The Slopper!

Rarely am I surprised by a food offering… I’m tuned in to what’s going on in the food world… I used to watch the food TV… I read the food magazines… I partake in in-depth perusal of the food interweb… I know about most regional food offerings.

On my recent trip home from Colorado I was surprised for the first time in a long time… A wonderful surprise.

Timing up meals on trips so they line up with places offering with unique and worthwhile food is one of the keys to making good travel plans.

I thought I had effed this one up… I left my aunt and uncle’s house near Boulder, Colorado to go back to Texas at 6 am… I was taking the Pueblo route to try to find Cousin Eddie’s house… It was supposed to be on US Route 50 East of Pueblo… The course was going to put me in Pueblo at breakfast time… With no other major food destination until Amarillo, six hours away… If I was lucky, I’d find a Cracker Barrel... If I wasn’t lucky, I’d be eating a sausage biscuit from The Flying J.

If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s Googling-And-Driving… Or Yelping-And-Driving… As I approached Pueblo, I started my quick research on what to see and where to eat in town… That’s when I came across something I had never heard of before… Multiple references to The Slopper.

The Slopper!

A cheeseburger smothered with red chile or green chile or chile sauce… I don’t know how I had never heard of this before… Pueblo is known for them… It’s their shtick.

Gray’s Coors Tavern (how great is a Tavern named after Coors) and Sunset Inn are the two main names in the town when it comes to The Slopper… I couldn’t wait to try one of them… I was giddy with excitement… But shit!... It’s 8:30 am… Neither one opens until 11 am… The roller coaster of emotions is unreal… Going to have to eat at Cracker Barrel :(… Going to get to eat The Slopper! :) ... Going to have to eat at Cracker Barrel :(

I wonder if they have Coors?

After finding a hotel that was allegedly used in National Lampoon’s Vacation and not recognizing it, so thusly not photographing it, I decided to take one last stab at the GoogleYelpUrbanspooning… That’s when I come across “Musso’s Restaurant”… Three or four people, who I think I can trust, gave reviews on various sites alleging they had the best slopper in town… There’s a science to reading reviews… Never trust someone who has just reviewed one or two places… They’re a plant… Never trust someone who loves every place… Never trust someone who hates every place… My women’s intuition also allows other sciences to sort through the veracity of the reviews… Three or four people were calling this the home of the best The Slopper in town… And they’re open for breakfast! … We’re back in the game.

I got to Musso’s at 9 m… It was about half full on a Sunday… I reckon people eating some vittles before heading to church… I had the nicest waitress… I think she wanted to make out with me… At least that’s what I always think when they constantly refill my beverage without me having to ask.

I gave a fake lookover of the menu… How was I going to order anything but The Slopper

When it came out, it was a sight to behold… I love green chile… This was an open faced double cheeseburger smothered in green chile sauce… The sauce didn’t overpower the cheeseburger, which I reckon would’ve been a pretty solid cheeseburger without the smothering… It also came with some pretty legit fries fries… In all, it was a hardy breakfast… I’d give it a 4.5 on the Yelp scale.

The Slopper at Musso's Restaurant

While eating my meal, I did some Googling-And-Dining, which I almost do as well as Googling-And-Driving… From all that I read, Gray’s Coors Tavern and Sunset Inn were supposed to be a step ahead of all the others and Musso’s was in the next tier… If Gray’s Coors Tavern and Sunset Inn’s The Slopper was better than what I just ate, they have to be pretty amazing, because Musso's was fantastic.

NOT MY PHOTO - The Slopper at Sunset Inn

Pueblo may never be a destination for you, unless you are intent on finding Cousin Eddie’s house, but it should most definitely be “on the way” to somewhere... For The Slopper.

My only regret is giving the menu a fake lookover... As it turns out, Musso’s, which is also known for its homemade Sicilian sausage sandwiches, makes ‘The Italian Slopper’ with sauseege instead of a cheeseburger.

