<– Day 46 – Tues. June 18th: Shabu Shabu and Pipes | Trip Overview | Day 48 – Thurs. June 20th: Meeting Karson’s Team –>

Steve and I in front of this CJ-2A on a beautiful midwest afternoon.

On Wednesday we drove from Dodgeville, Wisconsin, to Kearney, Nebraska.

On Wednesday June 19th we drove from Dodgeville, Wisconsin, to Kearney, Nebraska.

In 1993, I visited the House on the Rock near Dodgeville, Wisconsin, for the first time. Mom, my sister, and my then ex-wife and I. We’d heard it was a popular place to visit, but no one could really describe why. After our visit, I could see why people couldn’t explain it. All I knew is that some day I hoped to experience it again.

On Wednesday (20 years after the first visit) I returned. I told Ann that you have to see the place to believe it. It starts with an unusual house built on a rock (actually part of it is cantilevered over the rock) and then becomes a series of collections and spaces ands spectacles. I told here there would be music, a giant whale, and the world’s largest carousel.

I felt beating the large crowds would make the experience even more enjoyable, so we arrived at their 9am opening time. The cost is $28 per person and the fact that I didn’t balk at that must have surprised Ann. Arriving early worked well. We spent most of our time wandering through the maze of paved streets and hallways by ourselves, armed with tokens to play all the different music machines (I’d advise getting at least $5 dollars worth of tokens.)

I won’t go into the history of how Alex Jordan created this amazing spectacle, but it seems a meeting with Frank Lloyd Wright and some subsequent spite played a huge role on why Jordan landed atop a rock. Just enjoy the pictures.

Here’s the entrance.

The house is made up of two parts. A long walkway connects the two. All of it has a Japanese theme. There’s lots of limestone, small spaces and neat angles. The infinity room is the most spectacular spot.

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<– Day 45 – Mon. June 17th: Three Museums & Steve | Trip Overview | Day 47 – Wed. June 19th: House on the Rock & Steve –>

Jeff and I in his shop’s showroom. The large brown book in my hand is the ‘bible’ on Wurlitzer Organs written and given to me by Jeff.

On Tuesday we started out in Chicago, then drove to Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

On Tuesday afternoon we drove from Chicago, Illinois, to Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

After a long night’s sleep, Tuesday we drove into Chicago to visit with Jeff Weiler, owner of JL Weiler, Inc. Jeff’s company specializes in the restoration and conservation of high pressure pipe organs. He wanted to show us his shop and the work he was doing on a Wurlitzer Organ from Sydney Australia and a second one that is being installed in downtown Chicago at St. John Cantius Church.

This series of binary relays represents the Wurlitzer Pipe Organ’s ‘computer’. It is complex and requires a great deal of wiring.

Of course, on this trip we’ve learned a thing or two about wiring! Here is the third harness weaver we’ve seen during our journey!

All the pipes and instruments have to be tuned. Here’s the contraption jeff uses to insure the completed organ sounds the way it should.

To properly rebuild the organs, Jeff has saved many documents. Here is just some of the Wurlitzer documents he has to reference. Here Tom and Jeff show me some of the blueprints they own.

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