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BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Bat Goddess Date: 22 Apr 02 - 07:03 PM My grandfather used to drink a case of Leinenkugel a day (back in the days when they were a small independent brewery and only made the one kind of "strong beer"). Thought the brewery would go out of business when he died in '65, but they lasted until bought out by Miller who has mercifully left them alone. (He was a carpenter who either built or remodeled every house in Stetsonville, Wisconsin.) Linn |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: GUEST,Just Amy Date: 22 Apr 02 - 06:41 PM Three things I never e't until I come to the big city: brown mustard, Rye bread, and bagels. Mike - Hoopeston is slowly going backward we have about 2,000 less people than we had when I left which was in the late 60's. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Coyote Breath Date: 19 Apr 02 - 09:12 PM Oh BG, I weep for you. We got Leinie red at our local (and Schafley's Stout and Tannhauser on TAP! The owner is Dennis Conolly and we have General Guiness too but not (sob) on tap. The Schafley's stout is a durn good substitute. Well I gotta go down to the Front Street Grill (the local).Tonight there is live string-band music and that Schafley's sounds pretty good. Big T-storm out there but the severe weather siren just blew the "all clear" so... Bye! CB Usinger's has a website! Bless modern technology after all. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Mike Byers Date: 19 Apr 02 - 08:42 PM Just Amy: Hoopeston is quite cosmopolitan compared to Warren County. I'm south of Williamsport, in Bailiff's Hollow ("A little Bit of the Bermuda Triangle, Right Here in Indiana"). How's the music scene in Hoopeston? My band is playing mostly in the Lafayette area, but I make it to Zarate's market in Hoopeston now and then, trading Thai chiles for some of his home-grown heat with Mr. Zarate. So I don't care what anyone says, we've got culture here in the midwest (as long as it has yellow mustard on it). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Jim Krause Date: 19 Apr 02 - 02:45 PM Oh, and I'll let all of you in on a little secret. All that stuff about tornadoes and hail storms and such; all of that was made up to keep the Californians and New Jersians out. It has worked pretty well for about a hundred and thirty-one years of statehood now. Jim who's about ready to spend the resr of the weekend camping out on that beautiful prairie. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Jim Krause Date: 19 Apr 02 - 02:41 PM Yeah, I was going to say that when I show photos of the country near where I live, my cousins out in Oregon usually ask "Now what part of southern Missouri or Arkansas were you in when you took that picture?" Love those glaciated landscapes. Jim |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Don Firth Date: 18 Apr 02 - 10:09 PM Maybe Western Kansas and Nebraska, Amy. Southeastern Nebraska is kinda hilly, as is some of northeastern Kansas. Not mountainous at all, but certainly not what one could reasonable call "Flat Flat Flat." (Barbara tends to gnash her teeth a lot when people say that) Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 18 Apr 02 - 10:07 PM Shields: Nope, I cleaned the crap out of the cages. For 40 cents an hour. Lasted a week. Jerry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Stephen L. Rich Date: 18 Apr 02 - 07:46 PM House on the Hill is wonderful. Jerry also mentioned Circus World Museum in Baraboo. You owe youself THAT experience at least once in your lifetime. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Shields Folk Date: 18 Apr 02 - 07:34 PM Jerry, about your summer job on the pheasant farm, were you the pheasant plucker or was that your father? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: GUEST,Just Amy Date: 18 Apr 02 - 07:10 PM Been through Kansas and Nebraska. Flat Flat Flat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 18 Apr 02 - 03:23 PM "I was driving out in Kansas where the land grows flat Where you wave at the wheat, and the wheat waves back Where the road keeps going just as far as you can see And I pity any dog that's looking for a tree From Three Speeds Forward and No Speeds back... a song I wrote many years ago about having my reverse gear go out on my 1951 Chevy.
