Another state, another breakdown

All aboard the Jelly Belly Express

Leaving Chicago we headed north into Wisconsin.  Stopped just over the state line to visit the Jelly Belly Factory.  One of Jean’s old nicknames was Jean Jean Jellybean so how could we pass this up.  The tour itself is through their distribution centre 

Jelly Bean art - the mosaics of
former Presidents and famous
people are more interesting
but they requested no cameras
once the tour started

(rows and rows of boxes of jellybeans) and you are taken through by way of a small train.  Along the outside walls are television screens where you stop to hear about the history as well as find out how the jellybeans are made.  They also show some of the mosaic-style art work made with jellybeans and some wearable art, also made with jellybeans.  Best part of the tour though, is in the gift shop afterwards where you can indulge in as many free samples as your sweet tooth can handle.

Or your 10 year old inner child:

Enlarge to read the labels better and yes, we did try some

From jellybeans we then visited the Mars Cheese Castle just a few miles up the road. 

Mars Cheese Castle

When the I-94 interchange got widened a few years ago the original castle with its plywood crenellations was demolished and the new building put up a short distance away. 

Wally & Jean find a friend

They were able to keep the original 80’ high sign.  A few old-time customers don’t like the new store but it’s the only one we know and we liked it.  Stocked up with cheese, salami and jerky.  Mmm.

Next it was northwards into Milwaukee.  We found it difficult to find an RV park close to Milwaukee due to the State Fair starting the day of our arrival so ended up driving through Milwaukee to a place called West Bend.  It was here that we struck car trouble yet again.  Transmission this time. 

The old courthouse in
West Bend

All these years I’ve resisted the Ford – Holden debate but I think now I’m firmly in the Holden camp … or anything but a Ford. 

Got the car to the doctor and the RV to a new camping ground then went to a micro-brewery to drown our sorrows.  Nah, not really.  We did go to the brewery but only because Jean & Wally found it the day before and reported back to Sue on how good the brews were.  Second time round they were still good.

The smiles just got bigger

Had a loan vehicle so still mobile.  Drove into Milwaukee and straight to Miller Coors Brewery. 

The three amigos



Original Millers Brewhouse

You may start thinking that there is a pattern here but three breweries in a row is pure coincidence (we usually wait at least a week between tours). 



 

Wouldn't have been right to leave
without sampling some of their brews

From the brewery, who only served up pretzels that make you want to drink more, we headed to the Harley Davidson Museum where there wasn’t a drop of alcohol in sight.  Just motorbikes (and lunch).  Lots and lots of motorbikes.  Also some bicycles.  Who knew that Harley Davidson also made a line of bicycles for a time.  

Some early Harley Davidson motorcycles

Along with some early Harley Davidson bicycles



What to do when you're recovering from an injury - cover your bike in
rhinestones and extra lights.  This was done in 1973.

What d'ya reckon - trade in the RV for one of these?

 

Dined out that night at a place called The Safe House.  It’s a spy themed restaurant and a lot of fun.  First job is to find it – it is a safe house after all.  A quick knock on the door of International Exports Ltd and we were

in.  Next we had to provide a password.  Of course we all got it wrong so had to line up and perform for the benefit of all the other patrons (and there were lots).  Once seated and food order taken we were given a Spy Mission to solve.   

Jean & Wally decoding the menu

That got us out of our seats and exploring finding secret rooms, 2 way mirrors and the like.  They even have a door from an old East Berlin prison (to imagine what life would be like if you got caught).  We didn’t get caught, we completed our mission and had a very nice meal to boot.

 

Did another day trip, this time to visit a Harry Houdini exhibit.  

Museum at the Castle, Appleton

This is in the old Masonic Lodge in Appleton now known as the Museum at the Castle.  As well as the Houdini exhibit which was very interesting and very hands on there were 2 other local exhibits – one on food (always a favourite of mine) and one on local businesses over the years. 

One of the Appleton locals posing with her new electric stove.  She wasn't ready to let
go of her wood-fired stove straight away though.

