Road Trip 2019 began on a Saturday during the Great Flood of 2019. Trying to get out of Omaha was a chore. I-29 to Kansas City closed. Highway 75 south to Topeka closed. The floodwaters of The Platte, normally a river a mile wide and an inch deep as they say, was raging from melted snow and rain. It had upended thousands of folks lives by destroying everything they owned and without mercy was going to destroy their futures. It sucks.
Heading south on Highway 50 to go around the carnage was the only option. As we approached the river the traffic suddenly came to a standstill. It was pure gawking. When you saw a river normally inundated with sandbars and at times very little water, flowing downhill with whitecaps and a power that made me cringe how could you help but gawk. Scary as hell yet amazing to see. A man stood in a park firing a gun at god knows what. Wow, this is going to be something. A redneck firing a gun in a park. Oh hun, we hadnt seen anything yet.
The destination was Louisville. Kentucky, not Nebraska which ironically was where the guy was firing the gun. Louisville contains 3 things I idolize. Muhammad Ali, Churchill Downs, and Louisville Sluggers. The road to Louisville goes thru Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and finally Kentucky.
Columbia Missouri was the stopping point. Something bit the crap out of Max . I'm not saying it was bedbugs but it was bedbugs. I wont mention the place we stayed but it sure didnt live up to its Super reputation. It may have been on 8th street?
On the road in a place called Higginsville, Missouri to get gas. Remember that guy in Nebraska shooting a gun in a public park? In this gas station were 3 guys who make the Nebraska shooter look like the ultimate urban sophisticate. The first guy leans on the counter and asks the clerk, "what state is this?" Now I can see if you were close to a border but in the literal middle of Missouri and you ask a befuddled clerk that? In the bathroom were two guys in neon vests. As one was mystified by the workings of a sink with no handles and shit, the other stepped in to help. Also mystified, neon vest #2 summed it all up in one of the most philosophical statements I've ever heard. He drawled "This sink is motherfuuuuuuuuckin bowlllll-shit". Absolutely my friend. I left without washing my hands.
Through St Louis, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky featuring billboard after billboard of some lawyer named The Hammer we proceeded. Injured? Call The Hammer. Truck Accident? Call the Hammer. Work getting you down? Call the Hammer. Hey whats that number?
Louisville lies on the Ohio River. Great I get to cross yet another river on some rusty old bridge ready to crumble. Hey, is it Infrastructure Month yet?
The Muhammad Ali Center was the kind of place I could spend hours at. Its a museum, its a cultural center and its an interactive experience. You can trace the life of Ali from his birth to the Olympics to his professional career to his activism to his conversion to Islam. Its all here. You can watch virtually any fight of Ali's you want. You can watch news reports, see interviews, see him with Howard Cosell watch his decline into Parkinsons. Its wonderful. Just be prepared cuz the end features Leroy Neiman paintings. Yikes!
Theres a 24/7 diner in Louisville called Burger Boy. Its small, has good food and an ambience I enjoyed. But what I really liked was the wall full of bumperstickers . Everything from Bernie For President to various what I assume were local Democratic candidates. But what really made me a fan was the tiny little sticker above the Go Green sticker. It simply said "Fuck Trump". 5 stars from me.
Day One and Two Concluded.
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