After my inspiring meal, I hit the highway in search of Cousin Eddie’s house, which I never found… But it didn’t matter, because I was happy with what I did find… The Slopper.

I’ll Be at the Library!

When I moved to Texas, I promised myself I was going to do Texas stuff… I spent a year in Georgia for graduate school and didn’t do any Georgia stuff besides work the Olympics, but that really isn’t Georgia stuff… That’s corrupt Europeans taking kickbacks stuff and white trash selling bootlegged items stuff with some sports going on… I worked in North Carolina as an intern and really didn’t do much North Carolina stuff, except audition to be an extra on Dawson’s Creek… Turned down because fat kids don’t go to Cape Side… I don’t want your life… I spent two years in New Mexico and really didn’t do much New Mexico stuff… In my years in New Jersey, I did Jersey Shore stuff, except having to see the butt doctor and the tan part of GTL, but not really much of the other Jersey stuff.

I once worked by Cape Side High School... Pre-scientologist Joey... Meeeeeeee-ow.

That guy was my doctor... We didn't get that friendly. #truestory

So here I was in Texas… Didn’t know nobody… Nobody liked the carpetbagger… If I was going to see Texas, I was going to have to go all by myself... All by myself… Don't wanna be all by myself… Anymore… All by myself… Don't wanna live all by myself… Anymore.
 

So the first week, towards the end of each work day I would scour the sites like Austin360 and Austin Chronicle to see if there was any Texas stuff going on… The first four or five days, there wasn’t much going on, but then August 27th came.

August 27, also known as my sister Alexis’ birthday… She was born when I was a freshman in high school… I was always the baby of the family and then on that day I became Malcolm in the Middle, singing the Meow Mix song.
 

Any how, August 27 is also Lyndon Baines Johnson’s birthday!... LBJ! … The real LBJ… I always cringe when people refer to LeBron James as “LBJ”… His middle name doesn’t start with a B… His mom may be dumb, but she’s not that dumb to name him Le  Bron  James… But I digress… That’s some of my Clevelander coming out.

Any how, on this August 27, the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum was having a birthday party for President Johnson… He wasn’t there… He’s dead… But I went… Because this was something Texasy… And it was literally 100 yards from my office as the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum are on the campus of TU.

It was a grand old party… I had fun, but really never got around to looking at the exhibits and hwat not… I went to the party again the next year and then went with co-worker Travis in 2008 for the big 100th Birthday blowout… It was a shindig to beat all shindig with all sorts of dignitaries… But I still never looked around at the exhibits.

My first time seeing the sights and sounds in the grand building was in October 2010 as a break from Eat Me Austin III: Sisterhood of the Traveling Fat Pants… A six-stop eating tour through Austin… I loved it… I learned… And I love learning… It ranks up there with BBQ and pie.

It was also the site of my first-ever Twittering mishap… I wanted to Tweet “I’m at the LBJ Presidential Museum and Library… The only library for made for the President who had JFK killed” on my personal Twitter account… In the middle of the Tweet, my phone crashed… When the phone rebooted, I forgot that it would go to the Texas Baseball default Twitter account… In my forgetfulness, I sent out the Tweet… Immediately upon hitting the “send” button, I realized my horrifically funny mistake… It took me about 30 seconds to delete that Tweet, but of course in that 30 seconds all of the only flaming liberal Texas Baseball fans saw the Tweet and sent their anger in my direction… It’s not the last Twitter mishap I’ve ever had... Anerica!

In addition to possibly having JFK whacked, LBJ was a close-talker.

Any how it was a fun visit and like I said, I learned a lot… And it was worth the price… Which was free… Best bang for the buck in Austin.

Two weeks ago, I made a return trip… And it’s 150% better… They refurbished most of it, so it’s almost a whole new place… The videos are now state-of-the-art and the presentation and signage was brought into the 21st century… The Library will soon be charging a nominal fee, but until then there is a transition period in which they’re suggesting donations… Even when there is an admission fee, it will be worth the price.

