Woke in the comfort of a regular bed…not a mattress on top of a board that felt good at first but ultimately made my shoulder and hip ache. The convenience of the cabin in OKC was appreciated but it took a hot shower to soothe my aching muscles. Not so this morning…muscles were refreshed and joints were only slightly achy. Easily remedied by a walk around the room.
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We’ve chosen a route home that will take us through the Upper Peninsula. We want to see the U.P. grandkids and great granddaughter Mavis….so reaching Ironwood, MI, sometime tomorrow (Sunday) is our first goal…second goal would be arriving in Charlevoix sometime on Monday or Tuesday. 😊 On the road today by 9:30 a.m., aiming for Ironwood. We have a little more than 600 miles to go…all the KOAs in upper Minnesota aren’t open yet, so it’ll be a hotel night again. We can go until we get tired and then start looking for a room. Or maybe go all the way to Ironwood…just depends on how the ride goes.
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Shortly after leaving Cameron, MO, we crossed the Grand River, which made Kim wonder how many rivers were named Grand River. It only took a quick search on the phone to come up with this: Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota all have a Grand River. Louisiana has a Lower Grand River and prior to 1920, the river we now call the Colorado River was called, within the states of Colorado and Utah, the Grand River. Only after it exited the Grand Canyon and met with the Green River in Arizona, was it known as the Colorado River. In 1920 the Colorado Legislature renamed its portion of the Grand River to the Colorado River, which made for some confusion. It was the Colorado River in Colorado, then it was the Grand River through Utah into Arizona and became the Colorado again after meeting with the Green River. Not long after, Colorado’s U.S. Representative Edward Taylor petitioned a Congressional committee to rename the entire 1450 mile length to the Colorado River….and in 1921 the name change was made official by the U.S. Congress, despite objections from Utah, Arizona and the Geological Survey. So that's how the Grand River became the Colorado River.
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| Best I could do without getting into trouble. |
So we wanted to make good time today and put some miles behind us but all travel and no breaks makes for a very boring ride. Not a lot going on in the realm of Roadside America when you’re heading up US 35 through southern Iowa. But lo and behold, a roadside sign provided a diversion….the next exit pointed the way to Winterset, IA, the birthplace of John Wayne. Sign said 14 miles but the curves and hills made it seem longer. Anyway, Winterset is the home of ‘the only museum in the world dedicated to John Wayne’. I’m a fan although I’ve only seen a fraction of his movies…and truth be told, I thought his acting was a little wooden when he was younger…his acting got much better as he got older. Despite being a fan and making a 14 mile detour to get to the museum, I had a moment’s pause when I saw the $15 entrance fee but would I regret it if I passed up this opportunity? Afraid so...😕 Paid our money, got our sticker and wandered into the room that contained memorabilia from his life and career. I enjoyed looking around and the only thing that kept me from going through the swinging gates of a display in the corner and standing next to the life size figure of him for a quick picture was Kim saying that he was sure they had video cameras. Dang! So I had to settle for a picture with me in front of the fence that separated wax figure John Wayne from his fans. Not optimal but it kept me out of trouble. I noticed during many of his films that his pants were rolled up and seemed short. The sculpture out front, the figure on display, and some of the outfits from movies had the pants rolled up, too. Always wondered why that was, so I googled it and found that other people have wondered the same thing. I came across a fan site (yes, there are John Wayne fan sites) where people discussed the topic; the consensus seemed to be that that was the way cowboys wore their pants back in the day and it was guessed that he must have liked the look since a lot of his westerns show him wearing his pants rolled up. Also I noticed today that the wax figure and the sculpture out front had on the same belt buckle. Was this a favorite of his? Again, I turned to google and redriverbeltbuckle.com came up first. I have no idea who is responsible for the content of the site but here are excerpts from the article:
In 1948, United Artists released Red River, the story of visionary rancher Tom Dunson (John Wayne) and his creation of a cattle empire from the early days of the settling of the west to later years when his ruthless individualistic values clash with those of his adopted son, played by Montgomery Clift.
In Red River the cattle brand for Wayne’s ranch is a D with two wavy lines representing the banks of the river. Howard Hawks the director of Red River had silver belt buckles with a twisted silver wire rope edge, a D and two wavy lines in solid gold, the words “Red River” in gold wire and various initials and the date 1946 in cut gold made up as gifts for some of the cast and crew. These buckles have been known since as the Red River D belt buckles. John Wayne wore a Red River D belt buckle in a number of his later westerns including Rio Bravo, El Dorado and Rio Lobo, all directed by Howard Hawks. In total Wayne wore a Red River D belt buckle in nine films.
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| Buckle worn in the display |
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| Buckle on the sculpture |
I spoke to David Hawks, son of Howard Hawks, director of Red River, about the history of the buckles. When I asked about the supposed exchange of belt buckles between Howard Hawks and John Wayne, he said that they indeed did exchange buckles as a sign of mutual respect and admiration for each other. So the buckle that Wayne always wore had the initials HWH in the circle in the bottom left corner and Hawks’ buckle had the initials JW on it.
Michael Wayne (John Wayne’s son) told me that Howard Hawks’ and his father exchanged their buckles out of mutual respect and admiration, and also he said his father didn’t like wearing any kind of apparel or accessory with his initials on them.
The sculpture in front of the museum was wearing the belt buckle with HWH….the figure in the display had a buckle with JW. Also, despite having been called ‘Marion Michael’ or ‘Marion Mitchell’
Morrison, it seems John Wayne’s real name was Marion Robert Morrison.
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| Hogback Bridge |
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Then as we were heading down US 80 to reconnect with I-35, I noticed that we were so close to the traffic circle that had a cemetery in the middle of it. Only a couple or so miles off the highway but in the same direction as we were going, so why not? It was just a drive-by photo shoot and Kim proclaimed it to be one of the easiest side tours yet. 😏 It’s the Huston family cemetery and contains 11 graves, some dating back to 1847; and the cemetery, along with a couple of pine trees, completely fills the center of the traffic circle. Apparently there have been rumors of moving the road because people were crashing into the cemetery instead of making the roundabout.
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We found the museum because of a road sign and then discovered the covered bridges as we were driving away from there; after the fact I discovered that they were both on Roadside America. Add the traffic circle and that was three Roadside America detours in one day…I told Kim I wouldn’t look the app again today. However, we did do some quick geocaching when we stopped for lunch at the Boondocks Café near Williams, Iowa. Sometimes you look at an area and think ‘I betcha there’s a geocache somewhere nearby’…this was that kind of area. So I opened the handy dandy app and Bonus! There were two! Scouted those out and then it was on the road again. I realized I had to quit playing or we’d never make it to our destination. Relieving boredom is one thing…being ridiculous about it is another.
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Only have about 100 miles until Ironwood, MI,…about 8:30 we got off the road and into a hotel in Spooner, WI.
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