POTR #85 SLOT ROADS

It has been almost two years since I have written a PEACE ON THE ROAD. That seems like a long time to do without any adventure interesting enough to write about. We have been busy doing things in the resort where we winter and last year summered. Somehow I did not feel that I wanted to fill several pages with, “I went to get my radiation treatment today and will do the same thing tomorrow.” However that is the reason that we spent last summer in Texas. I spent time every day for four months getting radiation treatment or waiting for something else to happen. All the results since last December indicate that I am now cancer free.

There was a fellow in the park that recently went on a trip pulling a trailer with a car loaded on it. He went a thousand miles to his destination and a thousand miles back to Bentsen Grove. He drove a bit longer than I am willing to drive each day. He did the whole trip in two days. In coming the two thousand miles from Bentsen Grove to Rochester it took us about seven days. I retired several years ago and did not plan on driving the long distances in a single day that I did once. So far I have lived that plan just the way I should. This trip we made the decision to travel in our Jeep instead of driving the motorhome. There were several reason for making that decision. For the first time in twelve years we are not traveling WITH our home. So far there have been no significant problems. But of course there have been several things that I did not expect. For one I planned to bring a specific item with me when I came ever since last February instead of shipping it. Guess what! The item is still safely stored in a cabinet in the motorhome. Looks like I will be shipping it as soon as I get home! We need to send a letter today. Do we have an envelope or a stamp? NO! They are back in Texas. So go to the office of the motel, beg an envelope, go to the Post Office and buy one stamp. Not too convenient but not so bad that we can't manage. It simply is that I did not think of that.

I have heard many people claim that they hate driving through states like Kansas, Iowa, or Nebraska because there is nothing to see. I understand that they do not enjoy seeing fields growing crops. Some had said something similar to areas of Texas and Arizona because they did not like a vista of mesquite trees or saguaro. Personally I enjoy seeing any of these sights. In the miles that we drove coming up here I have made a new (to me at least) observation of the roads. Most of the roads were bordered just beyond the barrow pit with a nearly solid wall of trees. Many miles of the Interstate roads were bordered by trees on each side of each direction of travel with the only openings being the emergency crossovers, the entrance/exit of other roads and the view of buildings through the towns. Of course there were many miles of roads also where there were no trees between the lanes. Every once in awhile there was a thin spot where the fields of some farmer could be seen. There was various types of trees making up the walls the roads go through. We started out with a lot of mesquite trees, which transitioned to evergreen trees or deciduous trees or a combination of the two. It was nice to occasionally see a Magnolia tree in bloom. Most of the way we simply drove through a slot road. I guess the builders of the highway laid out the path in the most logical route which was right through the heavy growth of trees. There were times that I felt it would have been appropriate to have a pin hanging down from the Jeep into a groove in the highway and I could quit steering.

Across the USA there are many places that for some odd reason have become known around the world. One of those places is in Memphis, Tennessee. Back in 1925 the current Peabody Hotel was built in downtown Memphis. The centerpiece of the lobby was a fountain carved from a single piece of black Italian travertine marble. It obviously was a attraction to numerous pranksters who made it the home of turtles, alligators and other aquatic fauna. In the 1930's Frank Schutt, General Manager of The Peabody, and a friend Chip Barwick, returned from an unsuccessful weekend hunting trip in Arkansas. The men had a little too much Tennessee sippin' whiskey, Jack Daniel's, and thought it would be funny to place some of their live duck decoys (it was legal then for hunters to use live decoys) in the beautiful Peabody fountain. Three small English call ducks were selected as "guinea pigs," and the reaction was nothing short of enthusiastic. When they got up in the morning they expected to hear stories of the bellhops chasing ducks all around the lobby. Instead the ducks had spent the night quietly swimming in the water. When Frank Schutt sobered up a bit later he said that he would never do anything like that again. However the hotel guests were so impressed with the show that requests were made to continue doing it. Thus began a Peabody tradition which was to become internationally famous.

In 1940, Bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, offered to help with delivering the ducks to the fountain each day and taught them the now-famous Peabody Duck March. Mr. Pembroke became the Peabody Duckmaster, serving in that capacity for 50 years until his retirement in 1991. Nearly 90 years after the inaugural march, the ducks still do their march to the lobby fountain at 11 am. and 5 pm. each day. They live in a $200,000 Royal Duck Plaza of marble and glass on the top of the hotel. They march across the roof, ride the elevator down to the lobby, then march across a red carpet and jump into the fountain. They stay there until the afternoon when they reverse the show. It is claimed that there are five mallard ducks, four hens and one drake with a green head. When we saw the march there was no drake in the group. The ducks march every day for about three months and then are retired back to the farm where they were born to live out their normal lives. There is a French restaurant in the Peabody that is believed to be the only French restaurant in the world that does not have duck on its menu. Duck was removed from the menu in 1981.

THREE OF THE MALLARD HENS IN THE PEABODY FOUNTAIN

In our travels one of the things that we always want to visit is the lighthouses. Some that we have visited have been very tall and to climb to the top has been difficult, especially as we have gotten older. Some of the smaller ones are so short that they barely have a staircase to the top. The one here in Rochester is one of those being only forty feet high. While it is small it is also very picturesque. Whenever we have the opportunity we enjoy a short visit. I often think about a lighthouse being associated with the ocean. This lighthouse is not on the ocean, but rather it guides to a river that feeds into one of the Great Lakes. Till it was built guidance was based on a lantern in a hotel window and another that hung in a tree which was known at The Tree Light. The light house was constructed in 1822 at a cost of $3,300 and included the keepers resident and a well. It is interesting to note that there were two phases of recent renovations. Phase 1 cost $189,000. I would guess that Phase 2 pushed the cost over a quarter million dollars. The Fresnel lens of the lighthouse has been changed out or replaced by various lens over its history. Currently the lens is a reproduction created by Artworks Florida. They specialize in creating reproduction lenses and making repair parts for lenses which have been damaged over time or vandalism.

THE CHARLOTTE GENNESSEE LIGHTHOUSE IN ROCHESTER

In a few days we will be leaving Rochester and going on to Kansas and Colorado. As we came to here we will not be in a rush and it will take us several days to drive there. No matter where we go there will be things to see and even more places we would like to visit and won't feel that we have time. Either that or we will simply not have the desire to expend the energy.

Till Later This Is Doug Of

PEACE ON THE ROAD