Ottumwa and Dyersville, Iowa, Rankin and Chicago, Illinois
July 17-25, 2020
The car was packed and ready to go by the time Brandy got home at 3:15. We finished up some last minute things, said good bye to Ash and left at around 3:45.
We drove up I-40 to Tucumcari, then hopped on to the 54, which took us through the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma before reaching our destination, Liberal, Kansas.
We stayed in a little roadside motel called American Inn. We were asked if we wanted a smoking or non-smoking room, which I cant tell you the last time I’ve been asked that. We requested a non-smoking room, entered the room and it smelled like cigarettes.
Ah, well.
I was up at 5:00 Saturday morning. We packed up our small overnight bags and headed out at about 7:45.
Before we hit the highway, we got stuck behind a convoy of three huge semi trucks carrying blades for those giant wind turbines you see so much of in Kansas. After following them for what seemed like an eternity, we finally got around them and were able to ramp up our pace. I hit speeds up to 100 MPH on the turnpike in Kansas and we were able to make it to Ottumwa right at 5:00. It didn’t dawn on me until we got there, but the Midwest has a tendency to get humid. It was 93 degrees with 80 percent humidity… ugh, it was heavy!
We stopped at Brandy’s parents’ house to unload our luggage then headed right to the banks of the Des Moines River where we met up with Brandy’s parents, friends and a host of others. I got to see fireflies for the first time ever, and discovered frogs are plentiful in the Midwest. We drank and had an overall good time before heading home around 10:00.
Sunday morning, I was up ahead of Brandy (as usual) but had forgotten my phone at the river. I didn’t know my way around town well enough to go retrieve it so I just sat. Bored. Alone. Until the gang regrouped at the house and did a Christmas in July white elephant gift exchange after a breakfast of biscuits and gravy. Brandy’s friends left by 3:00 so we returned to the river for a late lunch. We went back to the house where Brandy took a nap. We generally lounged about for the day before calling it a night.
Monday morning, I was up at 6:30. I found my way to a Starbucks, went back and sat outside the house until Brandy got up. Once she was up and moving, we took a drive through the town, Brandy showing me where she grew up, where she went to school, and to visit her dad’s grave.
We went to Canteen Lunch in the Alley where I was exposed to loose meat sandwiches. Loose meat sandwiches are like sloppy Joes, but without the sauce, and topped like hamburgers, with cheese, onions, pickles, ketchup and mustard. I had two, and a slice of peanut butter pie.
After we ate, Brandy and her mom went to Libertyville to visit their jewelry dealer. Once they returned, we had dinner then called it an early night for an early departure the next morning.
Tuesday morning, we loaded up the car and departed for our next stop in Dyersville, Iowa. We stopped in Dubuque for lunch at a place called Taco John’s where I had the most amazing hash brown nuggets I’ve ever had in my entire life,called Potatoes Oles. They were seasoned so wonderfully, I HAVE to have more. Believe me, I’ll be looking to see if they ship their potatoes ole. If not, I’m going to find a copycat recipe…
We arrived at the Field of Dreams Movie Site at 12:30, just in time for our scheduled tour. We went up to the farmhouse where our guide, Theresa, showed us around. Unfortunately, many of the props featured in the movie Field Of Dreams were owned by Universal Studios and were thus taken back after filming wrapped. In turn, the farmhouse was decorated with general baseball memorabilia as well as swag from the movies: posters, pictures, books, etc. We only got a tour of the first floor, which was fairly small, and were allowed to walk around on the wrap-around porch. Frankly, I don’t think it was quite worth the $20 per person I paid for the tour, but I’m still glad I did it.
By the time the tour concluded, it had started raining. Brandy and I were in flip flops and weren’t too keen on running around the wet and muddy field in them. I went nearby, snapped a couple of pics then we ran into the gift shop to snag a couple of souvenirs. The gift shop is run by a company called Baseballism which specializes in apparel more than anything else, but I did find a cool coffee mug and a key chain for my souvenir wall. We made our purchases and moved on to our next destination, Rankin, IL.
We made the next leg of our trip in about five hours, arriving in Rankin, IL, at about 6:30 pm. It was great to see my dear friends David and Veronica again, after not having seen them since last October. We sat and had some drinks and food before calling it a quick night, exhausted from the car ride.
