian counterpart. Where it took us only 30 seconds to pass into Canada, it took around 20 minutes for the US inspection. We had a small problem with the agriculture inspector. She decided to take my lemons I had brought from our tree in San Diego. I told her I understood and it was ok, but she seemed to need to provide an explanation. She explained that it was really California’s fault. Oh well. I talked with a guy from Texas and it took him over 2 hours to clear. Seems they were sure they would find guns or ammo somewhere in his trailer. California, fruits and vegetables. Texas, guns and ammo, go figure.

Iowa, You Make Me Laugh – Well to be honest, the slogan is (or was, I guess they changed it for some reason) ”Iowa, you make me smile”. Iowa is my home or at least it was for the first 20 years of my life. Most of my family still lives here and we are enjoying see everyone. We are camped at Whispering Oaks RV park in Story City which is pretty much in the center of the state. It’s less than 2 miles to my Moms place so it’s quite convenient.

In Memory of Raymond Sellers – Ray was my step-dad for the past 20 years. When we arrived here in Iowa on Thursday July 12th, he had been admitted into a hospice house. He passed away on Sunday afternoon with most of his family around him. Having no kids from his first marriage, he always called us his “ready made family”. He was 90 years old, led a full life and was ready to meet his Lord.

Summer Evening in the Park – One of my fondest memories of growing up here in Iowa is enjoying the band concerts in the park on a warm summer evening. Last night I had the opportunity to show Mellie what Iowa is all about; a free concert in the park with the band playing John Phillip Sousa and other favorites. Not only was the concert free but they had free ice cream and cookies as well. But there’s more to it than just that. Imagine it was over 95 degrees with super high humidity for the past week. The night before it rained buckets. On the night of the concert the weather was perfect, 80 degrees and no wind. So people came from everywhere to enjoy and take advantage of this rare summer evening. They may not have the perfect weather of Southern California very often but they know how to enjoy it when they do.

Road Revelation #7 – Make hay when the sun shines. My Dad use to always say that. As a young kid I merely took it literally and thought it was rather obvious, you sure can’t bale hay when it’s raining. But now I see what he really meant. Enjoy life’s moments as they come, don’t waste an opportunity to relish in a beautiful day. Take in that free concert in the park and make hay when the sun shines.

Prairie Schooner eh?

We continued our travels through Canada leaving the beautiful Canadian Rockies behind us with the vast prairie lands ahead. As the driver in this expedition, I for one was rather relieved. No more mountains to climb, just nice flat wide roads that gently merge into a point at the horizon. I guess it was appropriate that the nice older man we met at a rest stop made the comment looking at our rig “Nice prairie schooner eh.” It really did feel like we were floating along in a vast sea of green and yellow. Yeah, yellow. That’s the color of the canola fields in bloom. Very pretty indeed.

Moose Jaw – No I’m not talking about some left over road kill. Moose Jaw is a nice quiet town in lower Saskatchewan on Canadian highway #1. We pulled into the Prairie Oasis RV park for the night. Besides the Casino Moose Jaw about the only other thing to see in town was Al Capone’s hideout. Seems at some point in his criminal career, Capone hid out here in Moose Jaw. There are actual tunnels that he used and these have been preserved as a tourist attraction. I might be stretching the definition of attraction but one sure could not call them “a historic site” eh? Guess we will never know for sure, we passed on seeing it opting to watch “Canadian Idol” on TV instead. No comments on Canadian singing talent. Sorry, my many Canadian friends and family would not be happy.

Winnipeg Manitoba – On our second day of sailing though the Canadian prairie we dropped anchor in a nice RV park just south of Winnipeg. Arrowhead RV park is actually in the town of Ile des Chenes (don’t ask me how to pronounce it, I could barely understand the instructions given by the camp manager, it was all French to me). But to be truthful, the biggest attraction to this place was they were members of Camp Club USA. What that means is we get a 50% discount, yeah! Time for another unscheduled stop. We decided to take a day off and tour Winnipeg. Near the center of town is the forks of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. This has been a traditional meeting place for centuries. Aboriginal peoples, fur trade rivals, settlers, merchants, politicians, immigrants and now Lande’s have congregated in the famous Forks National Historic site of Manitoba Canada. There are beautiful sculpture gardens, flower beds, river walks and lots of interesting shops to see. If you cross the foot bridge, Esplande Riel, you enter the French quarter of Winnipeg. More shops and restaurants to see.

Barbeque Quest – One of the activities we have added to our trip is a quest to find the best barbeque. When I saw the restaurant, Muddy Waters Barbeque, I though I had to give it the test. This way we can truly say we have looked for the best barbeque in all of North America not just in the US. They claimed to have Texan style slow cooked barbeque. The barbeque was ok (I was hungry) but having enjoyed real Texas barbeque and knowing the difference, I would be generous to give them a 3 on the 1 to 10 international barbeque scale. Sorry Canada it does not look like you will win the “best barbeque in North America” title.

Road revelation #6 – Be cautious of asking simple questions of talkative French guys. I made the mistake of asking the manager of the RV park “so what’s to see in Winnipeg?”. He went into a 20 minute lecture with maps, brochures, and personal accounts of several places not to miss (he even included his favorite grocery store and Home Depot location). I guess it would have been useful if I was able to understand him. I could not quite decide if he was talking French or English. But the maps were helpful anyway.