An early electric refrigerator - the round ball at the top
holds all the toxic gases.

We also visited Sheboygan who boast having the World’s Most Artistic Bathrooms.  They were pretty neat but personally I think the toilets in Lucas, KS and Kawakawa, NZ rate higher in artistic merit.  But, hey, it’s a personal thing – best you check out all three yourself to decide.

Sue might have liked them more if the dominant colour wasn't pink

We got our pick up back, complete with new transmission, and headed off again.  Woo hoo.  Drove northwards alongside Lake Michigan to a little place called Sister Bay.  How apt is that.  How crazy with people and

Sisters at Sister Bay

traffic did that little place turn out to be?  Apparently it’s always like that in August plus there was a free concert on the beach which drew in a bunch more.  We stopped at a restaurant that had goats on the roof.  Yes, you did read that right, this restaurant has goats on the roof.  It started out as a gag gift between mates and the goats stayed (and multiplied).  They are quite a drawcard for tourists now (hey, they drew us). 

One of the many goats they have at Johnson's on the roof
(top left in case you can't see it)

Next stop was at Egg Harbour which is just up the road from Fish Creek.  Getting as much enjoyment out of the town names here as in the UK.  We’ve been calling in at distilleries and breweries, it was about time we stopped at a winery.  So we did.  Harbour Ridge.  Arrived about 20 minutes before closing but points out of 10 for service here.  If it mattered, they didn’t let it show and gave us the full tasting service.  Nice wines too so we didn’t leave empty handed.

Signing off from Harbour Ridge Winery, oops, Harbor Ridge Winery

Now we are three

Had to have an extra day in St Louis when Wally’s flight into St Louis was delayed due to a plane being broken down on the runway in New Plymouth.  

Dragon that will breath fire for $1 -
he knows how to play the tourists

We spent the day productively catching up on admin and doing laundry (Hey, I said it was productive not fun).  So instead of him arriving at 5am he got in after 10pm.


Female pioneers rarely get
a mention so it was good to
see a statue acknowledging
the women and children -
there are 12 of these
statues along one of the
pioneer trails (babe in one
hand, rifle in the other)

Of course when we got back we had to have a couple of celebratory shots of moonshine – one for Wally’s safe arrival and the other for our sister Danny’s birthday.  Hope you had a lovely day Dan.

Our first day with Wally turned out to be a huge driving day.  Sorry Wal, but I do remember looking in the rear view mirror and seeing you snoozing a couple

The three of us

of times, catching up on your sleep.  We had a stop in a town called

Abe joined us for lunch - he
didn't eat much, just sat
there staring

Vandalia where we saw a fire breathing dragon and a statue honouring the pioneer women.  Abraham Lincoln lived in Vandalia prior to becoming President so there are a lot of statues and plaques commemorating his life as well as a lovely little park that served as our lunch spot. 

Took a slight detour to check out a goat tower.  It’s on private property but we were able to view it from the road.  What a neat idea, so for all those out there with goats, here’s the new benchmark:

Then it was on to Mattoon and an early dinner at Burger King.  Not the franchise as you know it, but the original Burger King established back in the 1950’s.  There was a court battle with the more familiar franchise with

Looks like the original sign
from the 1950's too

the final result being the new Burger King can’t operate a store within 20 miles of Mattoon.  A win for the little people, so deserving of a visit we felt, plus their butterscotch milkshakes were delicious.  Mmm.  Then it was on to our next stop where we introduced Wally to the joys of camping at Walmart.

Will B Rolling

Passed through the town of Port Byron where every year in August there is a tug of war across the Mississippi between the two states, Iowa and Illinois.  Sadly we missed the tug of war by 2 weeks and had to settle for seeing Will B Rolling on his penny farthing.  He was pretty cool but we would rather have seen the tug of war.

