stats and hi-lites

we just handed over the keys to our truck, and now we're milking our ice waters at the sit-down restaurant for all they're worth in order to use the free wi-fi. waiting for Tess to catch her bus and Rosasharn to drive to the North Country.

bum tour's come to a close but we'll still be posting for a week or so.

meanwhile here are the stats:

2 bums
37 days
17 states
5050 miles
a lot of barbq
3 cherry mash
1 twin bing

and hi-lites:

Barbeque Song

I had a dream where I was told that if I wait until I start hiring a teacher to learn classical guitar, I'll die before I ever get anywhere with it. If I want to learn how to play, I have to let go of my perfectionism and start teaching myself. Bad form and all. If I want to become a songwriter, I'll have to do the same. Start out at square one, even without instruction.
Then I woke up and wrote this song. My first song ever! Complete with a music video to acompany it. (I apologize for the clumsy editing. Primitive program.). Inspired by the great gutteral longing produced by switching to bland, midwestern dining after driving around the South and the middle Mississippi just previous. Hope this wets your pallates. Enjoy!

--T

The Shrine of the Black Madonna, Eureka, MO

Yesterday the bumtour drove from St Louis to Kansas City, along the way visiting Missouri's only roadside attraction dedicated to the feminine divine: The Shrine of the Black Madonna in Eureka, MO.
Built over a period of 25 years by a Franciscan monk from Poland named Brother Bronislaus Luszcz, the shrine features a series of man-made grottoes built from local tiff rock, seashells, concrete, trinkets and geegaws sent from around the world.
Brother Bronislaus built these beautiful shrines all on his own, pushing wheelbarrows of rock up the steep hill and hauling water from a nearby stream to mix his cement.
The shrines celebrate not only Mary, Jesus and St. Francis, but also thrift and invention. Brother Bronislaus used local materials and tools. The pillars framing Our Lady of Perpetual Help (see video) were cast in coffee cans. A spray of cement flowers adorning the grotto were cast in cupcake tins, and the lambs and bunnies at St. Francis' feet were molded in Easter cake molds.
In addition, there is an outdoor chapel on the site dedicated to the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, (you can, and should, read more about this miraculous painting HERE, but for now you may prefer to just gaze upon her lovely face).