April | 2017 | Ephemera

By Meera Kamra-Kelsey

April 2017

Salt River Canyon Queen Creek Tunnel

There are many reasons for rubber to hit the road. Point A to B, chores, getting somebody, something, somewhere, commuting. For fun and excitement, to experience something somewhere, it must be a road trip! Husband and I needed to commute our car from Arizona to Ontario, Canada after we basked in the ‘dry heat’ for a few months. This would be our last drive back from snowbirding, to be replaced by flights. So, needed to squeeze in a few minor bucket list items on the way.

Husband is a pro at the workable successful road trip plan. Hotels fill up fast during prime snowbird commutes. So he gets on it early. He mostly uses a single hotel chain, selects their newest and best properties. You just never know, there are so many potential snags. So we need rooms that can be cancelled with short prior notice. We all know that loyalty programs can be rewarding, so he finesses them when possible.

We have driven back and forth diagonally across, up and down and all around the US many times. We drive between five and eight hours a day and arrive at our destination in daylight. The GPS (Helen) is crucial. Most importantly, we avoid big cities when possible. Sure don’t need any more near mishaps, four-hour traffic backups, rude drivers in whose lane we always find ourselves, road construction you can count on and really deep unmarked potholes. We did this return trip in my small newish car which is half in length and height of pickups and SUVs. Big wheels are back thanks to somewhat cheaper oil.

We made lists and gathered together road trip stuff. Eating habits while road tripping can be dismal. So we packed some cans of soup, a grainy bread and sandwich fixings to offset the inevitable bad-for-us. A case of water, snacks, fruit and comfort foods are handy when you are truckin’.

We experienced a last minute downer two days before departure. Something made me check my wallet where my driver’s license normally resides, snug as a bug. It was missing! The Ministry of Transport will happily replace a lost or stolen license. An online application is possible but temporary replacement must be secured in person or by mail. I also called around a half dozen stores and restaurants I/ we frequented in run-up days. No luck. Very frustrating, this meant husband would have to do all the driving.

On previous trips, we have visited and toured places that interest us on or near our route. Almost all Presidential Libraries and homesites. A few sad memorials – Oklahoma, Shanksville, Arlington. Portions of Route 66. Many Frank Lloyd Wright structures and houses. After a while, these ‘collections’ have become a minor obsession. So this time, we again headed diagonally east and north across the US, with detours of about 1000 Kms to visit the following places that interested us.

Crystal bridges Museum of Modern Art, Bentonville, Arkansas

Some years ago, a favourite TV newsmagazine, CBS Sunday Morning, did a segment about this site. Small town Bentonville is where Sam Walton began the now international, burgeoning Walmart empire. OK, big deal, so it’s an art gallery. But it is much more, equally blending art, architecture and nature. Funded totally to the extent of hundreds of millions by Alice Walton of the famed family.

Esthetically interesting structures by Architect Moshe Safdie. Fitting into natural surroundings perfectly, resembling some sort of insecta or other fauna and at times, very industrial. Always tied to the earth. Israeli born Mr. Safdie studied architecture at McGill University in Montreal. He has designed numerous well-regarded structures around the world. His better known projects include Habitat, Montreal’s futuristic, cubist residential complex associated with Expo 67, Ottawa’s National Art Gallery and Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Museum, memorial to holocaust victims.

Maelstrom (Aycock) Love (Indiana) Vaquero (Jimenez)

Yield (Paine) Buckyball (Villareal) Maman (Bourgeois) Lowell’s Ocean (di Suvero)

Bachman-Wilson House (Frank LLoyd Wright) pleasant walkabout natural quartz

Several ‘art walks’ wind through woods, flower beds, streams and waterfalls, studded with sculpture. Small Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian (simpler, cheaper) Bachman-Wilson House is perched atop a wooded hill, also resembling a piece of sculpture. Inside, the Safdie-designed galleries are human-scaled. Separate wings contain important American art of different eras as well as special exhibits. ‘American’ occasionally loosely defined as the artist need not have been born in America. Something for all tastes. One can easily peruse all galleries in a few hours and remain pleasantly intrigued.

George Washington (Stuart) Sappho (Story) The Bubble (Frishmuth)

It is very queer, isn’t it? (Beard) Trophies of the Hunt (Pope) The Reader (Cassatt)

The Lantern Bearers (Parrish) R.L. Stevenson and his Wife (Sargent) Blackwell’s Island (Hopper)

Studio-End of Day (Koch) Self-portait of the Artist (Tooker) Airborne (Wyeth)

Rosie the Riveter (Rockwell), Hiroshima (Sobel) Popeye, Still Life With Mirror (Lichtenstein)

Moses and the Burning Bush (Haring) Trois Noirs sur un Rouge (Calder) Big Red Lens (Everseley)

Coca Cola (3)(Warhol) Self Portrait of the Artist as he will (not) be(Penny) Man on a Bench(Hanson)

Thanks to Alice Walton’s generosity, entry is free. Pre-booking for timed tickets is recommended as the gallery is immensely popular.

Walmart Museum, Bentonville

A small display located inside the first five-and-dime store bought in 1950 by Sam Walton. Birthplace of Walmart, showcasing the humble start of this retail behemoth’s exponential growth through time and geography.