So it was on to Mt Carroll where we were to visit a haunted house – that had been made into a haunted house.  The owner, Jim, tells you his own ghost stories from the house then it’s through the house itself – a maze of narrow rooms, narrow stairways and even a couple of slides.  All the time with Jim jumping out at different places to make you jump.  Such a neat place.  You just have to suspend adulthood for a couple of hours and go along with the fun.

Raven's Grin Inn - complete with rooftop space ship



Can you see yourself at the wheel of this flash automobile?

We also had the pleasure of meeting Karen & Jeff while in Mt Carroll.  They had visited New Zealand back in the 80’s and spent some time in Napier so we had a good old chinwag.  We’ll be looking forward to your next visit down under one day.

With our new friends Jeff & Karen

City Hall & Opera House - although there's
never been an opera performed here.  It is
a theatre but was called an Opera House as,
back in the day, a theatre suggested
more lewd goings on.

Time to head east and make our way to Chicago.  Of course we can never travel in a straight line so we meandered along, first visiting the Opera House in Sandwich.  Sandy gave us a very interesting tour which concluded in the ladies toilets – they were the old jail

Ladies room jail cell toilets

cells.  The toilets are in the cells and the barred doors are still there albeit bolted to the wall so you can’t give anyone a nasty surprise when they’ve done their business.  I know, who would think of such a thing.  The barred windows have also been left in place.

Our other detour was to the Village Hall at Inverness.  In times past this barn with its 4 silos was reportedly used by Al Capone during Prohibition to store illicit liquor and as a hideout from the law.  You can tour the barn but they don’t take you up the silos.

Inverness Village Hall - formerly Al Capone's hideout

Spent the next day in Chicago.  Visited a couple of usual tourist attractions and a couple of unusual attractions.  Our first port of call was Skydeck which is in the Willis Tower (formerly The Sears Tower and was the tallest building in the world for a number of years). 

Those 4 bumps near the top and in the
small photo - they form The Ledge

Our visit coincided with hundreds of other tourists so long wait times, initially to get up to the 103^rd floor and again to stand on The Ledge (a glass box that pokes out the side of the building).  Well worth the wait.  The view straight down is amazing.  Overhead a couple of young guys watching traffic on a huge interchange – “The least they could do is have a huge crash while we’re watching”.  

Our turn on The Ledge (and we all looked down)

The images of the people
"spitting" change every
5 minutes or so

After lunch we wandered the streets and found ourselves in Millennium Park where they have both the Crown Fountain and Cloud Gate aka The Bean among other artistic works.  Loved the effect at the fountain where it looks like people are spitting water over the crowds playing in the water.  The Bean is just surreal.  Looks like a big stainless steel coffee bean until you walk under it.  Interesting effect. 

Got to enjoy this with hundred of other tourists

Under the bean

Tribune Building

We also walked down to the Tribune Building.  The architecture on the building itself was a delight after seeing a lot of glass and steel rectangles but what we came to see was small masonry items from famous

Front Entrance

buildings around the globe concreted around 3 sides of the building e.g. Colosseum, Westminster Abbey, Edinburgh Castle, Notre Dame and Sydney Opera House to name a few. 

A little piece of Sydney in Chicago

This was followed up by a stop where it all begins (and ends) … Route 66 that is.  While we aren’t following the length of the mother road we’ll be touching on it at each state it passes through, even the dozen or so miles it goes through Kansas.

Start of many a road trip

One final stop was at the Money Museum.  We arrived there just before closing but the lovely people at security let us go in for the last 15 minutes of the day.  We were there to check out the cube of 1 million 1 dollar bills

Jean & Wally with $1 million in ones

and also found 1 million dollars in twenties

Sue with $1 million in twenties

and 1 million dollars in hundreds. 

Sue with $1 million in hundreds

As tempted as we were to grab the briefcase of hundreds and run, I don’t think we would have got very far.  Plus the security guys here have guns.  So we went to the pub instead.  That actually turned out to be an excellent way to pass rush hour.  Our one beer turned into dinner so by the time we hit the road out of Chicago, traffic was at a bearable level.

This is how we dealt with rush hour traffic in Chicago