Strange places you have been

[Sylvester]

Where have you been that when there wondered why. I have tortured my children thoroughly by dragging them to:

-Russ

ever read bill brysons book--the lost continent? i think youd like it.

I read it, does that count? Also Walk in the Woods, and The Thunderbolt Kid. Bonus points.

I once participated in a Civil War re-enactment in an RV park in Indiana. Gads you Hoosiers are very, very weird.

[Cindy]

Where have you been that when there wondered why. I have tortured my children thoroughly by dragging them to:

-Russ

ever read bill brysons book--the lost continent? i think youd like it.

I read it, does that count? Also Walk in the Woods, and The Thunderbolt Kid. Bonus points.

I once participated in a Civil War re-enactment in an RV park in Indiana. Gads you Hoosiers are very, very weird.

i dont know the thunderbolt kid. is it also by bryson? i thought i had everything by him. hes one of my favorites.

[Elwood]

a friend of ours in little rock said i had to cross this mississippi in helena, arkansas. ooph, what was once a busy city on the river turned ugly. most of downtown main street had old brick buildings with trees coming up through them. what a spectacle, majorly left behind odd.

That sounds like a place I would like to cross the Mississippi. I would like any other suggestions of unique crossings. As always "skin daddio" I appreciate your artistic view. Barb

[skin daddio]

a friend of ours in little rock said i had to cross this mississippi in helena, arkansas. ooph, what was once a busy city on the river turned ugly. most of downtown main street had old brick buildings with trees coming up through them. what a spectacle, majorly left behind odd.

That sounds like a place I would like to cross the Mississippi. I would like any other suggestions of unique crossings. As always "skin daddio" I appreciate your artistic view. Barb

i'm trying to think of all the places i've crossed the big river and i say that helena is the funkiest. the other side gives you highway 61 just north of clarksdale [john lee hooker among others..] you mean crossing suggestions on the mississippi, or in general like the crossing from aberdeen to shetland?

[Sylvester]

i dont know the thunderbolt kid. is it also by bryson? i thought i had everything by him. hes one of my favorites.

It was published in 2006, the full title is "The life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid". Great book, I am still going thru A Short History of Nearly Everything. Also a must.

[RSorak 71Westy]

Helena has a great Blues fest every October, I've been going for the past 10 yrs.....It's not as run down as this post says, yes there are abandoned building downtown but it's not the majority of them or anything close.....

[skin daddio]

Helena has a great Blues fest every October, I've been going for the past 10 yrs.....It's not as run down as this post says, yes there are abandoned building downtown but it's not the majority of them or anything close.....

its not that they were all abandoned, but that there were pretty good sized trees growing through the fallen roofs of quite a few places in the business district.

from http://www.icdc.com/~neubauer/arkansas.htm
Quote:

Then I went into the town of Helena. It was obviously a depressed area, with many dilapidated houses and buildings. I found the town's main street and parked next to Oliver's restaurant. It seemed like the only business open, other than a nearby liquor store.

I left the levee trail and walked into town, where I strolled down the deserted main street. Almost every storefront was empty and long abandoned. A liquor store and a hair salon were both doing good business, and I saw an antiques shop and Fonzies blues club, but that was about it for businesses. Four blocks of empty buildings, the lined parking spaces in front of them all free.


it was too awkweird to get out of my bus and take photos while others sat and drank from a paper bag in that scene.

[RSorak 71Westy]

I repeat I've been there every year for the last 10 in person for at least 3 days and it's not as bad as this states.....The quote from the other web page is describing a small southern town at about 6 pm in the evening, this is normal for it to be deserted, every one is HOME, fixin dinner......Yes Helena is a very poor area.....Do I need to dig out some of my own pictures of Helena/!!!!

[hambone]

Wisconsin Dells...they took a beatiful natual place of sandstone bluffs and forests and turned it into a blaring plastic tourist abomination. It goes on and on and on...

[Cindy]

i dont know the thunderbolt kid. is it also by bryson? i thought i had everything by him. hes one of my favorites.

It was published in 2006, the full title is "The life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid". Great book, I am still going thru A Short History of Nearly Everything. Also a must.

read a short history a few summers ago. took me a while, but worth it. ill check for the other. i was asking the book store every few months at one point for new ones by bryson, but then i just gave up. thanks for mentioning it.

[RussellK]

Sadly I missed the Asphalt Museum the first time I traveled through Kansas. I spent the next 2 weeks thinking about what I must have missed and promising myself not to be in such a hurry all the time. The next time I went through Kansas I looked forward to a side trip to the Asphalt Museum but the sign was gone. The Asphalt Museum was no more. But there is a barbed wire museum in Kansas. Can you imagine? If any of you have been please share your experience.