Springfield, IL June 2, 2008

(I know this is getting posted late but I lost an internet connection. Just got it back.)

Started the day in Bloomington.  Were suppose to make it to Springfield today but never quite made it.  I can’t get on the internet here so yesterday’s blog hasn’t been posted.  Today started around eight waiting for Dave Crocket to find out what happened to his electrical system.  Didn’t get rolling until after nine.  Plan is to get to Springfield for lunch and to contact the fellow from the media in Springfield.  Several stops along the way didn’t get us to Springfield until after two.  We did about 150 miles the first day, but only made eighty on the second day.  Once in Springfield our first stop, at Steven’s assistance was the Cozy Dog Drive-in, the home of the Corn Dog.  Yes, here in the land of Lincoln the corn dog was invented and the original formula is, to this day, still in use.  Unlike the chili cheese fries of the Polka Dot Inn, the Cozy Dog was more of a treat.  The Cozy Dog tastes like a, well, like a corn dog.  The outside is nice and crispy with a nice corn taste and the hot dog was a hot dog.  Steven and I had two each and they were OK.. We did go to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield and it was likely the most interesting museum I have ever seen.  Anyone going anywhere near Springfield would be wise to visit the Lincoln Museum.

Stayed the night at the Route 66 motel on the south side of Bloomington.  Lots of Route 66 junk or, rather, memorabilia.  Steve challenged us all to spend less each night for motel rooms.  We spent $73 in Springfield.  Tomorrow we have to spend less.  We had four beers each last night and some Vodka.  Steven, of course, had to find a two liter bottle of Grey Goose that barely fits in the trunk. 

Chicago, Saturday, May 31, 2008

Tomorrow begins the big trip.  On reflection I think back to the  Hunter S. Thompson’s 1971 trip and realize that we are, in a sense, duplicating that ground breaking adventure.  Dr. Thompson set out from Los Angeles, with his Samoan lawyer, for Las Vegas.  With them in the big caddy convertible was “two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers ……also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls … but the only thing that worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge . . . .” (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) 

There are, of course, a few differences.  We are not headed out across the desert to Las Vegas, rather we are heading into the Midwest with seat belts firmly buckled;  I don’t have a Samoan lawyer, rather an accountant from Texas and we don’t quite have the plethora of drugs Thompson had, instead we have plenty of Prilosec, some gemfribrozil and numerous other cholesterol, blood pressure and arthritis medication. We also have a warm can of Bud light found under the back seat of the Cadillac.  Except for these minor differences our trip is much like Thompson’s 1971 journey.  Where Thompson essentially buried the 1960s with its own excess,  we will be looking for an America that once led a great automotive expansion west, an expansion that not even $4 a gallon gasoline will stop.  Our main purpose of the trip is, of course, simply to have a good time, but we also want to see as much as we can of places and people who were at one time important and vital parts of this country, but who are gradually becoming meaningless rememberances of people heading to California not for work or a new life, but to the Magic Kingdom.  Might it be that the real Magic Kingdom has been paralleling the Interstate while their eyes are on a destination not the trip.  The trip is our purpose here, not getting to California. 

It is also important to note that our car “El Gigante” was born only two years after the publication of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  She like me has a lot of miles on her and we both must take a bit easier than we may have back in the day.

Only a few days left and I want to take this opportunity to leave my first communication.  This is like a beta test.  (I don’t know what tropical fish have to do with anything, but I follow orders.)  I am also inserting a picture of El Gigante, who is all  polished up, gassed up ($100 and, with luck, should get us to Springfield) and ready to go. 

Hello. Well I’m in countdown mode until June 1 when I head out from the Windy City with Steven V., my fellow traveler on this nutty “dream come true” venture. To set the tone I have written a brief bio of my life so you can appreciate what an amazing guy I am and how lucky the JFR Foundation is I am willing to lend my name to this event.

I invite all my friends (since I have no enemies) to join with me on this trip. For starters, you can sign on as a sponsor and help us reach our goal of $15,000. And of course we’d like to have your suggestions of places to eat, sleep, buy gas for the hog we are driving, and see the most amazing sites.