The first five-and-dime Sam Walton’s office

Well-preserved older buildings, a small central park with fountain in downtown Bentonville contribute to an old-timey feel.

As an Environmental Studies undergrad at University, I skim-studied Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘organic’ philosophy/style of architecture and interior design. That of being part of, honouring and as one with nature. Heady concepts that made for eye and brain candy. Husband and I have visited several FLW communities and structures and have become familiar with his quirks and elements. Inviting nature inside with little visual interference, plenty of natural light, signature ‘Cherokee Red’ paint, emphasis on the heavy horizontal to tie to the earth, sculpture sprinkled around, curved lines, low-ceilings opening into expanded spaces, glass corners, louvered and clerestory windows, built-in furniture. Gorgeous, but his work was often plagued by ubiquitous cost overruns and favoured style over substance.

SC Johnson Global Headquarters, Racine, Wisconsin

Several years ago on a swing through Wisconsin to visit Taliesin at Spring Green, we found ourselves outside the famed FLW-designed SC Johnson Administration Building in Racine. SC Johnson was and still is a private, family owned and operated enterprise with well known brands including Pledge, Glade, Raid, Drano, Ziploc and Fantastik. An active business location, limited tours are offered on Fridays and Saturdays – not a day we were first there. So, this was one of our deliberate detours.

Low-ceilinged parking area/ reflecting pools outside looking in

Completed in 1939. the Administration Building is innovative and really beautiful, yet infamous. A large open space wrapped in plexiglass tubing to allow in natural light, punctuated by columns beginning impossibly slender and broadening to culminate in what is intended to resemble, from underneath, lily pads at the surface of a pond. The ceiling apparently leaked with the very first rainfall and still does. Wastebaskets are visible here and there to collect drips! We were not allowed to photograph indoors but the overall impression is stunning. Staff still use FLW-designed furniture. Some very much ahead of its time, perhaps uncomfortable, some possibly dangerous.

FLW office chair gift from staff

The tour also took us to two floors of the 15-storey Research Tower completed in 1950, no longer in active use. At first, it looks like a mundane mid-sized tower. Look closer, it is one of the tallest structures built on the cantilever principle. All floors are supported by a ‘core’ resembling the trunk of a tree.

The Golden Rondelle Fortaleza Building ‘The Spirit of Carnauba’

A couple of FLW sculptures, low-ceilinged parking area with reflecting pools and two other non-FLW structures are located on this site. One is the Golden Rondelle, built for the New York World’s Fair in 1964-65. This now houses a small film theatre and is starting point of tours. The other is contemporary Fortaleza Hall built along FLW principles with Kasota limestone from Minnesota, also found in FLW structures. The central rotunda houses a replica of the ‘Spirit of Carnauba’ amphibian airplane which company founder Sam’s grandson H. F. Johnson flew to Brazil in 1935 to secure a supply of the plant-based wax used in Johnson Wax and launched this enduring empire. Interesting to note that Sam began as a wood parquet flooring salesman!

Tours are free but timed tickets must be booked well in advance due to small tour group size.

Wingspread, Racine

Iconic 1937 prairie-style home designed for H.F. Johnson. One of the largest in this style at 14,000 square feet, with four wings and eight fireplaces, reveals many familiar FLW design concepts. The architect begrudgingly amended and added features to accommodate needs and desires of two young children. He disliked swimming pools, preferring reflecting pools, but added one. Also a Romeo and Juliet bedroom balcony for the little girl and a Crow’s nest for the boy.

Wingspread great hall, clerestory windows, crow’s nest

1 of 8 fireplaces jukebox-style record player private family room

Wingspread had its issues. There is this story: H.F. hosted a dinner party for dignitaries at the ‘disappearing dining table’ off the great hall during a rain storm. H.F. called FLW to complain that the ceiling was leaking right onto his head. FLW reportedly suggested H.F. move his chair!

Until recently, this home was used as a conference centre, now in a modern building on nearby shore of Lake Michigan. The great hall and some family living areas are open for public viewing. Again, tours are free but timed tickets must be booked in advance.

We traversed an alphabet soup of states and a province – AZ, NM, TX, OK, AR, MO, IA, IL, WI, MI, ONT. A new hotel room number every night. Ten days and nine nights on the road. The weather was iffy as always at this time of year. We luckily dodged severe storms, tornado warnings, even softball-sized hail by a day either way. Temperatures dropped as we headed north, leaves reduced in number, size and colour. We saw and heard Canada geese snowbirding like us. Though snow remaining on roadsides was pretty, dappling can hide deer and elk. We were warned of this potential serious driving hazard by souped-up signage. We did see a roadside gang of elk and a young deer darted out, then back.

We have been surprised, seen and learned once again. About two business titans named Sam and their lingering legacies. Rediscovered and relied on each other and our own strengths. Road trip songs made us smile along the way – Runnin’ on Empty, Life in the Fast Lane, Turn the Page, Born to be Wild, Radar Love… All those hotel rooms, restaurants, gas stations, don’t know where, but we found some cold germs to bring home – bah.

The circumference of Earth is 40,075 Kms. In 13 round trips to Arizona, we have travelled more than three times around. An impressive 120,800 Kms in 219 days on the road!

Miscellanea…