{"id":395,"date":"2012-08-18T13:35:27","date_gmt":"2012-08-18T20:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calirose.com\/blog\/?p=395"},"modified":"2012-08-18T13:35:27","modified_gmt":"2012-08-18T20:35:27","slug":"an-extra-day-of-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/an-extra-day-of-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"An Extra Day of Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part 8 of 11 in the series, \u201cMarvelous Midwest,<\/span><\/a>\u201d about discovering my extended family in Indiana and \u201cukeing\u201d it up in Missouri.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We turn west onto a blue highway toward New Haven. \u00a0That\u2019s not Connecticut. \u00a0It\u2019s Missouri. \u00a0I didn\u2019t know this \u201cShow Me\u201d state has a wine country. \u00a0But it does and here we are. \u00a0The corn crop is a lost cause. \u00a0The soybeans are hanging on for dear life. \u00a0Lord knows where the grapes are but the landscape is beautiful. \u00a0Soft rolling hills and lots of trees.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We arrive a day early and the ukulele-powers-that-be comp us a room in the local bed and breakfast\u2014the beautifully renovated, redecorated and very old\u00a0Central Hotel.<\/a><\/p>\n

We are warmly welcomed by the proprietor, Steve, a happily retired school teacher and active sculptor, who escorts us up the grand staircase to our equally grand room with an unusually long hallway that leads to the bathroom. I remember this clearly because I am standing in that very hallway, gazing out the window at a Norman Rockwell scene below when the building begins to shudder. \u201cDid you feel\u00a0that<\/em>???\u201d I yell to Craig, who has already flopped across the king-size bed. \u201cFeel what?\u201d He mutters.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>This is a typical conversation back home. I seem to have a built-in Richter scale and can feel even the puniest earthquakes. My husband shakes his head and questions the air pressure in mine\u2026 But the next day I show him the\u00a0earthquake<\/em>\u00a0article in the Los Angeles Times. \u201cSee. See that?\u201d \u00a0So Craig ain\u2019t buying it–that the old hotel is trembling–and frankly I\u2019m wondering what is going on too. Then it happens again. And again.<\/p>\n

Sixty-eight times every day. That\u2019s when a train goes by. Apparently we are steps from the main tracks that connect east and west and all points in between. Obviously the double-pane windows block \u201cthe choo choo\u201d but not the \u201ccha cha cha.\u201d Once the mystery is solved, all this rattling morphs into something positively medicinal. I sleep so well that night that they just about have to drag me from the place\u2026<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Steve and his wife Kathy. The lovely proprietors of The Central Hotel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But we have a delicious breakfast first. \u00a0Somehow word gets out that I\u2019m on a gluten-free diet. \u00a0Steve drives ten miles down the road to the health food store to pick up gluten-free bagels just for me. \u00a0Now that is Midwest hospitality. \u00a0I am speechless. \u00a0For a few seconds, anyway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Jerry and Janelle of The Boat Paddle Ukulele Company.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the day we meet the sponsors of The Mighty Mo Ukulele Festival. In person. Janelle and Jerry Hoffmann of The Boat Paddle Ukulele Company<\/a>. Jerry designs and builds unique and coveted ukuleles in his workshop which is located in this quaint little town.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t look like anyone is inside as we pull up in front. I scamper to the door and knock a few times. Look through the big glass windows. \u201cHello. Hello ukulele person. Are you in there?\u201d Nothing. Then I try the doorknob and it opens. I saunter in and say it again, \u201cHello. Anyone home?\u201d It smells so good in here. Fresh cut wood with a splash of lacquer fumes. Maybe I\u2019m getting a little whoo-whoo<\/em> on the aroma because I start hearing funny beep-beep sounds. Then they get faster and louder until my ears are ready to fall off. That\u2019s when it dawns on me I\u2019ve set off the burglar alarm.<\/p>\n

I make like Roadrunner and get the hell out of there, racing for the car and grabbing my cell phone to call Jerry. All at the same time! Just then we see the police car.<\/p>\n

I suppose it helps that Craig and I don\u2019t fit the profile of Bonnie and Clyde, making a hit on a ukulele store on a blazing hot afternoon. The cop-guy smiles and waves us off just as I connect with Jerry who walks me through the \u201cgo-back-into-the-store-and-turn-off-the-ringy-thing\u201d instructions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
My New Haven Dream Kitchen…where someone else does the cooking.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally it\u2019s Friday. The first day of the ukulele festival. I get to keep the bag of bagels and my hearing is almost back to normal. It’s all good.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is part 8 of 11 in the series, \u201cMarvelous Midwest,\u201d about discovering my extended family in Indiana and \u201cukeing\u201d it up in Missouri.\u00a0 We turn west onto a blue highway toward New Haven. \u00a0That\u2019s not Connecticut. \u00a0It\u2019s Missouri. \u00a0I didn\u2019t know this \u201cShow Me\u201d state has a wine country. \u00a0But it does and here we are. \u00a0The corn crop is a lost cause. \u00a0The soybeans are hanging on for dear life. \u00a0Lord knows where the grapes are but … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,37],"tags":[43,44,45,46,41],"class_list":["post-395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogentry","category-midwest","tag-bed-and-breakfast","tag-central-hotel","tag-gluten-free","tag-new-haven-mo","tag-ukulele"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2,"label":"blog entry"},{"value":37,"label":"midwest"}],"post_tag":[{"value":43,"label":"bed and breakfast"},{"value":44,"label":"Central Hotel"},{"value":45,"label":"gluten-free"},{"value":46,"label":"New Haven MO"},{"value":41,"label":"ukulele"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Cali Rose","author_link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/author\/crbauthor\/"},"comment_info":2,"category_info":[{"term_id":2,"name":"blog entry","slug":"blogentry","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":138,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":138,"category_description":"","cat_name":"blog entry","category_nicename":"blogentry","category_parent":0},{"term_id":37,"name":"midwest","slug":"midwest","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":37,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":11,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":37,"category_count":11,"category_description":"","cat_name":"midwest","category_nicename":"midwest","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":43,"name":"bed and breakfast","slug":"bed-and-breakfast","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":43,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":44,"name":"Central Hotel","slug":"central-hotel","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":44,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":45,"name":"gluten-free","slug":"gluten-free","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":45,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":46,"name":"New Haven MO","slug":"new-haven-mo","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":46,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":41,"name":"ukulele","slug":"ukulele","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":41,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":15,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}