Dear Bill

By Bill Wundram | Friday, March 07, 2008

Pricey birthday parties astound

“I, TOO, was shocked by your column last Sunday on the thousand-dollar kid birthday parties. I’m not an old geezer,” says Marianne Chambers, Bettendorf, “but when I was a kid, all we did was play Pin the Tail on the Donkey at a party. My mom baked a cake, we had Kool-Aid, and the whole works probably cost about $25, if that.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” a mom writes. “My daughter just turned 5. In lieu of gifts, she asked friends to bring dog food and supplies for the Quad-City Greyhound Adoption Center in Maysville. Lilly raised more than 300 pounds of food, dog treats and other supplies. We played Give Snoopy a Heart (similar to Pin the Tail on the Donkey), cat-cat-dog and other fun games. I hope this will give parents an idea for a birthday party that can make a positive impact on a charity of the child’s choosing.”

“You kind of feel, as a parent, that you have to keep up with the Joneses,” says a mom. “This is part of the reason we only allow our boys to have a ‘friend party’ every other year.

“TRY THROWING a party for the kiddies at Disney World. A thousand dollars will get you on the waiting list,” says Pam Smith, Davenport.

Pepping up the pace through Illinois

many agree the 450-mile drive south of the Quad-Cities through Illinois to Kentucky is duller than a ride across Nebraska. One suggested to drop off at a town called Monkey’s Eyebrow (honest). Another said to stop in Metropolis, home of Superman. Another recommends Mermet Springs, near the Illinois-Kentucky border, where a giant Boeing 727 is submerged in a quarry. Other suggestions  …

“I HAVE made that trip through Illinois many times.  It never changed until I found a different route, broken up into smaller segments. It’s a straight shot south through Illinois and I know it is about 20 miles shorter,” says J. Michael Sullivan, manager of product support operations for John Deere Construction & Forestry. Here’s his route for the encouragement and enlightenment of drivers. Clip out and paste to your dashboard:

“Follow I-74 to Peoria to I-55 south. Follow I-55 to Lincoln, Ill., and junction with I-55 south about 35 miles. Follow I-55 south to the 33 mile marker, State Route 4, about 100 miles. Follow Route 4 south 22 miles to Lebanon, and pick up I-64 about two miles south of Lebanon. Follow I-64 east 50 miles to Mount Vernon to I-57 south. Follow I-57 south for 45 miles to I-24 east. Follow I-24 east to Paducah, about 40 miles.”

 “We drive through Illinois to Nashville twice a year, staying overnight in southern Illinois. The back roads of Illinois are so interesting,” says Bob Vaughn of Aledo, Ill. “We try to go a different way each time. It’s the journey, not the destination. Get an early start and take your time. I suggest you eat lunch in a very small town. And say ‘Howdy.’ ”

Joann B. Nelson finds beauty in the Illinois countryside and corrects my spelling of Ophiem — not Opheim. She should know; she lives in Ophiem (pop. 140) and produces a letter from the Postal Service which changed records in 2003 to officially spell it Ophiem.

The way it goes

“Your column this week about trying to back up a car and getting stuck on a stone reminded that I have had a backing problem all my life. Once, in the Pacific during World War II, I was told to drive a U.S. Army truck but didn’t get a permit because I couldn’t back up the sucker,” says ex-Davenporter Roger Smith of Anamosa, Iowa.

Bill Wundram can be contacted at (563) 383-2249 or bwundram@qctimes.com.