17 An Extremely Large Ball of Twine

Chapter 17 An Extremely Large Ball of Twine "I bet you guys can't name three things invented in Nebraska," Coke asked the family. "No, but I'm sure you can," his sister replied. "Kool-Aid, CliffsNotes, and Eskimo Pies!" Coke proclaimed. "Ugh," Pep groaned. "How can you possibly know that?" Mrs. McDonald asked. "No clue," Coke replied. "Stuff just sticks in my head. I can't help it." Mrs. McDonald took secret delight in the fact that Coke seemed to take after her. Maybe, she thought, after she retired from writing Amazing but True, Coke might take it over. They both seemed to have a love for useless information.

Dr. McDonald didn't even hear what Coke had said. He was so tired from driving at this point that he could barely stay awake. He decided not to search for a campground to spend the night. He pulled off I-80 at the first exit, headed for the first pair of golden arches he could find, and parked in the corner of the McDonald's lot. He figured it was probably illegal to leave an RV overnight at a fast-food restaurant, but he did it, anyway. It's smarter to pay for a parking ticket than to fall asleep behind the wheel at seventy miles per hour. Go to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/). Click Get Directions. In the A box, type Kimball NE. In the B box, type Cawker City KS. Click Get Directions. The sleep did everyone good, and there was no ticket on the windshield in the morning. As a way of saying thank you, it was Egg McMuffins

for everybody. Mrs. McDonald took out her laptop and plotted the route to Cawker City, Kansas, home of the largest ball of twine in the world. It would be almost six hours of straight driving, she figured. When breakfast was done and the RV was gassed up, they were back on I-80. "Any of you guys ever heard of Carhenge?" Mrs. McDonald asked, looking in her Nebraska guidebook. "It's a replica of Stonehenge but with cars," Coke said, recalling a magazine article he'd seen while he and his mom were getting an oil change at Jiffy Lube. "Some guy half buried a bunch of old cars on his farm and welded them together to look like Stonehenge in England." "How do you remember stuff like that?" Pep asked, incredulous. "It's not that I remember so much," Coke replied. "It's that you remember so little." "Where is this Carhenge?" Dr. McDonald asked.

"Two hours north and east of here," Mrs. McDonald replied, "in Alliance, Nebraska." Dr. McDonald thought it over. They could stay on course and make it to the largest ball of twine in the world by late afternoon, or they could drive two hours out of their way to see a bunch of cars stuck in the dirt. It was a tough decision. "Tell you what," he said. "Next summer we'll go to England, and I'll take you to the real Stonehenge." "Deal!" everyone agreed. They continued along I-80, passing the small towns of Big Springs, Roscoe, and Paxton. They stopped for lunch in North Platte, home of the Fort Cody Trading Post, one of the largest souvenir shops in America. Standing outside was a gigantic Buffalo Bill, and inside there was a two-headed calf in a display case and a giant fiberglass buffalo. Anyone who can drive by that without stopping for a look has no sense of adventure.

It would be another 213 miles to Cawker City. But they were getting close now. Dr. McDonald pushed the gas pedal a little harder. The vast grasslands and treeless plains passing by made it seem as if the RV was moving in slow motion. Near Elm Creek, Nebraska, Dr. McDonald pulled off the highway to head south on Route 183. "Something tells me we're in Kansas," Coke said suddenly. "What tells you?" asked Pep.

"That tells me!" Then everybody saw the sign in the distance that read... Hooting, hollering, and cheering erupted from the RV as they crossed the state line. "Did you know that the state song of Kansas is 'Home on the Range'?" Coke announced. "Big deal," Pep replied. "Ball of twine, here we come!" The road was more narrow and gentler. Dr. McDonald eased off the gas to slow down and take in the scenery. They were in the country now, passing farms and churches, houses, and ball fields. "This is the real America," Dr. McDonald said, glancing from side to side as he drove. "The