This morning, we had every intention of being home by tonight, but Mark had one more bit of fun left in him!
In Anamosa, IAEvel Knievel……and x-rays of some of his many broken bones as a result of his stuntsMark has a small Easy Rider Captain America model at home. He loves this bike!I found a new hero.I could scarcely take my eyes off this photo of Samantha Morgan riding on the Wall of Death, just sitting on the seat with nothing to hold her on!This is a small model of how the Wall of Death works. They ride their motorcycle up the wall using centrifugal force. In the model, the rider has fallen off the bike!There were toy motorcycles with female dolls on them. I wonder who got them for their little girls?Ay…The Fonz! In the upper right photo, you can see a young Sylvester Stalone standing directly left of The Fonz. If you don’t remember who he is, he played a boxer in all the Rocky movies.I thought this was really interesting. In 1919, gas cost $.28 per gallon. In 1933, it cost $.22 per gallon.In 1949, gas was $.25 per gallon. In 1955, it was $.30 per gallon. In 1961, it was still $.30 per gallon. In 1967, it was $.35 per gallon. In 1979, it jumped to $.88 per gallon, although it seems like when I was in high school in the early 70s, during the energy crisis, I remember the first time it hit $1.00. In 1985, gas was $1.40. In 1997, it was $1.45. And in 2009, it was $4.20 per gallon!
The reason I remember gas prices hitting $1.00 in the early 70s is that one of my favorite teachers, our social studies teacher, Betty Golding, had a class discussion about the energy crisis, and the subject of the price of gas came up. One of the boys in my class said that the station he worked at was still charging less than $1.00 for gas, and Mrs. Golding asked him which station he worked at. It was obvious she was thinking of going there the next time she needed to gas up!
I remember that depending on whether the last number on your license plate was odd or even, you could get gas on odd or even-numbered days. People were waiting in lines at the gas stations just to top off their tanks in case they couldn’t get gas the next time. It reminds me of the hoarding we saw recently in stores.
I also remember walking to school in the dark because they went back to Daylight Savings Time. I had a study hall during the first period and I would watch the sun come up. Somehow, they decided this was a way to save energy. Does anyone remember what caused the energy crisis? I was too young to drive, so I don’t remember how it all happened.
We finally got to Dubuque, Iowa, and crossed the Mississippi River.There was a beautiful mansion overlooking the Mississippi on the Wisconsin side.We finally entered our home state. Yay! The sign says, “Wisconsin welcomes you: Recreation, Industry, Agriculture”. Note the blue sky!This is the second barn quilt I’ve spotted on this trip.The sky began to look more threatening. While it was sunny, we had started to get some bug splats on our window. When I saw the weather ahead, I said, “It looks like we’re about to get our windshield washed.”Sure enough! We got a real gully-washer!We almost stopped for the night in Madison at a Walmart. They would have allowed it except that we would have to be gone by 6:00 am. That wouldn’t have deterred Mark except that he tried to start the generator and it wouldn’t start. We had to have a camping place with electricity if I was going to make dinner, so we went a few miles further to De Forest to spend tonight in a KOA.
We’re only about three and a half hours away from home. I still have a little bit of fun left in me, but we will definitely make it home tomorrow!
