So much fun that we didn't have time for the blog yesterday

Cincinnati chili fully lives up to its reputation.  We went to Blue Ash Chili as seen on Food Network's Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.  Debby had chili 6 way and I had 6 way minus beans.  What is chili 6 way?

• 2 way:  chili and spaghetti
• 3 way:  chili, spaghetti, and shredded cheese
• 4 way:  chili, spaghetti, shredded cheese, and onions
• 5 way:  chili, spaghetti, shredded cheese, onions and beans
• 6 way:  chili, spaghetti, shredded cheese, onions, beans, and deep fried jalepeno slices

Two through five are traditional; 6 is a specialty of Blue Ash Chili.  It was fantastic.  I put a little hot sauce on mine because cincinnati chili tastes great, but it isn't very spicy.

In the evening we went to the outdoor drama, Tecumseh, in Chillicothe.  It was a good drama and also quite educational.

The weather has been fabulous.  I actually had a couple of beach towels thrown over my shoulders and legs at the outdoor drama because it was so cool.  Since we left Illinois, we have had the top down on the car all day.  It has been so cool, we have not even had to raise the top during the warmest times, mid-afternoon.  We got a bit of a late start this morning because we had not done any planning the night before.  It was a good thing.  It was so cool this morning, we would have had to run the heater with the top down.

We finished the drive through Ohio and started in West Virginia.  Both have been beautiful.  The extreme hills of West Virginia take a little getting used to after the flatness of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.   Although the hills don't seem as tall yet as our North Carolina mountains, they seem closer to the side of the road and the views down into the valleys seem more extreme.

So today was mostly just a leisurely drive with courthouse viewing and geocaching.  Debby has a lot more adventure in her than I do when I comes to geocaching.  I don't go off into the weeds or reach under or into cavities.  She does so wholeheartedly.  Even so, we each have 1 chigger bite.  I have one fire ant bite and Debby has one thorn puncture, plus muddy shoes.

Lots of dots

 

This was what we saw first today.  It says:  CAN YOU READ THIS.  Well, as close as I can make it by inserting images of braille letter patterns in our blog.  We visited the American Printing House for the Blind.  It was a tour of their museum and factory processes and was extremely interesting.  They have been making materials for the blind and those with low vision since before the Civil War, beginning with raised lettering books (before Braille was invented and widely used), up through talking books that are similar to what we think of as books on tape.  Their product catalog includes all kinds of learning aides for use in schools for the blind, including globes, math and science materials, games and many other items. We saw examples of how book texts go from written or digital form to published braille versions, including binding.  At the end of the tour, we experimented with braille "typewriters" to produce our own messages written in braille.  It was highly informative and interesting.

Then we pressed on to our next tour of the Louisville Stoneware facility.  Although owned by many different people, they have been making stoneware since the early 1800s in Louisville.  They get their raw materials (dirt) from Indiana.  It is a large stoneware (to me, it's pottery) operation and they have many different patterns, plus they make all kinds of customized items.  We were able to learn about the process from the mixing of the dirt with water, drying and pressing it to make clay, shaping the pieces with molds or by hand, painting, glazing and firing the items til they are turned into stoneware to be sold and shipped. 

Then we headed back north from our Louisville detour to return to Route 50, passing through more lovely Indiana countryside under a bright blue, cloudless sky.

4 out of 5's not bad

Today was about a beautiful drive, geocaching, and courthouses.

After one more short visit with Mom and Dad, we headed down the road.  Finishing Illinois with stops in Olney and Lawrenceville and then into Indiana.

This is what the drive looked like.  I just pointed the camera behind Debby and snapped.  It just so happened that a route 50 sign was along side the road just at that instant.

In Indiana, we had stops in Vincennes, Washington, Shoals, Bedford and Brownstown.  Those towns are all county seats, so we visited their courthouses.  We also hunted geocaches in all of those towns.  We succeeded on our hunts 4 out of 5 times, only missing a find in Vincennes.

Then we buzzed down to Louisville, Kentucky for one of our planned detours.

Heading east...

We are truly underway as of today, heading out of St. Louis and starting across Illinois.  Route 50 in southern Illinois is a path through small towns and rolling farmland.  Many places along side the current route 50, the earlier route parallels.  It has lots of weeds growing up through the pavement and the old bridges are sitting rusting with barricades at each end.  It is interesting that the older route was not ripped out and removed.

Besides visiting the small towns and courthouses along the route, we had much visiting with  family today.  We met our cousin, Billie, in her hometown of Louisville.  It is only 6 miles off Route 50.  She took time off from all of her farming business to spend time visiting with us and treating us to cold beverages.  Then she took this picture of us.

We spent the afternoon with our parents and then had dinner with them, and our other two sisters and husbands -- a real fun time!  We'll visit with our parents a short while once again in the morning and then head on down the route towards Indiana.