My return visit to the LBJ Library and Museum... I Farleyed It!

There’s nothing more American than a Presidential Library and Museum… Don’t believe me?... Try to find one in Communist Russia… Or Socialist Europe.

Generally, the “Library” portion has a majority of the Presidents’ papers, records, collections and materials and scholars and researchers can peruse through the documents by appointment… The “Museum” portion is open to everyone and has permanent displays pertaining to the President and then some temporary exhibits to "keep it fresh".

“Who had the first Presidential Library?” you might ask… None other than Rutherford B. Hayes… That’s right… Rudy… Rudy… Rudy… Rudy... Dates back to 1909.

You might be surprised to find out that not every former President has a Library and Museum… As a matter of fact, just 22… Notable Presidents that currently don’t have one include John Adams (John Quincy Adams has one), James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson and Chester Arthur… Most of the "Libraries" and "Museums" are housed in the same complex, but Gerald Ford has his Museum in Grand Rapids and his Library in Ann Arbor... 130 miles apart.

They like Ike!

The “Presidential Library System” is a network of 13 libraries overseen by the Office of Presidential Libraries under the direction of the National Archives and Records Administration… Every former President since Herbert Hoover now has one.

The National Park System administers some “birthplaces” and “homes” and other historic sites for numerous other Presidents which are also often well worth the visit.

Much like with frisky co-eds, the busts are often my favorite part of a Presidential Library

If you like history and/or you like politics, Presidential Libraries and Museums are fantastic places to visit… So far I’ve been to six, including LBJ, George HW Bush (on the campus of Texas A&M - I'll take you when you don't visit), Ronald Reagan (Simi Valley, California), Richard Nixon (Yorba Linda, California), Dwight D Eisenhower (Abilene, Kansas) and William McKinley (Canton, Ohio)… The only one that disappointed a little bit was the McKinley one… They aren’t part of the Office of Public Libraries, so they’re struggling to stay above water… With that in mind they’ve added a “Fascination Station” and “Discover World” to talk about dinosaurs and robots… Basically trying to attract kids… Unless McKinley had something to do with dinosaurs and robots that I don’t know about.
 

You can't hide this excitement!

President McKinley is well recognized as the first U.S. President to ride a dinosaur, so this makes sense in his library and museum.

Unless you’re a right-wing whack job or the more common left-wing whack job, you can enjoy the Presidential Library and Museum no matter what the party affiliation of the inhabitant.

I’ve added the ones I haven’t seen to my ever-growing bucket list… Coming up soon the Ulysses S Grant Presidential Library in Starkville, Mississippi; William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock and George W.Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.

The Quintessential Quintet for the Week (8/23/13)

Five Things From The Week That Was...

1. A little bit of chicken fried…
It’s obvious that you can chicken fry chicken… That’s why it’s “chicken-fried”… I can’t believe I had to explain that to you… You can also chicken fry steak… The cool people call it CFS… At Jack Allen’s Kitchen in Austin, they’re also chicken frying pork chops and beef ribs, too… The stuff is dynamite… I hit up JAK on Sunday afternoon with a friend and scarfed down on the chicken-fried pork chops… CFPC!... I imagine they would’ve been amazing as just regular pork chops… Nice and juicy… But the other white meat prepared like thee white meat took it up a couple echelons.

Chicken Fried Pork Chop! With Sweet Potato(e) Fries... Don't worry... The Jalapeno Gravy is on the side

The Chicken Fried Beef Rib, from a prior visit, with the Jalapeno Gravy on top.

Bonus! I didn’t know it was National Potato(e) Day on Monday, until Tuesday, but thankfully on Sunday I made up for it by having multiple potato(e) items…  Jack Allen’s Red Chile Fries (Idaho(e)s with red chile, scallions, lime juice, cotija cheese, cilantro and garlic aioli.) are a full-sensory experience everyone needs to have at least once… I also had their sweet potato(e) fries with my meal… While it’s tasty with the garlic aioli, I think they would’ve been even more amazing with a cinnamon butter of some sort.

