America, stop messing with me. You, too, Mitchell, South Dakota! This ain't no palace. It's an auditorium. With corn nailed to the outside walls. There's no king inside, no prince or duke or queen. Just some vaguely miserable-looking people selling popping corn and t-shirts, corn cob trays and baseball caps. There's no throne room, but there is a basketball court and the promise of some good, second-tier country music outfits coming to town. And yet, I find I cannot look away. This was my second visit to THE PALACE and I shall go again, I'm sure. If you find yourself on I-90 in Mitchell, you know you'll stop there, too.
1 comment:
Ha, I claim status of "Being on I-90 in Mitchell without the urge to indulge in the Palace's cheap cornography!" This may be, in part, due to the fact that it was around Mitchell that we put the pedal to the metal in our wagon (Subaru with no finicky idiot lights and no lesbians) for a 31 hour push to Cape Cod. Fresh memories of Devil's Tower, Sturgis (yes, with all the motorcycles), and Wall Drug sustained us into Ohio (not much different than PA BTW). Note to travelers: the sheriff in Nowheresville, IN will only circle your parked car with NJ plates twice before realizing you're trying to catch some shuteye.
So this is spooky. Reading your blog from this trip is walking down memory lane. We made nearly the same trip a few years ago, and your observations are spot-on. We go to Buffalo, NY, frequently to visit Kristin's family, and she HATES the PA stretch. "Can you imagine how many bodies have been dumped in the Poconos?" is the typical refrain going and coming through NE PA on every trip.
Thanks for the look into your travels, and thanks for sharing! I loved reading your posts!
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