"Iwas feeling kinda nervous, but it could have been worse Jerry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Jim Krause Date: 18 Apr 02 - 03:18 PM Just Amy With only slight modifications, that sounds a lot like Kansas. Only instead of Yoders (and we do have a few) substitute the name Friesen. And I've lived here long enough that I sure do remember Bruce Beheimer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: GUEST,Just Amy Date: 18 Apr 02 - 02:28 PM WE also have a really great movie theatre, The Lorraine, which has been refurbished and has a fabulous sound system. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: GUEST,Just Amy Date: 18 Apr 02 - 02:26 PM Mike Byers!!!!!!!- Where do you live? Boswell, Indiana. Hoopeston is the "Cornjerkers" and our mascot is an ear of Corn ("Corny") and we do have 2 corners with stop lights. No one is cool in Hoopeston until they move away. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: SharonA Date: 18 Apr 02 - 02:15 PM Jerry and Linn: Agreed that "The House on the Rock" is a must-see. The house itself has gotta be the world's coolest bachelor pad. The various mini-museums that comprise the rest of the tour are absolutely fascinating – the musical instruments in particular (especially the self-playing ones!). I took the tour in 1977 and will remember it all my life. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Jim Dixon Date: 18 Apr 02 - 10:30 AM Listen up, you guys! You might enjoy the results of Minnesota Public Radio's "Build a Better Bumper Sticker" contest (from the 1999 State Fair). They've got 18 pages of submissions! A lot of them contain subtle references to our governor, Jesse Ventura, e.g. "Minnesota - home of the bald ego." Some of them are variations on "Our governor can beat up your governor" which actually was a popular bumper sticker at the time. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Mike Byers Date: 18 Apr 02 - 09:29 AM Ketchup on a breaded tenderlion? Here in western Indiana that would be a sacrilege--it's supposed to be regular old yellow mustard (none of that fancy Djion stuff allowed). Onion slices can be added by sophisticates. Well, I suppose you have to expect cultural differences... And I should probably mention that across the border in Hoopeston (a big city with stop lights and everything) the local team is the "Cornjerkers". Is that cool or what? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Bat Goddess Date: 18 Apr 02 - 07:53 AM Thanks, Lepus Rex ! I knew about the Usinger's website of course. And I get their catalogs -- but I love the store, and the Spice House across the street. (I wish Nick Topping's shop were still in the same neighborhood. And to keep this all music-related, Nick brought the Beatles to Milwaukee in 1965 as well as other artists such as Andres Segovia.) And I didn't have a non-Milwaukee source for candy raisins until you pointed it out!!! (Now, how about white soda . . .) I probably won't be able to get to The Concertina Bar this trip, but then again, Curmudgeon won't be with me and he's the person who introduced the habitues of the CB to English-system concertinas, of which they had heard rumors, but never actually seen one. It's a wonderful place to hear German concertinas, about 30 of which are lined up behind the bar. The House on the Rock is definitely one of the most indescribable places -- must be experienced. But I'm just hitching a ride with the Cuz. After picking up a collection in Chicago, he'll leave me with my mother and her new apartment (an assorted elderly relatives I can spend some more rare time with) while he helps his mother out for a week in Colby (and maybe brings back some cheese right from the source -- they don't export the "good stuff"). Linn |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 18 Apr 02 - 07:36 AM Lepus: Plenty of great stuff to see in Minnesota. For a drive, you won't find anything prettier than driving down alongside the Mississippi from St. Paul down to where you cross the river at La Crosse. Stop in Redwing and step into the past. And of course, Mall America has all the impact of sugar cubes with honey on them. And Minnesota is great because you just head west and you're out in the Northern Plains. You can sing Jerry Rau's Minnesota Minstrel as you drive. Jerry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Big Mick Date: 18 Apr 02 - 12:04 AM Jerry, you forgot to mention that they can visit the Milwaukee Irish Fest in August. This is the largest Irish Music Festival in the world. Mick |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Lepus Rex Date: 17 Apr 02 - 11:41 PM Or, Jerry, you can cross over into Minnesota, and start a real life. ;) Kidding, of course. (or am I?) Seriously, one of the coolest things that I HAVE EVER SEEN was in Wisconsin: I was visiting my sister, who lives up in Grantsburg, for my niece's birthday last year. There happened to be a parade that day, so we all walked up to see it. Same old crap: big trucks; cheesy politicians in old cars; scantily-clad teenage girls; clowns. And THEN, the mayor of Grantsburg rollerskates up, wearing a gorilla costume and carrying an accordion, and plays a tune for us. I was actually jealous of my sister that day. My mayor wouldn't do that. :( (Also, I like Madison, and tried to go to that circus museum once, got lost, and drove off from a gas station with the pump still attached. *snap*) ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Jim Dixon Date: 17 Apr 02 - 11:19 PM I grew up in a city (St. Louis) but I had lots of uncles, aunts, and cousins who were farmers. (Most of the aunts and uncles have died off, and I've lost touch with most of the cousins.) The only farm work I ever did was one afternoon of suckering tobacco. That was in Kentucky. Is Kentucky considered Midwest? It always seemed like South to me. If y'all are nice to me, I might tell you what "suckering tobacco" means. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 17 Apr 02 - 11:00 PM Hey, Wisconsin has all sorts of great stuff. In Janesville, (where Coyote Breath has visited) there is a white buffalo. To the Plains Indians, the birth of a White Buffalo was comparable to the second coming of Christ. When the White Buffalo was born a couple of years ago, people came from all over the world to see it. The Japanese took pictures. One indian walked from the Great Plains to Janesville... a trip of several hundred miles, left a gift on the metal fence that leads into the Pasture, turned around and walked back home. If you want to see the White Buffalo, there is NO ADMISSION CHARGE! This is Wisconsin, where they don't sock it to you every time that you turn around. When you're driving down the river road, toot your horn. Me Mom might be sitting out in a lawn chair as you drive by.