Red Chile Fries at Jack Allen's Kitchen... One of the best fry items in Austin... If not the world.

2. Tis The Season
It’s nearing the end of August… That means college football season fixin' to commence… But it’s not the only thing starting… I’m working my first soccer game of the season tonight… Field hockey, men’s soccer, women’s soccer is starting at college’s throughout the country… And in addition to big-time Ohio State, Texas A&M, USC football, there’s small school football starting throughout the country… Go catch the Monmouth Hawks or Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jackets or whoever your local team is play on the gridiron… It’s a cheaper ticket and you’ll probably get a better seat… The kids love to play in front of crowds and they provide an entertainment value... It’s a good way to get out of the house and mingle with the community.

Support you local team!

Affordable fun for the whole family!

3. Otter Be In Pictures
Nothing’s more American than a new zoo… They didn’t originate in America… Much like Sanford & Son, The Office and Kitchen Nightmares, we stole it from the Brits… But we do them better than anyone else… Great news from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle this week on the zoo front… They got some baby Otters back in June and they’ve been unleashed to the public!... Nothing better than a Zooborn!... Get there!... BTW... Woodland Park Zoo got www.zoo.org!... They're on the cutting edge of interwebial zooing!

Otter pups! (photo from Woodland Park Zoo)

Zoos in America have awesome animals like baby otters… Go to Communist China and you find big-ass dogs dressed up like an African Lion.

It's Simba!

4. I was disappointed to find out it wasn’t a house made of sausage.
Once a summer I meet my friends Heath and Dave for lunch… We all worked together for a year at New Mexico State, now one of us works in College Station, one works in Waco and one works in Round Rock… The most central meeting location was the Belton/Temple area, so I picked out a place I had heard about that was recommended by local native Taylor Jungmann… His most famous quote to date is “I love sausage” which came when asked about having to get used to eating sausage instead of brisket since he was drafted by the Milwuakee Brewers… He recommended Green’s Sausage House in Zabcikville (a suburb of Temple, if that’s possible)… I’ll be honest… The first time I heard of the place, I was hoping it was actually a house made of sausage… But once I got past the initial disappointment, everything was fine… It’s half butcher shop and half restaurant… The restaurant is slinging some good old-fashioned diner food… I ordered the double sausage burger with cheese and cheese tots… Why are more people not making sausage burgers?!?!?!?!?!? It was perfection… Sausage cross-dressing as a hamburger… Next time I’m ordering it with a fried egg… That would make the perfection more perfect… The butcher shop is slinging some badass sausage, too... I bought about eight pounds worth to bring home... Some knackwurst, some jalapeno cheese pork sausage and some boudin... If you can get to Green’s Sausage House, you should do… It’s now highly recommended by two people who “love sausage.”

92% of all places with a pig on their sign are awesome... It's a scientific fact.

The cheese double sausage burger and cheese tots.

5. This Week’s Dog: Spirit Hound Distillers
The microbrewery movement is played out… Every town has multiple microbreweries and most of them are peddling tainted brews… But fortunately the microdistillery movement is picking up steam… According to the American Distilling Institute there were only 24 in the USA, but in 2011 the number had ballooned to nearly 300… On my recent visit to Colorado, I happened upon one by accident… I like whisk(e)y… On the way to Estes Park one day, we drove past a place that appeared to be a liquor store that had an awesome sign that said “Whisky From Colorful Colorado”… I needed to get a picture with that sign… So the next day, I headed back to the place with my brother and sister-in-law… It turns out it wasn’t a liquor store… It was a microdistillery… Who knew they had those? … This place was Spirit Hound Distillers… And while they were fixin' to be a Whisky Distillery, they just started the process last October, so their first batch of whisky won’t be available until October 2014… Until then though, they are peddling some mean-ass “White Dog Moonshine”, Gin and Richardo’s Decaf Coffee Liqueur (which the owner has been producing for 20 years)… I brought a bottle of the Moonshine and the Coffee Liqueur home with me, but I hadn’t got a chance to crack any of it open until last Saturday… The Decaf Coffee Liqueur is better than Kahlua… I mixed a little bit with some Tres Leches Liqueur and Vodka for a Spanish Russian and a good night sleep… If you’re in the Boulder/Estes Park region, swing by Lyons and get some... They'll give you a hearty sample of each of their offerings in their tasting room and a quick tour of their little operation... Stick around to enjoy some of their magical mixed drinks and enjoy the beautiful outdoor patio in the back.

