Yesterday was a marathon drive across Colorado and Kansas.

I rendezvoused this afternoon with my dad in the now nearly ghost town of West Mineral, KS. One hundred years ago 15,000 miners and their families lived in this area - including my great grandparents. We tracked down the relevant church records and grave sites, and drove around the now mostly desolate region all afternoon. It was very special to find where my dad's mother was born - especially since I never had a chance to meet her.

West Mineral once had 42 saloons. Now all that is left is a single dinky local's bar. We ventured in, and soon my dad had some old-timers sharing stories and pictures of the glory days when the area was booming. We even saw pictures of the electric street car line that used to stretch all the way up to Pittsburg. Now there are barely even streets left in the town!

The drive across Kansas yesterday was long and uneventful. Kansas sure is BIG! Not nearly as flat as rumored, but the terrain just does not compare with Utah or the Rockies...

But speaking of big - right now we are camped next to "Big Brutus" - the second largest electric shovel IN THE WORLD!

It is also "the biggest attraction in Southeastern Kansas". Not that it has much competition...


The brochure is full of masterful hype:
"BIG BRUTUS put the oooohs and aaahs in the backyard of the Heartlands!!! ... Standing beside it makes one aware of how fragile he or she is."
"For years after Brutus was silenced, it continued to compel people to get closer to this 160 foot giant - to touch it - to climb it."

The coming of strip mining and giant electric shovels during the great depression put the armies of miners tunneling under the region out of work. And though the coal was far from exhausted, stricter environmental standards in the 70's left the high-sulfur Kansas coal unmarketable and shuttered even the strip mines. After eleven years of dominating the plains digging 24/7 - Brutus fell silent in April 1974.

Tomorrow morning we will be taking the guided tour and checking out the museum.

After that, a bit more tracking down ancestors - and then we will be caravanning towards St. Louis. It will be nice to have a break from driving for a while!


I did have a new friend adopt me for a while this evening... This little kitty has me contemplating perhaps taking on a permanent stowaway...

Right now I am headed south towards a Disneyland rendezvous with Lindsay tomorrow.

Presently stopping for lunch at the always amazing Casa de Fruta on the Pacheco Pass between Gilroy and Los Banos.

Casa de Fruta is a surreal fantasy-land always worth stopping for. What started out as a roadside fruit stand nearly 100 years ago on a small two lane highway in the middle of nowhere has grown out of control.

Now the fruit stand is bigger than many grocery stores. Next to the fruit stand is the Casa de Gifts gift-shop (souvenirs of your visit to a fruit stand?). Next to that is the 24hr Casa de Restaurant diner (where I am now). Behind that is the huge Case de Wine store (and they make their own wine too!), and inside that is the Casa de Deli.

Behind that - there is the Casa de Sweets serving ice cream and candy and more. Inside Casa de Sweets you can buy tickets to ride the Casa de Carousel (imported from Italy), or the miniature Casa de Choo-Choo, which circles the property - passing through the playground and the park (Casa de Park?). It also takes you through the buffalo paddock, and past various other animals.

Also present in the Casa de Complex is the Casa de Diesel 24/hr gas station, as well as the Casa de Inn hotel, and of course - the Casa de RV Park and Festival Grounds.

There is also a big giant teepee and a pumpkin patch, of course.

(I didn't look too hard, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a sign calling it Casa de TeePee or Casa de Pumpkin....)

Weird, and wonderful. I imagine the fruit must be pretty good too.

Rating: 4+ stars! (would be five if they had "Casa de WiFi")

I got an email a few days ago from Michael Mace telling me to be sure and check out Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood for the best burgers (and chili) in all of LA. Michael has rarely steered me wrong in all the years that I've known him, and indeed - this recommendation was spot on.

What a great place!

The food was fabulous, the atmosphere is cool and funky, the music playing rocks, and the service was great! And - they even have free WiFi! *grin*

The menu actually comes as a 12 page newspaper with over 1000 items and combinations to choose from, and so much of it looks good I could probably dine here for a month straight. You gotta love a place with items like this on the menu:

"Barney's Champagne Breakfast: A Giant Chili Cheese Dog and a Bottle of Dom Perignon - $175"

and

"Double BBQ, Cheese, Cheddar, Swiss, Bacon, Pickle, Chili, Guacamole, Sour Cream, Egg, Garlic, Gravy, Mushroom, Spinach, Onion, Parmesan, Nut, Sausage, Tomato, Hot Pepper, Veal and Wine Burger - $10,000.60 (please pay in advance)"

Rating: 5 stars!


Good food. Good beer. Good service. Good stuff.

My first night in Rio Vista (May 8th), I decided to go check out the local landmark restaurant and bar: Foster's Bighorn.

Wow - what a BIZARRE place.

Bill Foster was a prohibition-era bootlegger who was fascinated with Africa, and between 1928 and 1953 he went on eight big game safari trips to the "Dark Continent". Bill had a passion for taxidermy - and he brought back an unprecedented collection of trophies that he wanted to share with the public so that they could experience the wonder of Africa.

Bill's collection of pictures and "heads" cover every square inch of this fascinating restaurant, and the staff claims that the collection is second in size only to the Smithsonian. In particular - the mounted full-grown adult elephant head is one of the few in existence in the world. Also exceedingly rare is the giraffe, and the hippopotamus. The Moose over the bar is claimed to be the largest on display in the world.


It i is slightly unnerving to eat dinner with so many eyes peering over your shoulder...



The collection is indeed impressive. And I guess it did serve a purpose in the era before the Discovery Channel and WIld Kingdom.

Rio Vista is a funky out-of-the-way town, and Foster's Bighorn is a must-see if you are a fan of the bizarre attractions that make funky out-of-the-way towns worth visiting. You must at least peek in the door if you are ever passing through. Check it out!

Rating: 4 stars.

I went to see Walk The Line with dawnd last night at the Parkway Theater in Oakland.

The movie, about the life of Johnny Cash, was good - though it often felt forced and formulaic. I guess it is pretty hard to distill a complex life down into two hours of dramatic snapshots. But this particular take on the biopic formula felt particularly unoriginal - I kep thinking that I was rewatching Ray. Roger Ebert nails the formula:

"Walk the Line" follows the story arc of many other musical biopics, maybe because many careers are the same: Hard times, obscurity, success, stardom, too much money, romantic adventures, drugs or booze, and then (if they survive) beating the addiction, finding love and reaching a more lasting stardom. That more or less describes last year's "Ray" but every time we see this story the characters change and so does the music, and that makes it new.

Even the dead brother as inspiration angle seemed the same.

One key difference from Ray is that in Walk The Line Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon did their own singing. And they do an AMAZING job. The plot may be formula, but the acting in this movie is great. Particularly Reese Witherspoon. She completely stole the show as Johnny's love and eventual wife - June Carter. She is amazing - definitely an Oscar-worthy performance.

But even better than the movie - the Parkway Theater blew me away. I've heard about the place for years, but have never been. Now that I have, I am hooked. Movies, pizza, wine, beer, couch seating (real sofas!), and cool funky personality galore. I love how the owners of the theater have a little monthly video update they broadcast before the movie of them cracking bad jokes, talking about new recipes they are serving in the restaurant (eat at your couch seat!), and what upcoming movies and events they are planning. It feels so real - the exact opposite of a generic AMC.

The Parkway is the BEST venue I have ever seen a movie in. I'd be happy to go back with anyone for any reason - just ask and I'm there. $5.00 tickets too - wow!

Rating: 3+ Stars. (Walk The Line)
Rating: 5+ Stars. (The Parkway Theater!)