Day 06
Tuesday
17 August 99
Ames, Iowa - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

We have driven from Ames to my mother's hometown, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.   Granted, she left at 17 and supressed whatever memories of it she had, so she is almost as much a stranger here as I am.   We are planning on calling my grandfather this evening and getting old addresses of my mother's childhood residences so that she can show me around.   We will also be visiting my grandmother's grave, which probably hasn't had any visitors in decades.   My mom said she once went looking for it, and was unable to find it; she said if the same thing happened for us, we would find some neglected looking grave and leave flowers on it.   I am sure that we will be able to find Grandma Ruth's final resting place, but I though my mother's suggestion was so beautiful.

I insisted that we take a picture when we stopped so that my mom could get a chocolate malt at the DQ.   She insisted that it be of me, so here I am looking way too smiley about dairy:

We had stuck to the interstate until now, but rather than going back down through Des Moines to get to Wisconsin, I suggested we take the 30 to the 151 and see what the smaller roads had to offer.   As a result, we stopped at all sorts of quirky antique stores along our drive.   We really enjoyed the Iowa view of small town America.

This store was in someone's garage, and it contained only a few things.   The woman running it told the other lady who was in there shopping while we were that she might have what she was interested in down in the basement.   I asked, "Oh, do you have more downstairs?"   She smiled cryptically and said that she supposed one could say that.   The basement was stuffed to the brim full of thousands of treasures, none of which left with us.   But another stop led my mother to the purchase of some rare Beatles memorabilia.   I liked the seller because he gave me a free Mr. T coloring book, which I wanted for my brother.   He said I could put his picture online:

I was startled by how different the architecture looked once we got to Debuque.   Suddenly there was brick everywhere, as if the city was screaming, "Welcome to the East; goodbye to the West!"

We were starving when we pulled into Milwaukee, so we went for the first place we saw, which advertised authentic Chinese food.   My fortune read:

You will have a pleasant journey to places far away.

The man working as the cashier laughed in shock when I thanked him in Chinese.   I learned that and a few other phrases from my dear friend Steve in Berkeley.

My mom absolutely hated the hotel we stayed at this evening, though she said ironically it had the best water pressure in the shower (are we getting the picture that my mom is big on water pressure?).   It was rather dusty, and the elevator smelled.   No more Excel Inn for us!   Here is the dreary view:

 
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