Soil and Water Feb 3 & 4, 1997
Pittsfield and Virginia
Thought… what would be a perfect topic for the middle of an Illinois winter? So far: new car battery, stuck in my own driveway, pipes burst and went without a toilet for six days. That’s a long time. I was born in Perry and now live in A’ville so running water is still a luxury. Yesterday… school… furnace, heat.. came home.
My topic this evening How to get out of Illinois
3 Inspirations… Dr. Charles Frank Then… one little girl… Susan… 7 kids, preacher, detassled, walked beans.
- Mom said: Do it. And, like everything else she’s ever told me, I did it. Began taking students and adults around the world in 1979 …
Robert Benchley: IN AMERICA THERE ARE TWO CLASSES OF TRAVEL: FIRST CLASS AND WITH CHILDREN.
Benchley never traveled with my kids. Many Cass Co. travelers.
Paul Fussell: ANYONE TELLING ABOUT HIS TRAVELS MUST BE A LIAR..FOR IF A TRAVELER DOESN’T FILL HIS NARRATIVE WITH THE SPIRIT AND TECHNIQUES OF FICTION, NO ONE WILL WANT TO HEAR IT. No fiction tonight. See through fresh eyes.... Went to London alone.......... nice, but…..
Mark Twain: I HAVE FOUND THAT THERE AIN’T NO SURER WAY TO FIND OUT WHETHER YOU LIKE PEOPLE OR HATE THEM THAN TO TRAVEL WITH THEM. ---Beardstown Ladies...King’s Cross...Sydney Australia Every tour guide comments: favorite tourists: American. especially from rural areas. Worst: Japanese, Second Worst: German. ---Unfortunately, the only truly unpleasant people I’ve found in Europe are other Americans… ---California group. Lost passport:Paris. 10 francs in 10 minutes. Found.
---MUST BE SENSITIVE TO PARENTS....Tahiti, Jeremy, Paul Gogan Maroa.. (I don’t tell these stories until the group returns)
John Stenbeck: A JOURNEY IS LIKE MARRIAGE. THE CERTAIN WAY TO BE WRONG IS TO THINK YOU CONTROL IT. ---Beth K & Eric M...Bullfight (article in Journal Courier…J’ville’s first female firefighter) ---Air Italia cockpit window… country kids…
Noel Coward opinion on air travel: “HOW WAS YOUR FLIGHT?” WELL, AERONAUTICALLY IT WAS A GREAT SUCCESS. SOCIALLY, IT LEFT QUITE A BIT TO BE DESIRED. --Lady in front of smoking section. I wasn’t smoking.. too close. Went into spasms … boy… lighter flicked… sprayed me….
…Continental airlines… Cleveland …. taxi driver… … last winter: Boston… American, United, TWA… St. Louis
---Worst airline ever: Aeroflat..Aro-flop. They advertise it as having the most takeoffs and landings of any airline in the world. …...landed three times each time. Even the flight attendants won’t fly… overheads.. Russians: drunk. A pile of sandwiches in the front seat. Circle low. Best security system in the world. Airport: here, hold this. Moscow… greyest city I’ve ever seen. Except subways. (Lenin) Train to Leningrad… must stay awake.
CUSTOMS: ..Unisex Toilets...concentration ..French Bidet...Rick: Sock washer...wet pant legs ..Spain, communal shower rooms: Jodi and Susan...bathtubs. ..Greatest shock: “What time would you like your girls knocked up?”
FOOD: Getting kids to eat.. tough. One lady: brings enough Diet Pepsi for entire trip. Best food: France. Even a hamburger has class. Must order in French. Me: fries: 8 orders of Chicken McNuggets. French have a bad reputation for being impolite. They deserve it. Ketchup. For What? Meat. No! (Pepsi.. brush teeth… rabies) Russian Food: tongue, head cheese, awful beer, dirty bottles, soup with fish head floating in it. BUTcaviar with breakfast. Scotland: Haggis. Bashed Neeps…. turnips that had been murdered then mauled.
TRULY UNFORGETABLE MOMENTS: ..Ladies in rags waiting for hours to take communion in Soviet Union. ...Seeing St. Basil’s cathedral in Red Square for the first time. Czar, architect, eyes. ...Highest point in Kremlin: A cross. --Sadness in the eyes the of Soviet people. Long lines, hurrying down streets for rumors of goods for sale, restaurant: getting up for us to sit. Stores and hotels that only we could enter.
..Ireland...Preacher Frank from West Virginia clearing out a bar for church ..Assisi...one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen…. Sinclair Lewis: HE WHO HAS SEEN ONE CATHEDRAL TEN TIMES HAS SEEN SOMETHING; HE WAS HAS SEEN TEN CATHEDRALS ONCE HAS SEEN BUT LITTLE; AND HE WAS HAS SPENT HALF AN HOUR IN EACH OF A HUNDRED CATHEDRALS HAS SEEN NOTHING AT ALL. Two olive-skinned ladies on tour
--The Alps.....Thomas Gray in 1739 on viewing the Alps: THERE ARE CERTAIN SCENES THAT WOULD AWE AN ATHEIST INTO BELIEF, WITHOUT THE HELP OF ANY OTHER ARGUMENT. --Craig, Lucerne, Richard, communion ---Richard: Les Miz, Miss Saigon, English Music Hall (Me: writing V’Ville show) (2 girls on the way out) ---Tour guide: Champaign Dave. asked for a male after Eva’s legs… hose, roadmap of southern Missouri.. completely lost the country of Austria. Ken Rhoads… passport.. “Give me every pack of cigs and pair of panty hose you have.” Champaign Dave...getting out of Soviet Union.---
....FINALLY: The story I never tell if any future travelers in the audience. Part of it was printed in USA TODAY last year..Paris-Madrid train.
John Steinbeck: WHEN I WAS VERY YOUNG AND THE URGE TO BE SOMEPLACE WAS ON ME, I WAS ASSURED BY MATURE PEOPLE THAT MAUTRITY WOULD CURE THIS ITCH. WHEN YEARS DESCRIBED ME AS MATURE, THE REMEDY PRESCRIBED WAS MIDDLE AGE. IN MIDDLE AGE I WAS ASSURED THAT GREATER AGE WOULD CALM MY FEVER AND NOW THAT I AM FIFTY-EIGHT PERHAPS SENILITY WILL DO THE JOB. NOTHING HAS WORKED...IN OTHER WORDS, I DONT IMPROVE, IN FURTHER WORDS, ONCE A BUM ALWAYS A BUM. I FEAR THE DISEASE IS INCURABLE.
Tonight… snow forecast again…. Alaska!
Russian trip
scarey airport...man ahead of me put ring under his watch rows and rows of gray buildings...12 miles of them Intourist
Complete freedom to go where we wanted, but followed, even in back of bus
3 churches inside the Kremlin... a cross is the highest point Long lines.. hurrying down street when something came up for sale. Cash: Paristroyka.. dollars for certain stores met with students: Do you trust Bush? Job sharing.. afraid of Paristroyka.. full employment Glasknos.. speakers on streets.. our guide couldn’t believe it. grayness until rain then colorful umbrellas came out
Trip out into the country: monastary.. Gadansk guide wouldn’t comment enroute Black marketers everywhere... made it hard to even walk down the street The Heritage... awesome... inlaid tiles
Leningrad, Stalingrad, St. Petersburg Beautiful by contrast...made for people by people Moscow: made for men by government
Hotel: 2,000 rooms. no Russians allowed. Ladies in hallway safe everywhere at all hours.. Sun didn’t go down until midnight
Leningrad circus.