The sign that drew me into heaven!

Don't be scared... It aint your dad/boyfriend's Moonshine

My First Time... A Life Changing Experience

I remember my first time… Like it was yesterday… It was mid-August… Of the year 2000.

Driven to the moment by the urge for a shriveled up wiener.

Having hidden out in New Mexico until the Y2K bug had safely passed, I had embarked on a new adventure in New Jersey in May 2000… The first few months were whirlwind as I got up to speed with my new job at Monmouth University and benefited from a free 11-day trip to France and Switzerland the beginning of August… The third weekend in August was my last moment to relax before the 2000-01 athletic season began with the field hockey and the soccers and the football and hwat not… The third weekend in August is when I went for that shriveled up wiener.

I traveled 60 miles for this shriveled up wiener… The first time I ever traveled for the expressed purpose of eating food... It was worth it… Life would never be the same

The shriveled up wiener… The Ripper… The semi-famous hot dog at Rutt’s Hut in Clifton, New Jersey… I had it seen the year before on a PBS program called “A Hotdog Program”… The show highlighted a handful of restaurants across the nation which were serving up wieners in various different manners.

The Ripper (on the left)... The shriveled up wiener that changed my life... If you're into neon green relish (I'm not), the right is the dog for you.

Rutt’s Hut, which is located in the shadow of Meadowlands Stadium - seriously, the guy who whacked Jimmy Hoffa probably ate here before he buried the union leader in the end zone, features a deep-fried hot dog… And it’s so delicious… They call the basic hot dog “The Ripper” because it’s deep fried until the skin rips open… When you hear deep-fried, you think the hot dog is going to be greasy... But it’s anything but… The outside is crisp and the inside is juicy, with a little bit of enchantment in every bite… In the future, on drives from Monmouth to Amherst, Ohio I would stop at Rutt’s Hut and buy two Rippers to eat there and then buy four more Rippers which I’d wrap in aluminum foil and toss in a cooler and eat on the rest of the eight-hour journey home.


After devouring that wiener, life would never be the same… My culinary life before this moment was bland… Embarrassingly bland.

A lot of factors played into the blandness.

Growing up in subrural Cleveland, the Dicks didn’t vacation much… Us youngsters always had weekends filled with the baseball and the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts and the football and the soccer (they called me Anvil Toe) and the softball and the newspaper routes… And because in most cases those days labor unions were just pseudo-pyramid schemes that only benefited the lazy old people, my dad was always left with off-peak weeks of vacation like the third week in February and the second week in October… So there weren’t many vacations for the Dicks… When you don’t travel much, you don’t travel for food much… We did go to the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee… Which ironically is where Cherry Coke first debuted and McDonald’s first unveiled the McRib Sandwich outside of its initial “test marketing” in the Midwest in 1981… And for the next 10 years we thought we were on the culinary cutting edge because we were among the first to experience the two culinary marvels of Americana.

