We woke during a monster electrical storm.. the room was rocking this way and that.. ..no wait a minute, thats the waterbed.. anyway, it`s Monday so it must be House On The Rock!
First of all we had to meet up with our local host or Craig [RNet]{Retired} as you lot know him.. (Or don`t if you`re not on CIS..) Craig had directed us to the "Illinois Machine Shed" which despite the name is a food place where we would join up and get breakfast.. it took Craig a while to adjust from CST to S&TT ..but basically once you`re used to the idea that there's no hurry and we`ll arrive an hour late it`s easy to get the hang of..
Greetings, photo albums and breakfast over with we hit the road towards Wisconsin, first port of call on the way was a small Micro Brewery Craig had spotted along the way.. once inside we discovered it was run by a militant female with a mighty chip on her shoulder, this didn`t seem to matter as the beer was good (So Craig told us.. (We`re too young for beer)).. back in the cars and off to the Mustard Museum, yup you heard.. Mustard Museum..
The Mustard Museum is in a double store-front and has... well, Mustard really.. loads of it.. and Salsa, and Preserves.. but mainly Mustard.. this stuff wouldn`t work in the UK, you`d open the the Museum, 1000`s of Mustards would be lined up ready for the admiration of your peers and guess what? no-one would care.. you`d be back flipping burgers before the month ended.
| A wander up and down Mustard Towns main street to photograph the carved (with chainsaws)Trolls that the town elders had decided would make good street furniture and it was back on the road towards you know where... | |
Ok, House on the Rock... many people have tried to describe this place and they have all failed.. the picture I had in my minds eye before I arrived was, despite the efforts of many HOTR fans woefully inadequate, I won`t even bother trying to sum it up, the place is beyond description, beyond imagination and -ESSENTIAL- visiting for anyone coming to the US.
 This cool planter greets |
 The House On The Rock |
 They have millions of |
 And Mongol Elephants.. |
 And the worlds longest balcony.. |
 Craig |
We left HOTR in darkness into a great thunder storm, it made the place seem even more alien than it already is.. we drove off into the night as giant sheets of lightning illuminated the whole sky.. truely a great end to a great day..
Actually the Pizza we had with Craig was the end of the day, but you get my drift.
Mucho thanks to Craig for guiding us around during the day, many pictures were taken both by us and him and I`m sure the more embarrassing ones will show up on one of hishomepages or another...
Back to intro..
Onward ..tomorrow is another day!