Day 98 Lawrence

"Do you know where we are?" C asked.

I thought he was being a smart  butt. so I answered, "Yeah, Dirty Toes."

"No, Sam and Dean."

He was right, Sam and Dean Winchester, of television's Supernatural are from Lawrence, Kansas.   The boys live in the university town just off I-70 until their mother dies in a mysterious fire that sends their father off to hunt the monsters that lurk in the night.

A quick search on my phone failed to find any sort of museum or other remembrance of the boys from television.

I mentioned Dirty Toes.  A long time ago I met member of the band, Uncle Dirty Toes, the bass guitarist, Mark von Schlemmer.  The bulk of the band is from the Lawrence area and have been playing since the mid-90's.

The group acknowledges that Jethro Tull had an influence on their music.  I think of them as a contemporary Celtic folk/rock band.  One of their tunes inspired my first novel.

But, really, Lawrence is a university town and we won't be exploring much of it tomorrow. We are anxious to get close to if not home.

So far, so good.  It's been a fantastic trip!

Day 97 Day of Remembrance

After breakfast at an interesting little place in Baltimore called Paper Moon we stopped to admire some of the collections the owner had.  In the entry way were two walls covered with Pez Dispensers.

We left Baltimore about 9:30 this morning.  It didn't take long to get onto the highway and away from the traffic headed into town and into DC.  Everything is relatively close here, within an hour or so of one another. The highway is mainly hidden by trees and the cities of Baltimore and Washington DC blend into a multitude of suburbs.

We get on I 70 headed west. Our .  destination is listed on one of the highway's signs. We've a long way to go and our destination has been calculated by Google to be 26 hours away.

Day 96 Thinking About...TIME

So hard to believe our time in Baltimore is coming to an end. It's time to be thinking about the return journey.

Today it was a bit overcast and definitely chilly.  I doubled up my layers and tried to be a warm trooper. 

Had some great chats with P who was a little bit better but still not tolerating food well. An Eggo was rough on his stomach.  I so don't miss the stomach flu!

It is looking like we will either take 70 across or perhaps 36.  We did quite a bit of time on 80 going out and I'm told we did some time on 70 getting here, but funny, I really don't remember being on it.  It seems that a number of highways come to a head out here so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Day 95

Today was a fun and a productive day.

I was able to connect up with my brother and his wife at Eggspectation, a breakfast place about a third of the way between Baltimore and D.C. Unfortunately, P was ill and wasn't able to share his good news with my brother directly.

P is the owner and creator of his own line of comics.  

He just finished his first year, and decided to print the stories through a Kickstarter campaign.  Three cheers, he made goal and then some, and I was here when the first proof came in for the stories.

Because of my brother's level of support he got to select a piece of original art which he plans to display.

After the lovely brunch, we headed back to town to check in on P. One of the places he had hoped to show us was the CineBistro.  

Day 94 Po, Po. Pitiful Me

In some twisted corner of my brain, I can hear Edgar Allan Poe singing the old Linda Ronstadt ballad, Poor, Poor Pitiful Me.  The first stanza I'm sure he could play with -


Well I lay my head on the railroad track
Waiting on the Double E
But the train don't run by here no more
Poor poor pitiful me

Poor poor pitiful me
Poor poor pitiful me
Oh these boys won't let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Woe woe is me

From what I've read Poe suffered from depression, probably severe depression.  He was obsessed with death. Some of his stories deal with women coming back from the dead to haunt their former lovers.

Poe lived a short while in Baltimore, about three years.  The Poe

home was small and forbiddingly dark. 

Day 93 Angels in the Architecture

I am really enjoying my guided exploration of Baltimore.  Yes, there are museums and symphonies and history.  There are famous institutions like Johns Hopkins, and gorgeous libraries like the Peabody. 
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The thing that fascinates me the most is the architecture. From the variations on the row houses, to the new university buildings under construction downtown, the city seems to have a remarkable architectural history.

Today I went to Johns Hopkins, a world renown medical center and school. C and I were picking up his brother, who practices with the docs, nurses, and pharma students in a testing environment known as standardized patient. P reads a case, and then acts out a role assigned to him based on the case.  He might be a patient, or a nurse or a doctor.  A student in one of the medical programs works with P to diagnose a problem.  

Day 92 Row Homes and Gentrification

I'm staying in a row house.

For folks out west, the concept is like something out of a Mark Walhberg movie where the scrappy kid from the wrong side of the railroad tracks fights his way to a better life.  The homes literally share walls the way a duplex would.  Usually there are eight homes, with a front porch and steps and the front yard the size of a postage stamp - you might be able to park a small hybrid car on the grass - maybe.

In Baltimore there are two main kinds of row houses. Those in "good" neighborhoods, and those in "bad" neighborhoods.  Bad neighborhoods are a little easier to spot. It is usually maintenance that gives the "good" from the "bad" away.  Wood looks worn, paint is flaking and there are more homes together that have the uncared for, dilapidated look.