Or, you could go up to the Wisconsin Dells and have breakfast in a lumber camp mess hall with food served on tin plates, family style. In New Glarus,there's a Swiss settlement with great traditional foods, and a settler's village. Up in Spring Green, you can visit Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio, and nearby you can go to the House On The Rock... one of the most indescribable places on earth. The tour inside the house is three miles long. That's right.. Or you can go to the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, where Barnum and Bailey wintered their circus (I know it sounds stupid..) In Madison, you can see the cultural Center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright overlooking Lake Mendota. Or, you can go to Milwaukee and watch the Brewers get whupped.
Every State has a wealth of great places to explore. After you finish Wisconsin, you can try Illinois, or better yet, hop across the Mississippi to Iowa and Missouri. Jerry (a Nutmegger now... for our friends across the sea, that means I live in Connecticut, the nutmeg state. Nutmegs were used as a form of currency in Colonial times.. what kind of a state prides themselves in being the home of nuts?) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Lepus Rex Date: 17 Apr 02 - 09:25 PM Hope you don't cancel your vacation because of this, BG, but here's the Usinger's Sausage website, where you can order sausages. And here's just one of many places where you can buy Candy Raisins online. Good luck with the beer and onion product. :) ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Bat Goddess Date: 17 Apr 02 - 07:18 PM What do they have in Wisconsin that I can't get here? Usinger sausage, candy raisins (no, NOT chocolate covered raisins), haystack onions, Leinenkugel beer. Linn |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: GUEST,Just Amy Date: 17 Apr 02 - 06:17 PM OHHHH, Leeneia, I am a FIB - Full-figured Illinois Beauty! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 17 Apr 02 - 05:36 PM To Stephen Rich: I don't think you can truly be an FIB if you have been allowed to learn the phrase "FIB". However, if you are an FIB and a careful driver, then your posting belongs in the oxymoron thread, not this one. For the rest of you, FIB is a Wisconsin term, and the I stands for Illinois. The other letters stand for what you think they do.
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Stephen L. Rich Date: 17 Apr 02 - 04:26 PM Jerry, Don't worry about it. It's my own fault for trying to make a joke when i haven't slept for 32 hrs. You are quite right about interstate rivalries. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Lepus Rex Date: 17 Apr 02 - 04:23 PM Yeah, cheese, slow drivers, and deer, too. All these treasures, right next door, all my life, and I didn't even know. I'm such a lucky guy! :D ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Hollowfox Date: 17 Apr 02 - 04:16 PM A whole lot more acreage, Lepus. *BG* |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: GUEST Date: 17 Apr 02 - 03:57 PM 'Spaw, true words! Lin in Kansas, waving from the front seat of her S10 pickup... and about the catfish around here: at Winfield last September, we feasted on some that had been caught by backhoe--nothin' better than fresh fried catfish, even a good steak takes second place. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Lepus Rex Date: 17 Apr 02 - 03:42 PM Hmm. I need to know: What do they have in Wisconsin that can't be found in New Hampshire? ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Bat Goddess Date: 17 Apr 02 - 03:28 PM The Cuz (from Colby, WI but living in eastern MA for the past 20 years) and I (from Milwaukee, but living in New England for 30+ years, NH for the past 20 of those) are doing a road trip to Chicago and Wisconsin the beginning of June that will make each of our mothers very happy. Time to stock up on all the stuff I can't get out here! By the way, I refuse to emulate the "natives" around here and refer to the state I'm living in as "Cow Hampshire" -- compared to Wisconsin, New Hampshire cows are few and far between. Linn |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: irishajo Date: 17 Apr 02 - 03:05 PM Just Amy - Jeri Brown, I think her name is. I worked with her at the SIA plant in Lafayette years ago. I remember her talking about that corn festival! I now live up north, closer to Valparaiso, Indiana which has a popcorn festival every year. (I've never been). Corn - it haunts my life! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: wysiwyg Date: 17 Apr 02 - 02:44 PM Oh yeah, farm reports, you either stay up for them or get up for them, and which one you are doing makes all the difference in how you take it! *G* ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Don Firth Date: 17 Apr 02 - 01:56 PM I've lived on the West Coast almost all my life. Seattle mostly, a few years in Pasadena when I was a li'l squirt. I lived for a year in eastern Washington, which has some distinct similarities to the Mid-West. Barbara came from Fairbury, Nebraska. Been there a few times. Also to Scandia, Kansas, where Barbara's mother retired. A whole nother country. Entirely diffent pace, and people have a totally different attitude about things. I could actually get used to that, I think. Except when the breeze is off the feed lot! Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Big Mick Date: 17 Apr 02 - 01:30 PM Awright.............who else had a job working on the "muck farms"? Now we separate the Midwesterners from the rest........LOL. And BillD, I absolutely remember the morning farm reports. In fact WKZO in Kalamazoo still does one in the morning and at noon. Mick |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: GUEST,Just Amy Date: 17 Apr 02 - 12:43 PM Irishajo - Who do you know from Hoopeston? It is near Indiana. It is also the Sweetcorn Capital of the World and has a festival every year to prove it. Mom is still there. 'shrooming is my favorite thing on an April morning out in the woods. Used to go with my aunt, my uncle "Tuffy" and my cousin "Tootie." I also had an "Aunt Dumpy" and my dad was "Punkie." I never did understand the nickname things. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Coyote Breath Date: 17 Apr 02 - 09:31 AM Ok Chip2447! I lived in California for 26 years and NEVER felt it was home. Got back to the MW 11 years ago and love it! I'll never forget the first time I got behind a big ol combine on Hwy 100 I slowed down and realized this was the closest I'd ever get again to a traffic jam! After commuting accross the Oakland Bay bridge for 12 years, it was a PLEASURE to amble along until Merlin Spaunhorst pulled into his farm with the combine. Also we use the terms: farm road and field road and when it aint gravel it's a hard road. My first job at the tender age of 11 was plucking turkeys, and working in a truck garden for "Ewald Oswald (money mad) Engel" Honest, that is what we called him. And I must ask you to excuse me for the rest of the day, I'm going 'shrooming this fine morning. CB |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 17 Apr 02 - 09:22 AM Well, well, Stephen: Interstate rivalries are good natured.. or at least I always thought they were. Why would people from Wisconsin wear those yellow foam rubber wedges of cheese on their heads? I remember kidding around when I was doing a concert in Massachusetts talking about interstate rivalries, and asked the audience if there wasn't a neighboring state where they thought people were fools. (I live in Connecticut now.) Someone called out, "yeah, Connecticut!" And I almost fell of my chair, laughing. Truth is, in the fifties and sixties, farmers in rural areas swung their tractors and whatever they were pulling over into the on-coming lane so that they could make a right turn. They did the same thing when they were driving a car, out of habit. Whether they were living in Illinois, Wisconsin or Iowa.
Chip 2447: Yeah, I've also stacked hay in a barn and it is hot work. My buddy was driving his Father's pickup and slid into a ditch and we couldn't back it out. There was a farmer in the field and we asked if he could pull us out. He said, sure, if we'd just unload some hay for him and put it in the barn. When we saw how big the wagon load was, we knew we had been suckered. It took us a couple of hours to unload the hay and the farmer about five minutes to get us out of the ditch.
