Fifteen years ago today:
Exit St. Louis and enter Illinois via Route 66. Stops at a roadside museum and the Ariston Cafe en route to Madison. I played Peoria but there is no video evidence.
Fifteen years ago today:
Touring Madison, Wisconsin, a thoroughly pleasant sort of place that I might not have visited without an invitation from Steven, who later moved to the Bay Area. I think I’d have stayed in Madison if I’d been him.
…to alert you all that I am still very much alive and relived that I autopopulated all this 1997 stuff because I am really incredibly busy this week month. Back soon with info and pictures from a more recent road trip, etc. And now, back to Madison or Chicago or wherever the hell I was fifteen years ago tonight.
Fifteen years ago today:
From Madison to Chicago via Milwaukee and the very first McDonald’s east of the Mississippi. Listen for a Sentry supermarket commercial and a very early one for “King of the Hill.” Joe, my host, offers a nighttime tour.
Fifteen years ago today:
Roaming around Chicago including a visit to a downtown Woolworth store in the midst of that chain’s mass store closings.
…I miss being the 1997 version of me, with a shiny new website and less grey hair and flirtatious fans and very few real responsibilities.
But not most days.
It would be kinda nice to be able to take off on a five-week road trip, though.
Fifteen years ago today:
Last day in Chicago with an emphasis on the projects (many of which are no longer standing), followed by the drive to Indianapolis, hanging out in Fountain Square, a nighttime drive, and a pretty amazing hotel room courtesy of Bob, my host.
Fifteen years ago today:
Coast to coast tour of Indiana, part one, including Indianapolis, Brazil, Terre Haute, Clinton, Rockville, and Billie Creek Village. Much of this takes place along US 40, formerly known as the National Road. This chunk of the trip was spent with my friend Bob in Indianapolis, who suggested the whole trip to begin with.
Fifteen years ago today:
Coast to coast tour of Indiana, part two, covering Centerville, Richmond, Greensburg, and Shelbyville, and including covered bridges, giant pork tenderloin sandwiches, and courthouses with trees growing out of their roofs.
In case you care, photos from my Labor Day weekend trip to DC are here (or below).
Random thoughts on DC:
- I hadn’t really spent any significant time in DC in over twenty years (and not much even before) but I have spent a fair of time in Baltimore and the DC ‘burbs in my life. It was good to dive into DC proper.
- There is construction everywhere. Seriously. It’s as if DC is preparing for a sudden influx of about three times as many people as are there currently.
- It’s much whiter than I expected. Apparently the black population has declined from seventy to a bit over fifty percent in the past few decades due to a surburbanizing black middle class, a growing Asian and Hispanic population, and your basic, old-fashioned gentrification.
- I didn’t wander by accident into any neighborhoods that gave me the willies. Of course, I also didn’t venture south of the Anacostia River, either.
- Except for Dupont Circle and environs, DC didn’t seem nearly as tight-assed as I’d remembered it being.
- Good trip, all in all. I’ll probably be back soon. It’s kind of a perfect three-day weekend destination for me.
Photos:
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