End of Week 3

Week 3 is over. I'm halfway home.

Last day off we chilled in St Louis. Relaxing. Writing. Getting
things sorted.

Leaving St Louis last Thursday, we took the train out to the small
winery town of Hermann, Missouri. Cute little German-influenced
town. They call it the Napa of Missouri, for what that is worth. I
was amazed at all the old intact houses. Late 1800s most of them.. it
reminded me of the old colonial cities on the east coast. I found
out the old Courthouse on the hill might be altered greatly.. a new
approach, landscape, etc. It seemed a shame as it has the nice green
hill sloping down from the front steps, with a little road wrapping
around to the side. So I decided to paint a painting of the façade
and front greenery, to perhaps preserve it, and maybe find a buyer in
town.

Later I met Joey, a local artist with an arts collective in town.
She put me up in her place, I did a little drawing of her son Pablo.
We went for $1 burgers at a rural watering hole. He and his friend
Jason agreed to give me a ride down the road in his red 69 beetle.
Next day it was pouring. So off we went in the rain, stopping
occasionally to shoot driving shots. On one of the shots we took a
turn to quick and skidded of the road into ditch! After a moment of
panic, we started just laughing. All was good, we were able to just
drive off… but the skid marks are hilarious.

We arrived to our destination.. a town called Mokane, population 188
or 186 depending on the sign. After poking into the local tavern we
went up the street to local market. After a while of hanging around
with the owner Rick (and playing dominos with the local ladies) I did
a couple sketches of the his children.. they put me and up and gave
me a great tour of their house, barn, horses, muscle cars, and
fiddles…Rick's father was a legendary fiddle player. It was great.

Next day we went to see a taxidermist friend of Rick's. got a very
interesting tour and understand a lot more about how that is done…
Styrofoam molds underneath.. who knew? And he let me fire his
compound bow… that was pretty cool. My first shot went into the
field not to be found till later when the grass is mowed. But my
second shot hit the target. Pretty intense. Loads o fun.

On the way back we passd the local nuclear power plant, perhaps the
only reason Mokane is still doing ok. A great tour of the back roads
around Mokane… lots of farming and deer hunting lessons.

On to California. California, Missouri that is.

Let me sum up the sucking of my first day in Califronia. Missouri. --

Stuck in strip mall.
Burgher haus.
Hitched a ride to a local park to see a huge family reunion.
Hilarious. Tried to scare up a place to stay.. No good on lodging
cause all of them were from out of town.
Back to burgher haus… out of ideas. Ghetto motel next door out of
rooms. Stopped by the bowling alley next door, called "California
Lanes" talked with the owner. He agreed to let me crash in the ante
room. Better than being in the mosquitos and/or rain.

Owners of the burgher Haus were really cool—mike and jane. Did a
sketch of Jane and she drove me to my next small town in Missouri—
Russelville.

Russellville

written in russellville--
'I just woke up in Squeak's house in Russelville, MO. She is the
local bar keep here, and runs Squeak's place, the current incarnation
of the Russelville Bar, built in 1890. We were dropped in the middle
of town here yesterday, a Sunday, with everything apparently closed.
Russellville is cute, German roots I think, long past its glory when
the railroad ran right through town.
Anyways, we get dropped in town, and I have no idea what
I'm going to do. A kid coming out of the only bar says it is
closed. After a little while, Squeak pokes her head out and says,
"Come in if you want a beer. I'm not open but I have a Sunday
license." Down the rabbit hole.
So we go in, pass the afternoon with a beer and
conversation, and watch the sky get dark and thunderous. Big
downpour. I do a drawing of Squeak in her bar, she agrees to put me
up. I'm exhausted, and am looking forward just to crashing. After
wandering over to the pizza parlor (only place in town that is open),
we all eat and watch some local rednecks drive by. Or hillbillys.
Depends on your definition. I'm going to do a quick drawing
tomorrow for a pizza and a few dollars. Who said this would be
easy? But I love the idea that my little drawings will be left in
these little towns. Maybe the pizza parlor menu will have a Kenny
sketch on the front. Funny world.'

'Like most small towns around here, the economy is not good. In
addition to general downturn, gas prices seem to be wrecking them.
I'm shudder to think what the prices are back home. '

I did a tough sketch of Squeak's son's girlfriend's niece Grace who
had died at 4 days old. This may have been the toughest drawing so
far. I did my best, under difficult conditions.
Matt (Squeak's son) really appreciated it on behalf of his
girlfriend, and it was good enough for a ride was down to Windsor, MO.
A side note was the hillbilly gear in the back of Matt's truck. We
were cracking up about it: Empty bud light cans, two bottle of Jim
Beam of differing emptiness, and a small vodka bottle which was
filled with moonshine. Matt claims to never touch the stuff-- I took
a swig of the moonshine when we arrived in Windsor. I believe him.

Windsor was a bit strange. A bit depressed.. many closed shops on
the little mainstreet, and a general population that was pretty
skeptical of us outsiders. I did a nice painting of the water tower
in town, which may be torn down soon.
A really nice young couple came and offered their house and I took
their offer. Josh and Chyna are young artists and they were nice
enough to take pity on me. They took me in and offered me a ride to
Warrensburg (where I could catch a train) the next day. Upon learning
they were going for their art appreciation class I thought I'd crash
the class. I did a little lecture and made the class pretty fun. We
talked for a while about the project across country… with camera
rolling. It was a great day.

Josh and chyna drove me all the was to KC where I'm currently
laying low.

It all starts again tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Love to All.
k