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Carthage

To take care of dinner, we decided to go into town. City of Carthage was only ten minutes away. We were used to camping and preferred making food for the sake of convenience. However, it didn't seem like a good idea to cook near beautiful buildings in Lowell's Red Oak II. Thankfully, earlier, Lowell mentioned a place to eat in town, so we headed straight to there. When we entered Carthage, the reds from the sunset were gone and the yellows were already diminishing, then soon only the blues remained in the sky. Buildings were mostly low-lying, there seems to be nothing protruding above the horizon line. A straight line was drawn across, then there was a blue sky above and the city below it. This very simple silhouette, or rather the simple straight line, expunged the image right out of my head, the image of a city I had that is all vertical and complex.

"Why? Can't a city be flat and horizontal? Should there be buildings that are taller than two stories? This is Missouri!" The city of Carthage proclaimed.

"Sure, of course, there's nothing wrong with a city that is flat. All the better reason that no one will be falling off any tall buildings to die."

Perhaps because I drove all day in Missouri where there was no hills and mountains, I admitted at once of Carthage's argument. But I was suddenly curious, too.

"Do you even know what mountains are?" I asked.

"What? Mountains? Are you kidding me? Of course, I've heard of them. Haven't seen one, but heard they're pretty tall. Are they taller than the electric poles?" I suspected the answer to be something like this.

Actually, the only things that were standing taller than the horizon were the electric poles and the restaurant signs.

The restaurant we found was a buffet restaurant called Sirloin Stockade. If you ordered a steak, the salad bar was also included. Or one can simply just use the salad bar. Pretty similar to VIPS restaurants that I have been to in Korea. But the price was about one third of what VIPS charged. One sixth, in actuality, since the steaks were twice as big as theirs. It tastes much better, too. You may already know this, but the beef price in Korea is highly inflated. It has a lot to do with the structure of beef distribution. There were so many layers in the system, the end consumers are burdened with all the extra costs. Some says even the president cannot fix the beef distribution problem. Does that mean if the President of Korea can fix the beef problem, there would be nothing he or she cannot fix? If the President can fix beef problem in Korea, that president can achieve the unification of the South and the North probably. In a country with that much economical strength, if an average person was asked what he or she wanted to eat, the answer would be beef. There is a popular comedy skit in Korea and the line always end up as, "if you make a lot of money, you go buy beef and eat it." It is pretty sickening to think that the people are being ripped off by systematic fraud in Korea. It is not just the problem with beef for sure, but now that I'm sitting with a scrumptious piece of beef steak in front me that is also inexpensive, I couldn't help but was reminded of the sad reality of my home country. It certainly is going backward nowadays. After eating a full buffet meal with two steaks, the price we paid was $31.

   Boots Court Motel

Boots Court Motel is a famous Route 66 spot. It happened to be on the way to the restaurant. One cannot miss it while going through Carthage traveling on Route 66. It is a place of history and nostalgia for travelers of Route 66. It first opened in 1939 and still operating. A classic example of Streamline Modern Architecture which is a late type of the Art Deco, with curving forms and long horizontal lines.

'Air-Conditioned', 'Radio in Every Room'. When was the time to brag about such things…? It actually would be right now. To have a radio from many decades ago in every room in the year 2014 is certainly something to brag about. If the trend is over then it's out-dated. But if it's well past time, then it becomes worthwhile again. Such is  life.

I found pictures online and the radios in the rooms looked like these. It's more than what they can brag about. If the furniture and objects in the rooms reminded us a certain time period that had passed, then it was a place of memories and nostalgia. Boots Court was part of that history. After driving several hundred miles, take shower and    pour a glass of beer then listened to Chuck Berry coming out of that old radio, it was a fantastic day. Get Your Ki-cks on the Rou-te sixty si-x.

When we came back to Red Oak II, it was well past 9:30. Even at this late hour, Lowell and Rose had invited us into their house. In Lowell's studio, we got to see Lowell's picture books, paintings in various publications, news articles about Lowell, other numerous paintings, and a glass case filled with the miniature figurines that made Lowell famous worldwide. Lowell's figurines that portray life in Missoura brought him a great success and he toured the world with them. With the money he bought the old houses and store buildings from his old town and moved to Red Oak II. Some of the houses in town are actually owned by other people and families. There were many more exciting plans ahead for this charming town. We talked and shared stories with Lowell and Rose about many different things. The night was getting deep Red Oak II. 

-End of Episode 18.

In the next episode, we enter Lowell's General Store building to stay for the night. At first, Sumi and I thought an antique building from a Western movie, but as the time nears midnight, the General Store turns into the place of the living dead. 

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