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May 22, 2000
LIFE AND ROAD TRIPS
Japan is a beautiful country, but I don't think of it as a place for road trips. It's small -- not much larger than the state of California -- and though there's a lot of countryside to see, traveling seems better suited to trains than cars. Not like the United State, where thanks to the interstate highway system that was built during the 1950s and '60s, the wide-open stretches of the midwest states are made for exploration by automobile.
| The couple reminded me very much of Japanese families who sacrifice and work hard for a lifelong goal. |
Actually, I can remember some car trips in Japan, when I was really young. I remember standing on the back seat with my chin on my arms, which were folded on the back of the front seat. My parents drove out to the Japanese countryside from time to time. These car rides were day-trips to the beach or to mountainous parks inland. I know we had an American car (probably a Chrysler, which my father was partial to for a long time) because my father drove the behemoth using a steering wheel on the left, like cars are here. The gigantic car dwarfed such matchboxed-sized Japanese autos of the day like the aptly-named Toyota "Toyopet."
The great thing about American-style road-tripping is how nice people can be, and how wonderful, corny and majestic our country can be (sometimes all at the same time).
One of the big surprises for me was how friendly everyone in Sioux City was, even though there were very few Asians. I was told there's a large Hispanic minority population, and a growing group of Vietnamese in the area. I'm used to being stared at as an Asian in some places (like Salt Lake City, Utah or Amarillo, Texas), But I felt right at home in a steakhouse in Sioux City. It was a good feeling.
While in Sioux City, I stayed at a terrific bed and breakfast called the English Mansion, which is operated by an enterprising young couple, George and Cynthia Wakeman, who have taken several Victorian-era homes in what used to be a marginal part of the city and rehabilitated them to their original sparkling, colorful splendor. The rooms are cozy and modernized with cable TV and plush bathrooms equipped with spa tubs, and in the mornings, George serves up delicious gourmet breakfasts.
The two have been very creative at finding ways to fix up their properties, including buying antique velvet curtains from George's former junior high school for trim around windows and doorways.
They give each new building on the block its own name; the one I stayed in, across the corner from the original English Mansion was the Rose Hill Inn. The whole enterprise is built on hard work and loving care for what they do. George and Cynthia live in the basement of their original mansion, and they figure when they have enough other houses fixed up and running as bed and breakfasts, they'll convert their first building back into a single family home for themselves and their four kids. The couple reminded me very much of Japanese families who sacrifice and work hard for a lifelong goal.
It's not just an "Asian" work ethic -- I suspect this type of dedication has become hard to find amongst a lot of modern families everywhere. I congratulated them both on doing what they love to do for a living, and doing it well.
This inspirational example stayed with me during the drive back to Colorado. Partly, that's because South Dakota is so desolate there isn't much to do while you're crossing Interstate 80 but think about life.
Despite the huge empty spaces, however, South Dakota can boast of some very unique tourists attractions -- a truly American phenomenon.
First stop was the Corn Palace, a smalltown auditorium in Mitchell, SD, whose facade is created every year in corn -- corn husks, corn kernels, corn cobs of every type and color.
Then there was Wall Drug in Wall, SD, a popular tourist stop that's nothing more than a glorified pharmacy and diner that has grown over the decades into a funny and phony tourist trap with all the usual tacky souvenirs.
An overnight stop at the Indian-operated Cedar Pass Lodge was preceded by a drive through the Badlands National Park as the sun was setting, creating eerily beautiful shadows from the most surreal rock and soil formations I've ever seen.
The drive home included brief but inspiring stops at two other tourist attractions: An enormous statue of the Indian chief Crazy Horse being carved out of a mountain (it's larger than the presidents' heads on Mt. Rushmore, which is close by), and the Mammoth Site, where archeologists are digging up the amazingly vivid and well-preserved remains of 100 woolly mammoths that died in a sink hole millions of years ago.
Both these last stops were inspiring because the first was the vision of a man who began the Crazy Horse statue in the 1940s and has since died, leaving his family to carry on the project (none of us will be around to see it finished!); and because the second reminded me how short mankind's time on Earth ultimately is.
So I'm now back in Denver, ready to return to my real world, but recharged by my road trip's inspiration and silliness. My dad would have loved it. And for any Japanese who are curious about the soul of the American midwest, I heartily recommend visiting Sioux City, Iowa and driving back via South Dakota.
Take a virtual road trip! You can visit the Web sites for the English Mansion bed and breakfast in Sioux City Iowa, the Corn Palace, Wall Drug, Badlands National Park, the Crazy Horse statue and the Mammoth Site. Ain't the Internet wonderful?