Maps, Frank Lloyd Wright and Concrete. Wow what a combination for excitement. Had to pick up something at REI and found they had a series of maps that cover numerous national parks. Great topographical maps that show all of the terrain features and hot spots to visit as well as hiking trails and road viewing locations. Just had to get me a few of those.
Then I heard a review of a book on NPR that sounded interesting. I like non-fiction books such as "Cod," "Salt,"and "Oak" so when I heard about "Concrete Planet," I just had to get a copy. Fascinating reading about the history of concrete back to the beginning of civilization. When I got to the 20th Century there was a whole section about the revolutionary work of Frank Lloyd Wright. I was already planning to visit his Fallingwater house in Mill Run, PA but was also almost dreading a 2 night stop planned for the Chicago area. Then I realized that Chicago could also mean Oak Park, Illinois and in both locals are buildings of Wrights that I want to visit. Wright had a home in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago out near O'Hare airport. Wright was a Unitarian as I now am, and was commissioned to design and build what is known as the "Unity Temple" in Oak Park, a Unitarian church. Got me a ticket to see that! Then the Robie House on the U. of Chicago campus is famous as an example of Wrights "Prairie Style" homes. Then I looked with great trepidation for reasonable motel/hotel B&B accommodations and came up with a wicked good sale on Expedia for a Garden Inn near Oak Park. Plucked up that non-refundable hotel for 2 nights and printed up directions to get to the two buildings and I am "in like Flynn."
Unfortunately the last chapter of "Concrete Planet" has a very disturbing long range view of all of the reinforced concrete structures in the USA and the world. They are going to crumble sooner rather than later. Cement production creates the third most co2 emissions in the world and facilities manufactured with reinforced concrete will take far more to fix than the structures originally cost. Just what we need with our trillions of dollars in debt.
A fascinating excerpt from "Concrete Planet" is about Wright and I quote:
"Write also possessed an extraordinarily rare gift: an eidetic imagination, the ability to visualize in his mind a complex three-dimensional object in all its details and then view it correctly from all angles- a remarkable attribute he shared with his near-contemporary, the inventor Nikola Tesla. An incredible but well-authenticated story illustrates this exceptional faculty. One day, when an impatient client had called Wright about a long overdue home design, the architect told him that the plans were ready and that he could come over to look at them. In truth, aside from visualizing the plans in his mind, Wright had yet to do any work on the project. Knowing that it would take his client several hours to reach his office, Wright called in his staff, pulled out three large sheets of drafting paper- one for each story of the large residence - and proceeded to draw the blueprints, explaining to his staff the purpose of each feature as he worked. He drew so fast that his employees had to constantly sharpen pencils as he wore down each to its wooden nub. Wright finished  his design within a couple of hours, a feat that most would have deemed impossible were it not witnessed by a half dozen people. The house was the famous Fallingwater, consistently ranked by many architects as the most beautiful home designed in the twentieth century."And that is the first stop on my trip!
Got my travelers checks and roll of quarters for taking showers. I am starting to decide on what food staples I want to take, spices etc. Looking for things that don't need refrigeration. Cooking and keeping away from fast food will be the challenge of this trip. I am taking my dutch oven and will probably live on "Rice Stuff" which has been banned from the haute cuisine household of my son and daughter-in-law. I consider it a staple of my single diet. Veggies, hamburg and rice with chili powder for seasoning. Make up a batch and it serves many a meal. Freeze up a bunch and I can probably get to at least Iowa on the first batch!
Got the hair cut off to an outrageously short length and now I kinda look like a "cancer patient." but it sure is easy to take care of. (never end a sentence with a preposition, I hate that rule.)
Am excited to start packing up the plastic tubs I will be using for clothing, food supplies and cooking equipment but I really need to wait until mid-March to get that going. Planning on what knitting projects to take. Someone mentioned that Taos is a yarn mecca. Yippee. I knew it was a hotbed of weaving.
All my banking is now on line or EFT.
Progress is moving along and I am getting more excited each day, the more I read about what I am going to see. Can't remember if I mentioned raiding the AAA store and getting all the tour books and maps. I will be be taking file folders all numbered in order of the stops I will be making and filling them with pertinent information-maps, stories, write ups etc for each location. I figure the front seat will handle all of the computer, folders, maps, books: anything to do with the travel aspects of the trip and my attempts to connect to home.