This journey rambles and ambles on. After our wondrous visit to the sign museum and the incredible ventriloquist dummy experience (note: Rodney is still trying to perfect not moving his lips while ranting skills --- What? I didn't say that; must have been the dog) we needed to lay ourselves down in that nights version of home.
The most challenging part of this odyssey is the perpetual quest for a place to rest our weary bones. We cover a lot of ground both in the literal sense and in the ever-increasing variety of places and people being added to our trip journal. The need to process and ponder while nurturing sore backs and tired eyes is very important. To keep fluid and flexible, this means we seldom have any idea where we'll be at the end of the day. This means there are no room reservations nor confirmation numbers. We just pull over and begin the hunt for nightly accommodations. We try our best to avoid the big chains but as mentioned before, the small and interesting motel/hotel is a rarity. In the name of budget and keeping this adventure going, we must avoid spending too much on a bed for the night; very difficult indeed. Truthfully, this aspect of Oddasee would kill weaker women/men. Here's a tale from one such foray into the motel abyss:
Saturday night in Jeffersonville became memorable for all the wrong reasons. Having found nothing remotely interesting/affordable/clean/
Nothing special to begin with but this soon changed. R. was doing his nightly duty of downloading photos and writing the Oddasee update. At some point he noticed a rather uncomfortable twinge on his thigh. This was then followed by an irritant on his arms. This finally elicited a "What the #@*&!" as he leapt from the pseudo Barcalounger. S. looked upon the afflicted areas and with horror she found the handiwork of some evil insect(s) munch-down. Her assessment was that it had to be the work of an piranha-like arachnid. Well that's not good..... The evil chair and home of the aforementioned demon(s) was pushed far aside and the ol' Macintosh was shut down.
Off to sleep with expanding mounds of hot and itchy newly grown appendages. Well this was not going to be a gentle trip into slumberland. New spots of interest began to appear and even after a hot then cold shower, the itching-festival was full on. AAAAAAAArrrrrggggghhhhhh! What in the name of Satan's daughters was going on here. R suggested in a quite and rational almost whisper.... not, "We are getting the H out of here!!!" This compelled Susan to explore the lovely bedclothes beneath us and...... drum roll....... welcome to Bedbug Hotel Hell! AAAAARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!
As fast as a Nascar pit crew, we were out of the room with refund in hand at 3:45am. Not what one could call a restful or rejuvenating way to end the day. After bagging up all the potential new homes for the insect hoard we set off for a more sterile place to not only rest but now, recover. And to think it was visions of those scary dummies that I thought might make the blissful visit to the dreamtime a challenge. Wrong. It was something much more crawly and real. Take heed Oddaee watchers. Be careful of desires to be in our shoes.
So after a few hours sleep in a new chain motel (this one had a big "6" in the name) that was spotless, we drug our sorry bug feasted upon bodies to the door of R's old friends Jim and Joni Lyman in Louisville. A bit worse for the wear and rather ghoulish (loss of blood), we were very happy to see their smiling faces.... a sight for sore thighs.
We spent the next couple of days in the very clean home of humans. Our time in Louisville was great! Home cooked meals, clean sheets and even a few games of "corn-hole" (really, that's what they call this particular form of entertainment in these parts. Cornholin' sounds more like something one might experience in San Quentin; oh my!).
While there we visited a couple Oddasee-like sites:
1. The Frazier International History Museum
In comparison to many of the odd institutions we have visited, this was kind of traditional. That said, it was not ordinary. The place is gorgeous and the displays are fantastic. The focus is somewhat centered around weaponry and warfare. There's a great exhibition of armor and military gear; all placed within a chronological and historical framework. The life-size dioramas are especially impressive. Every detail is perfect with even the horses being very life-like. There was much to see and also opportunities to see "interpreters" give presentations related to the displays. We watched a knight and his squire suit up in a full armor suit; cool. In another part of the museum was a photo exhibition covering American soldiers from WWI up to Iran and Afghanistan. Yet another very powerful anti-war statement; moving, sad and informative. The museum is certainly worth visiting again and again.
2. The "Junk and Sculpture Yard"
Thrilled to be passengers, we let the Lymans drive us to one of our targeted sites for a real hands-on Oddasee experience. No just looking at images or reading the update on the PC, this was there chance so see the real deal We wound around (there GPS is as drunk as ours) we eventually spied our destination exploding out of a yard a block up ahead.
Before us was the wild world created by Mr. Jerry Lotz. Once again we find a man obsessed with..... well, every object on earth. Nothing too small. Nothing too large. From a caboose to automobiles to garden figurines to advertisement sculptures on down to any quirky and colorful objects d'art he could find; Mr; Lotz filled his yards (and interior rooms) with tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of "things".
Check out a few photos of Jerry and his stuff. Be sure not to miss the "The Statue of Liberty Nixon". There were piles of colorful yet seemingly random crap of every theme and material imaginable. The only thing more astounding was Jerry himself. This never silent creature had tales to tell, oh my oh my did he have tales to tell. He was a performer in his own junk circus. Yet another cast member to add to our ever-growing list of living 'fictional' characters. What a treat. J & J seemed amused and got a real taste of the Oddasee spirit..... Cool, we have new members to add to our flock.
Louisville was wonderful to us and Jim and Joni gave us some needed grounding, normalcy and good home cooked grub (the peach berry pie was the nectar of the gods). The long talks and the evening of board games was more than ample compensation for the night in Insecti-Hades. As has become the pattern, it was tough to say goodbye but after some hugs and a gift of Joni's homemade salsa. we hit the road recharged, anxious and scratching less.
Love, Cortizone and Beanbags,
Rodney and Susan
ps. Note: there are bound to be many typos, misspellings, bad grammar and scary punctuation in this update. Susan is off with her dad for the day and did not get to proofread and embellish this particular missive. My apologies.
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