I think I have a good memory. But I forgot this: Sixty-five years ago our family stopped at a Jersey diner on our way to board the Queen Mary for Cherbourg. I was nine years old, and had yet to … Read More
Embâcle much?
Crossing Illinois we came to the Embarrass River. AI says embarrass is French for obstruction or logjam. AI is mistaken. The French word for obstruction or logjam is embâcle. Every Francophile knows this. AI is too wealthy and soulless to … Read More
Lunch on the Hill
The road squeezed us between the Katy Trail and the Missouri River, eventually joining old Route 66, celebrating her 100th birthday. I just reached 74. Like a good mother, the road delivered us to an old favorite, Rigazzi’s on The … Read More
Finding Haven
From Washington, Highway 100 stretches toward Hermann like a clothesline, draping over bluffs and peeking down ravines at your road’s companion, the Missouri River. The river was the major highway when John Colter traveled upstream with Lewis and Clark. Later, … Read More
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
“Blues is the roots. Everything else is the fruits.” —Willie Dixon. Only a few steps into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame we found this: Jim Morrison’s Cub Scout uniform. Iconic. Ironic. Morrisonic. We moved deeper… The Rock and … Read More
A Higher Power
I warmed my hands by the fire. The crisp fall day had ushered me through rolling loess hills, past newspaper offices whose names are as vibrant as their communities: Stanberry Headlight. Fairfax Forum. Tarkio Avalanche. I learned that Tarkio is … Read More
Love this rollercoaster.
The road to Falling Spring is a destination in itself. Missouri highway delivers you there. And Falling Spring Mill has been restored. But wait. There’s more. A little further down the road, Greer Spring busts out of a mountainside gushing … Read More
Mother turns 100
Route 66 has provided much of the wallpaper to our lives. Music and food. Art and architecture. Grapes and wrath. This year the Mother Road celebrates her 100th birthday. She’s aged in fits and starts, triumphs and tragedies, but we … Read More
Low water. High time.
Early spring. Jacks needs rain. Floated the upper Jacks last weekend. A few intrepid souls put in at the Prongs, the rest began from Buck Hollow, whose beach offered an easy launch thanks to low water. The journey was as … Read More