So after a 600 mile, ten hour day, we have arrived back at the
digs completing this year’s ten day “Midwest Circle Tour”, a journey of about
2800 miles. And somewhat reflective of George Ade's comment who allowed as how “The time to enjoy a European trip is about
three weeks after unpacking”, we do find that memories pop up and you
realize what a good time you had despite the daily rigors of the road and so on.. Our trip was sort of divided into three
phases, Cape Girardeau (FOJTY); Saint Louis (FOJTE); and La Crosse (MFOS). Each
place has its own attraction, and still not sure we’ll do a three part recap,
but we’ll at least start in Cape.
Cape Girardeau is an old river town on the Mississippi and
now is home to Southeast Missouri State University (affectionately known as
SEMO). Both FOJTY and his wife graduated
from there in Criminal Justice and Nursing (apologies if this isn’t the exactly
correct term) and have bought a house for themselves and our granddogs Stanley
and his older brother Jeter. I think you
met Stanly already.
Anyway, on our first night there, FOJTY grilled steaks for
us on his Big Green Egg. As an aside he
has become a pretty respectable cook, specializing in BBQ of all sorts. Recently he has become interested in baking
(why, I can’t tell you) and makes breads and pies and such. Was a very nice dinner accompanied by a
bottle of imported (all the way from Maryland) Barbera from Slack Winery. The Big Green Egg is a fascinating cooking
device, full of vents, little doors, and things to regulate the interior
temperature, much more sophisticated than my common Weber. FOJTY swears by it however.
Anyway, it is always enjoyable to visit them, not only for
the family aspects, but Cape and the surrounding area is very rural (remember
the confederate flag?) full of farms and rolling hills. On Saturday we visited..
Which has become very popular with their community due in
part to the efforts of Ross Peterson, here shown in the stall of his Laughing Stalk Farmstead.
Besides the opportunity to buy locally grown products it is
also the place to be on a Saturday morning, both for the people
And of course many bring their dogs, so Stanley got to meet some of the local
residents
And then there’s the food.
I never cease to be amazed at how beautiful the fresh produce can be. Mom nature does a good job – just a sampling
of her palette (for our palate)
And speaking of food, there is one regular vendor that is immensely
popular
A Mennonite couple appear with their trailer every week and
sells one of America’s favorite foods:
You might notice besides the donuts there is goat
cheese! What a pairing. FOJTY says they are the best donuts he’s ever
had. And I need not remind you that (it
is popularly believed) a police officer should be a connoisseur of that
particular delicacy. So, while he was off with Stanley talking to friends I
decided to treat everybody to some and unwittingly ordered a half dozen (seems
reasonable for four people). Well take a
look over the shoulder of the cook and you can see the size of them (unnoticed when
I was ordering).
They are about seven inches in diameter, and probably
contain about one hundred and fifty percent of your daily recommended amount of
sugar. But, boy are they good. It was really a treat to see the local
community support the farms of the area, and everybody was so friendly. Small communities do have their benefits. By the way, we got some of the smoked cheese and it was very good. Still is..
That afternoon we had to go “up the road” to the next
stop, St. Louis, FOJTE, and the benefits of the “big city”. Well, at least the “Biggest Little City in
the Midwest”. And while Stanley was sad
to see his new grandparents go, I don’t think it lasted long, as with our
vacating the guest bathroom he was able to finally return to his favorite resting
spot on the cool tile....
So off we went, and since we had a dinner engagement (which
turned out to be a doozy) we left the proper garb on top of the valises so we could be
DFD
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