"I spent that morning, stacking hay, without a drop to drink
My wife and I will be flying in to Madison, May 15. Coming out to visit family in Janesville. I went to school at the University and always enjoy the town. Jerry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: wysiwyg Date: 17 Apr 02 - 09:09 AM When in Pennsyltucky, don't call it that unless you are either from here or made an honorary cousin. If you are from here, or an HC, and use it the term, don't let any PC yahoos from the flatland give you any shit for using a rude term, just break a beer bottle over their head with no further discussion. It isn't REALLY about whether your people have lived here for generations. It's about whether you have the sense to wear real boots in winter and slow down before you reach the crest of a hilltop on a slick day. It's about whether you will be one of the people who hauls flatlanders' cars out of ditches on a wide curve, or need hauled out. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Stephen L. Rich Date: 17 Apr 02 - 08:04 AM Irishajo -- I had that same summer job. You're not alone. Mr.Rasmussen -- I think that it may be giving people bad advice to draw them into the Midwest's interstate rivalries. Though I cuurently make my home in Madison, WI, Iam, by birth and upbringing a FIB and DAMNED PROUD OF IT!!! I also happen to be a very careful driver! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Chip2447 Date: 16 Apr 02 - 11:18 PM Never detassled corn, however, I have hauled a bunch of hay. And at a nickle a bail, 1500 bales (the square little ones, not the big round ones)a day made you 75 bucks a day, tax free. Plus you usually got two good meals out of it. You worked your ass off. Fight 125 degree heat in a barn loft filled with wasps sometime. If I wanted to kill myself with a heat stroke I go find me an old fashioned hay crew. Chip2447, a bonafide midwesterner, waving at you from the heart of central Missouri... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Bill D Date: 16 Apr 02 - 09:29 PM ....you can't say you're from the mid-west unless you remember the farm reports (price of hogs and such) read on early morning radio. (In Kansas it was Bruce Beheimer, sponsored by Staley's "Pig Momma" feed, and Duerke's fence posts) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 16 Apr 02 - 09:23 PM My older sisters de-tassled corn. I worked at a pheasant farm.
Water comes out of a bubbler and it runs all the time from when they first turn it on in the spring until they turn it off in the fall. Jerry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: MMario Date: 16 Apr 02 - 08:31 PM A lot of them apply just about anywhere rural; I sat through three changes of lights in my home town a while back in shock ;they had installed a second set of traffic lights since I had last been home. - that makes two sets of stop lights in something like 21 square miles! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: artbrooks Date: 16 Apr 02 - 08:25 PM Also remember that the onlyest roads that go direct to somewheres are called "I" somethin'. All the other ones go straight north-south or east-west, an ya gotta turn alot. Ya shur. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: irishajo Date: 16 Apr 02 - 08:08 PM Just Amy, I know someone from Hoopeston...I think...it's not too far from the Indiana border is it? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: katlaughing Date: 16 Apr 02 - 08:07 PM LOL, a lot of those could easily apply in Wyoming, too! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: GUEST,Just Amy Date: 16 Apr 02 - 07:36 PM I'm from Hoopeston, Illinois (you don't pronounce the s) originally and I loved these. I have detassled corn and worked at corn pack at Stokely Van Camp and Joan of Arc. Here's my favorites: "You must be an ILLINOISAN if..." Ø You've never met any celebrities. Ø Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway. Ø You've seen all the biggest bands ten years after they were popular. Ø You measure distance in minutes. Ø Down south to you means Kentucky. Ø You know several people who have hit a deer. Ø You have no problem spelling or pronouncing "Des Plaines". Ø You think Chicago is a completely different state from Illinois. Ø You know the answer to the question, "Is this Heaven?" Ø Your school classes were cancelled because of cold. Ø Your school classes were cancelled because of heat. Ø You know where all the Yoders live. Ø You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day. Ø You think ethanol makes your truck "run a lot better." Ø You know what's knee-high by the Fourth of July. Ø Stores don't have bags, they have sacks. Ø You see people wear bib overalls at funerals. Ø You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with no one in it no matter what time of the year. Ø You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example: Where's my coat at?" or "If you go to the mall I wanna go with." Ø All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit or vegetable. Ø You can locate Illinois on the United States map. Ø Detassling was your first job. Ø You've ever been on a "Geode Hunt". Ø Your idea of a really great tenderloin is when the meat is twice as big as the bun and accompanied only by ketchup and a dill pickle slice. Ø You DON'T pronounce the "s" in Illinois. Ø You learn your pickup will run without a muffler. Ø You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked. Ø You think of the major four food groups as beef, pork, pop, and Jell-O salad with marshmallows. Ø When asked how your trip was to any foreign, exotic place, you say, "It was different." Ø You consider being called a "Pork Queen" an honor. Ø People from other states love to hear you say "Illinois" and other words with "Os" in them. Ø Your dream vacation is a trip to Rock Home Gardens Ø You carry jumper cables in your car. Ø You drink "pop." Ø You know what the numbers I-80, 75 and 57 mean. Ø You know what "cow tipping" is. Ø You know what a grain elevator is. Ø You ever wanted to be a Roller Derby star. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: SharonA Date: 16 Apr 02 - 06:48 PM In Pennsyltucky (Pennsylvania, outside the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metropolitan areas) some of those rules hold true, too – most notably #6. And there are plenty of those buggies with the orange triangles... and ladies with the little white caps on the backs of their heads, too... be respectful of both! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: CarolC Date: 16 Apr 02 - 06:47 PM Well, McGrath, I can understand how the humorous piece in Spaw's opening post could be misleading for people who don't live in the US. It suggests that all Easterners and Californians live in urban areas and all Midwesterners live in small towns and rural areas. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it does make a cute and mildly amusing little bit of humor. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 16 Apr 02 - 06:37 PM Sixty miles drive from London and you get those kind of culture clashes, say in the heart of Suffolk. You're a bit more spread out I understand. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: CarolC Date: 16 Apr 02 - 06:33 PM Yeah. Several stop signs. We're pretty proud of that. But hey, this is West Virginia after all ;-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: irishajo Date: 16 Apr 02 - 06:28 PM You have stop signs?? Seriously, I've never hunted but I'd say the rest is true. Oh, and did anyone else detassle corn as a summer job? I know I'm not the only one... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: CarolC Date: 16 Apr 02 - 06:15 PM You got a stoplight in your town? Woahhh... Sounds like the big city to me. Here in Shepherdstown, we only have four way stop signs. The traffic light is about a half mile outside of town, out near where the Dorschs keep their pigs. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: artbrooks Date: 16 Apr 02 - 06:09 PM And watch out for the guys in the black buggies with the BIG orange triangle on the back. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 16 Apr 02 - 05:34 PM Re: Any references to "corn fed" when talking about our women will get you whipped...by our women." I believe that should be "whupped." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 15 Apr 02 - 10:57 PM As a Wisconsin kid who growed up two blocks from open prairie I can personally verify every one of those. Might add a couple few.
When in the Midwest, say "couple few."
If you want to get in good with a farmer, praise his dogs.
When in Illinois, beware of drivers who swing over into the on-coming lane. They're just getting a good angle to make a right turn. Jerry |
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Subject: Advice for US Midwest Travelers From: catspaw49 Date: 15 Apr 02 - 10:47 PM Received a version of this one the other day........Enjoy. Because of misunderstandings that frequently develop when Easterners and Californians cross states such as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, or Missouri, those states' Tourism Councils have adopted a new policy. In an effort to help outsiders understand the rural Midwesterner's mind, the following list will be handed to each person as they enter the State. 1. That slope-shouldered farm boy did more work before breakfast than you do all week at the gym. 2. It's called a 'gravel road,' No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Navigator. I have a four wheel drive because I need it. Drive it or get it out of the way. 3. Any references to "corn fed" when talking about our women will get you whipped...by our women. 4. Go ahead and bring your $600 Orvis Fly Rod. Don't cry to us if a flathead breaks it off at the handle. We have a name for those little 13-inch trout you fish for...bait. 5. Pull your pants up. You look like an idiot. 6. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of mallards are making their final approach, we will shoot it. You might hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time. 7. No, there's no "Vegetarian Special" on the menu. Order steak. Order it rare. Or, you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the two pounds of ham and turkey. Yeah, we have sweet tea. It comes in a glass with a long spoon.....the sugar is over there in those little packets. 8. You bring Coke into my house, it better be brown, wet, and served over ice. 9. So you have a sixty-thousand dollar car. We're real impressed. We have quarter of a million dollar Combines that we use two weeks a year. 10. Let's get this straight. We have one stoplight in town. We stop when it's red. We may even stop when it's yellow. 11. Our women hunt, fish, and drive trucks--because they want to. So, you're a feminist. Isn't that cute? 12. Yeah, we eat catfish, carp too--and turtle. You really want sushi and caviar? It's available at the bait shop. 13. They are pigs. That's what they smell like. Get over it. Don't like it? Interstate 70 and 80 go two ways--Interstate 35 and 65 go the other two ways. Pick one and use it accordingly. 14. So every person in every pickup waves. It's called being friendly. Understand the concept? 15. Yeah, we have golf courses. Don't hit in the water hazards. It spooks the fish. 16. That Highway Patrol Officer that just pulled you over for driving like an idiot...his name is "Sir"...no matter how old he is. Have a Nice Midwest Day! Spaw |