<– Day 31 – Tues. May 29th: Nous aurons toujours Paris | Day 33 – Thursday May 31st: Getting Our Kicks on Route 66 –>

Jim’s showing Ann the finer points of using the emboidering functions on this sewing machine we bought from him. He’s renaissance man of many talents!

Day 32: On Wednesday, we drove from Paris, Illinois, to Ellisville, Missouri.

We pulled out of the Ogle’s lovely Country Bed and Breakfast by following some picturesque back roads. This one was particularly pretty.

Our first stop of the day was the little town of Casey. To get there, we traveled down I-70. Normally, we’d have likely bypassed a town like Casey unless it offered something unusual. The residents of Casey understood this, so in December of 2011, to help draw in some traffic, the world’s largest Wind Chimes were installed near the town’s center.

As word about the chimes leaked, travelers began venturing off I-70 to investigate them. Realizing the potential of having big things, more items began to appear in Casey. According to one woman I met, the influx of visitors ramped up quickly, bringing in unexpected cash and visibility.

Now, the town has multiple “largest” items, along with some other goofy items. Participating businesses offer a checklist for visitors so they can be sure not to miss them. The town’s website touts its “Big Things in a Small Town“.

Signs direct visitors:

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<– Day 30 – Monday May 28th: Grilling in the Rain | Day 32 – Wednesday May 30th: Little Town, Big Ideas –>

David, Russ and Ann in front of Russ’ “Alaska Or Rust Shrine”. Russ lives in Paris, Illinois. The Post title is a French translation of the famous line from Casablanca, “We’ll always have Paris.”

Day 31: On Tuesday we drove from Charleston, West Virginia, to Paris Illinois.

On Tuesday May 29th, we drove from Charleston, West Virginia, to Paris Illinois.

On Tuesday, we started from Charleston early, as we had a long drive to Paris. Our first stop of the day was Huntington, West Virginia, for gas. It turns out the city is considered by some to be an epicenter for opioid addiction. We saw this firsthand.

In Huntington, we randomly chose a Speedy Mini-Mart just off the freeway. As I gassed up the jeep, Ann went inside for a bathroom break. Of the 10 people I saw either milling about outside at the edge of the station’s property or having parked and walked inside, 6 looked addicted to something (funky skin color, haunting eyes … something wasn’t right). Inside the Mini-Mart, The conversation between a customer and the cashier included the difficulties of coming down too fast. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

A couple hours later, we headed into the heart of Louisville from the east, then turned north to cross the river into Indiana. This sent our nav system into a panic, partly because, according to our nav, we were not longer on a bridge. Instead, we were driving on the river itself. The nav system restarted navigation several times trying to make sense of the situation. It took a couple miles before everything righted itself.

Sometime later, while still heading north, we spotted a sign for Goat Milk Stuff. The billboards looked intriguing enough to learn more, so we took a short detour.

There are two buildings, one for goat-based health and beauty products, and the other for goat-milk related products and sweets.

The place wasn’t packed with foods, but what was there tasted good. As goat cheese goes, it wasn’t very “goaty”. Instead, the cheese was smooth and tasty. The store offered free samples. We left with garlic goat cheese.

Bob Christy, this is for Mindy, for you 

With our goat needs satisfied, we left for Paris Machine, a business started in 1944 by Russ Lawton’s grandfather. Russ, along with Cowboy, accompanied us on the trip to Alaska last year with Charlene, the yellow Jeepster.

To make sure Ann and I didn’t miss his shop, Russ put out a couple beacons near the entrance.

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<– Day 29 – Sun. May 27th: The Exley House Curse | Day 31 – Tuesday May 29th: Nous aurons toujours Paris –>

Me, my cousin, and Ann.

Day 30: Monday we drove from Chester, Virginia, to Charleston, West Virginia.

On Monday May 28th we drove from Chester, Virginia, to Christiansburg, VA, then on to Charleston, West Virginia.

We said good by to my cousin today, but not until we’d done a few more chores around the house. We didn’t finish everything, so I guess we’ll just have to return soon!?!

About the time we were going to leave, the heavens opened, unleashing a torrent of rain upon our heads. Using umbrellas and a shuttle system, we managed to keep most of the stuff dry. I’m not sure how I ended up carrying the one small bag, while she had my backpack and my guitar, but she’s Army tough. So, you need not worry!

All packed, we began our drive toward Christiansburg, where we planned to meet with Chris. After our onboard Navigation failed us, Chris rescued us via the phone … side note: It’s a mystery to me how driverless cars will ever be expected to successfully navigate our world 100% of the time. I can’t tell you the number of times Ann and I have had multiple nav systems going, yet still managed to navigate places incorrectly because of GPS/Road/Nav flaws.

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