Wednesday morning was a pretty low key day. We woke up for breakfast burritos and just hung out for the day, not really doing much of anything really. Brandy had been fighting something so she spent most of the day in bed while the remaining three sat and caught up on our goings on for the last 9 months. We went to dinner at Dos Reales Mexican Restaurant in Champaign and stuffed ourselves silly on queso, chips and salsa, carnitas, fajitas and margaritas. We headed back to the house where Brandy and Veronica turned in, and David and I had nice, deep, philosophical conversations.
I had two primary goals while in Illinois: See Wrigley Field and have a Chicago style deep dish pizza. On Thursday I was able to accomplish both.
After a stop at Dunkin Donuts, we headed into the city. We found a centrally located parking spot and walked to the largest Starbucks in the world. After taking a brief look around, we headed down to the Navy Pier on Lake Michigan where we stopped at Giordano’s for lunch: a classic, Chicago DEEEEEEP dish pizza. You know, the kind where they sandwich the toppings between the bottom crust and the top layer of cheese and sauce. We had ours filled with pepperoni, onions, peppers and mushrooms. It took 45 minutes for the pie so we snacked on calamari and cheese curds while we waited. I didn’t realize the pizza was going to have a flaky, pie-like crust. It was so cheesy and meaty and saucy and delicious, and I’m super glad I had the chance to try it.
After lunch, we browsed the shops at the pier picking up a few souvenirs along the way. We glanced in to the Harry Caray’s Tavern where baseball… and Bill Murray… memorabilia were on full display. We eventually found our way to the very end of the pier where we had a nice, clear, picturesque view of Lake Michigan on one side and the Chicago skyline on the other. After snapping plenty of pictures, we made the long, hot, humid, masked walk back up the pier to the Lyft pickup area for a ride to Addison and Clark to check out the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field, the second oldest baseball stadium in the majors, behind only Fenway Park in Boston.
Since Major League Baseball is not allowing fans in the stands even during games, the park was fairly well locked down and abandoned, especially since there wasn’t even a game on Thursday. We still walked around the stadium, snapping pictures of the statues of Mr. Cub Ernie Banks, Ran Santo, Billy Williams and the voice of the Chicago Cubs, Harry Caray.
We stopped into a team store across the street from the fabled marquee where I picked up a couple trinkets for my wall, then we caught a Lyft back to the car and ventured back to the house, stopping for a burger at Hardee’s (Carl’s Jr.) on the way.
Once we got in, Brandy wasn’t feeling too good so she hit the sack early once more, and the remaining three stayed up to watch the Dodgers play the Giants for opening day while grilling hot dogs.
We went to bed after the game, then were up bright and early Friday to clear out of Veronica’s office so she could start her work day at 6:00 am. We hit the road at about 7:00 for the long journey home. Then…
About 75 miles before St. Louis, travelling on I-55, we got a flat tire. I changed the tire on the shoulder of the freeway then we limped in to town on the spare, found a tire shop in Collinsville and got a replacement. We found and stopped at a White Castle for lunch, then headed on to Tulsa where Brandy got a bangin deal on a suite at the Wyndham in Tulsa. We ordered Zio’s Italian through Uber Eats, ate and sacked in for the night.
We got up the next morning and began the final leg of our trip, Tulsa to Albuquerque. We hit a good amount of rain as we got in to New Mexico but we kept a steady pace and pulled in to home around 4:30, greeted Ash, who was super excited to see us, and finally got to relax at home.
Except for the humid heat and the absolute BRUTALITY of the bug bites we sustained, we had a really good time. I’m glad my friends got to meet my love and vice versa, and I look forward to a return trip to catch some of the sights I missed out on this trip (the bean, an actual game at Wrigley, the arch in St. Louis, etc.)
As always, I have all my pictures on my Photo Diary page. I’ve also added a separate category just for my mementos that I have on my wall so be sure to check that out as it’s updated.
I leave you with a quote from John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley: In Search of America:
“‘You don’t even know where I’m going.’
‘I don’t care. I’d like to go anywhere.'”
Pingback: Wrigley Field, Dodgers vs. Cubs – Wandering New Mexican
Pingback: April Vacation – Chicago, IL – Wandering New Mexican