Another factor is food travel television had not yet seen the success it now enjoys… Anthony Bourdain’s “A Cook’s Tour” would debut a year later and would be a bust… His second offering “No Reservations” would appear in 2005…  Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (2006) was still six years away… No one even thought of anything as awesome as  Man vs. Food (2008)… It was nearly a decade before Best Thing I Ever Ate (2009) debuted… Up until that point, a naïve Thomas thought everybody ate at Hot Dog Heaven and The Chatterbox and McDonald’s and pizza at Chicken Galore and Olde Town(e) Pizza… My cheeseburgers had cheese… American cheese… And if we got crazy, it had bacon… My pancakes were buttermilk… And if we got crazy, it had blueberries… I had heard of the concept of “regional food”, but I thought it was a myth… Like the Loch Ness Monster and Eskimo(e)s… A "Hot Dog Program" opened my eyes… And the first chance I had to try one of the places featured, I was all over that shriveled up wiener.

Also in those days I wasn’t even saying “The Internet Is Going to Be Huge Someday” yet... Yelp wasn’t started until 2004… Trip Advisor was in its infancy… Urbanspoon didn’t come around until 2007… Roadfood and Chowhound were nowhere to be found… That rhymed.

Cutting edge culinary experiences for wee baby Thomas in the 1980s.

The final factor was personal financing… The Dicks didn’t eat out much… Partly because we weren't loaded... Partly because who really needed to? … Regi makes awesome lasagna… And chicken paprikas… And tacos… And city chicken… And meatloaf… When we did eat out, there weren’t many choices in the then-culinarily devoid Lorain County… Chicken McNuggets Shanghai was the extent of the Dicks pushing the culinary envelope... A special event called for a visit to Chi-Chi’s… And once in my first 18 years we even ate at Red Lobster!, which was like the greatest eating experience ever… In college at Baldwin-Wallace College, life consisted of dorm cafeteria food, 10-cent wing night at The Oriole Cafe, crunchy peanut butter and an occasional trip of decadence to Olive Garden for all the breadsticks and zuppa toscana you can devour... After that life took me to Statesboro, Georgia and Atlanta Georgia and Wilmington, North Carolina and Las Cruces, New Mexico for graduate school and an internship and an entry-level job… All stops had me living under the poverty level, which meant Ramen noodles and lots of apartment made Prego spaghetti and all the leftover press box food I could fit in my knapsack… The summer of 2000 is the first time I truly made a livable wage which made culinary adventuring and that first search for the shriveled up wiener possible.

After that first wiener, life changed… That wiener I just devoured was a bite of America… And I wanted more America… I now wanted to try other wienerss… See who was doing them different… See if they were doing them better… Maybe Hot Dog Johnny’s in Buttzville… Or Gray’s Papaya in NYC… Or Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island… Then I thought why stop at Hot Dogs… There were adventures into Philadelphia to try the various cheesesteaks… And random trips to the fantastic diner scene in driving distance in New Jersey… And sauseege and meat and cheese, wherever I can get it… And why not jump on the train into New York City for some cheesecake.

At that moment I made an agreement with myself to never settle for normal food when on road trips, if possible… Even if it meant forgoing a free team meal to go find some otherworldly cheese fries or an extraordinary burrito… The team can go eat a free meal at Jason’s Deli… I’m headed to Mick’s Karma Bar.

From the moment of that shriveled wiener, I’ve done some sort of research prior to every trip … A little bit of internet research… A little bit of advanced intel from my people on the streets… A little bit of consulting my notebooks where I jot down notes for potential stops… Yes, I have some notebooks… A little bit of consulting the locals upon arrival.

And now a big part of all vacations is finding food… Whether it be Curtis’ All-American BBQ in Putney, Vermont or Lambert’s Café in Ozarks, Missouruh or Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken in Memphis, Tennessee or Gorilla BBQ in Pacifica, California… Every trip is more exciting with more exciting food.

Traveling for food... Passing it on to the next generation.

People laugh when I’m willing to drive 80 miles for fried chicken and pie… But if it’s what you love, no distance is too far… And I love America and its wieners and sauseeges and meat and pie and America fries... And each new food adventure is like experiencing that first time all over again.

Madonna!... Of the Trail

I tried to review a movie on two different occasions for “Might’ve Missed It” Monday Movie Review, but they were both so awful I fell asleep… And I didn’t have the time to try a third one… So instead we’re going to throw some Americana at you this fine Monday.

Bucket lists have become popular lately… People picking things they want to see and do before they kick the bucket… I can’t do a list, because every time I cross something off, I add four more things… It just keeps getting longer. 

It just happened again on my recent drive back to Texas from Colorado… I often map out trips ahead of time to see what bits of Americana I can see… World’s Largest Ball of Twine… Ferris Bueller's high school… A restaurant where they throw’d rolls at you.

And so it was on my drive home from Colorado… I had grand plans to find Cousin Eddie’s house from National Lampoon’s Vacation… Although in the movie, the house is listed as being in Coolidge, Kansas, my intel was telling me it was on U.S. 50 – East of Pueblo… It was on one of four potential routes home and the longest by an hour or so, so I was only going to give the search for Cousin Eddie’s house one shot due to time constraints… Although I saw a handful of houses that might’ve passed for Cousin Eddie’s house, none of them appeared to have the distinctive barnish building in back… I’ll have to get better intel next time and see if the building was knocked down or I just missed seeing it.

I didn't see the barn or Cousin Dale's stack of nudy magazines.

Side note:  John P. Navin Jr who played Cousin Dale was the very first customer shown on the very first episode of "Cheers"

Having missed my intended target on that part of the highway, I fired up the old Google search on the iPhone to see what I might find up the road… 50 percent of what I find is planned ahead, but about 50 percent is gleaned from Googling and driving (don’t tell Oprah)… When a sign says “Blank City 40 miles”, you just type in Blank City and see what comes up… I was approaching Lamar, Colorado and that’s when I stumbled on her… The Madonna of the Trail statue would be approaching in Lamar… Originally I thought it was “The” Madonna of the Trail statue, but it upon further research it turned out to be “A” Madonna of the Trail statue… One of a dozen spangling the roadsides from sea to shining sea.

The statues aren’t exactly marvels… Just 12-foot high granite statues of a Pioneer Mother with a baby in one arm and a young boy clinging to her apron and she appears to be packing heat with a shotgun in her free hand.

The Madonna of the Trail statue in Lamar, Colorado

Sculpted by August Leimbach, the statues were commissioned by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution with the idea that 12 identical statues would be placed along the “National Old Trails Road” which included Braddock’s Road (used by British soldiers during the French and Indian War), Columbia Pike, the Great Valley Road, Wilderness Road (used by Daniel Boone to cut across the Cumberland Gap), Cumberland Road, Santa Fe Trail and Oregon Trail… Later parts of the “National Old Trails Road” would become “Route 66”

In an interesting note, Judge Harry S. Truman was the chairman of the National Old Trail Roads Committee and was responsible for selecting the 12 locations... Nearly two decades before becoming president.

The first monument was erected on July 4, 1928 in Springfield Ohio… Over the next year 11 more were sprinkled throughout the US for a dozen across the board… Having seen one of the 12, I now want to see all of them as it will take me to all points of America… The other cites besides Springfield and Lamar include Bethesda, Maryland; Beallsville, Pennsylvania; Wheeling, West Virginia; Richmond, Indiana; Vandalia, Illinois; Lexington, Missouri; Council Grove, Kansas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Springerville, Arizona and Upland, California... Track them down yourself here.

With the exception of the one in Bethesda (East) and Upland (South), all of the Madonna’s are facing West.

While not marvels, they are very striking upon first appearance and serve as a fitting tribute to the Pioneer Women who faced unimaginable hardships.

So… There you go… The bucket list that doesn’t exist because it’s too long just got longer… 11 more places I need to see… Although the statues are identical, the towns and journeys to the towns are not.

And I still need to see Cousin Eddie's house.