What do butterflies and beer have in common?

They are both in abundance in St. Louis.  We spent the morning at the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House.  It was teeming with fluttering and darting bursts of color.  We saw butterflies eating, resting and loving.

Butterflies have an uncanny ability to close their wings right before you press the button on your camera to take their picture.  Regardless, they amazed and delighted us.

In the afternoon, we visited the Anheuser Busch brewery.  The brewery in St. Louis is both the original location for Anheuser Busch, started in 1851, and the largest Anheuser Busch operation, producing about 15 million gallons per year.  We saw the Clydesdales, the huge lager tanks, the mash cookers and bottling lines.  Unfortunately, the line we could see was down for maintenance so we didn't get to see the bottles and cans flying by.  We finished with refreshing beverages of our choice.  I had Shocktop, a Belgian white ale, and Wild Blue, a blueberry flavored lager.  Debby had a Pepsi.

All aboard!

In it's heydey, during the 1940's, Union Station in St. Louis handled 100,000 train passengers a day.  That's twice as many as go through Atlanta airport daily now.

That's where we are right now.

The station ended train operations in 1978, but was saved as a historic landmark and converted to a hotel and shopping venue. 

This picture shows the station's stained glass "Allegorical" window depicting St. Louis between New York and San Francisco.  It is located over one of the arched domes of the grand atrium.  We'll be exploring more of the atrium area tomorrow since it had somewhat limited access this evening due to a private fundraising event.

The drive from West Virginia to St. Louis was a flash down the interstate, not like our actual road trip, where we avoid interstate travel all together, instead stopping to explore all the little hamlets, villages, and wide spots in the road.

So now that we have arrived at our official road trip starting point, it's all aboard the Route 50 flyer!

Almost heaven...West Virginia

We drove through West Virginia, listening to Jimmy Dean. He entertained us with the story of Big, Bad John, Little Bitty Big John (Big, Bad John's son), and the Cajun Queen (Big Bad John's woman). He described the mine that took John's life as we drove past billboards touting coal for energy and through long, long tunnels that took us deep under the mountains while hearing the refrain..."at the bottom of this mine, lies a big, big man."


Now that it is daylight, looking out our hotel window, I can see past the tops of buildings to treetops, a bridge and the Ohio river just a couple of blocks away.
 
I knew it was time to retire Debby from driving last night when we approached the Walker Mountain tunnel (picture above) and she thought it was a fireworks building.  I know that is hard to understand, but if you've ever driven past the Tennessee Alabama Fireworks building along I-24, you could POSSIBLY see the similarity.  This is just a reminder that Debby can't see at night.

We are on the road again!

We are headed for our official starting point of St. Louis. 

Debby got into RDU about 5PM, after a short delay in leaving Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta.  We were on the road by 5:30.  We made it to Huntington, West Virginia, as planned, after stopping for dinner at Cousin Gary's in Pilot Mountain, just past Aunt Bea's BBQ restaurant and Mt. Airy.  Mayberry must have been just down the road.

We traversed 4 big mountain ridges and have made it to the downhill side.  There was some beautiful mountain scenery along the way. 

"Almost heaven, West Virginia."

And the odometer ended at: 

0355

Where are we starting from?

Debby starts like this -- Rockmart to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport to Raleigh-Durham airport.


View Larger Map

Jerry starts like this -- Carrboro to Cary (working for the man all day) to Raleigh-Durham airport.


View Larger Map

And when we roll out of the Raleigh-Durham airport, the odometer starts like this:

0000

I'm packed!

A toothbrush, a change of clothes, and a GPS.  That should be enough for two weeks, right?

Tuning up the electronics

We leave this week!

This weekend, among other preparation, was scheduled for getting all my electronic ducks in a row.  You know how those cords and batteries tend to wander off.  These were the ducks I lined up:

• backed up my laptop (for which I was way overdue),
• cleaned up the contents of my digitial camera cards,
• got a new wall charger for my cell phone,
• rounded up the car, wall chargers, and batteries for the camera, cell phone, and GPS,
• topped off my mobile broadband card for time and data,
• cleaned off a spare thumb drive, cause you just never know when you'll need one,
• organized my CDs into their mobile carrying cases,
• changed all the batteries in my home smoke detectors.

Ok, that last one wasn't strictly preparation for the trip.  However, I like to make sure that the detectors are  not going to go into their dead battery chirp mode (or worse) while I am gone so that they won't drive the kittens or Mom H. (when she is visiting to take care of them) berserk.

I don't like packing.  But I like making lists.   So I decided I could make the packing easier if I would make a detailed list to use for packing.  Debby laughed when I told her there were 78 things on the list.  Ok, so I'm a little compulsive.  But you'd be surprised how many items would be on your list if you wrote down every single item you put in your suitcase and toiletries.  After I've been on the road a day or two, I'll report back what I forgot...there's always something.

Fuzzy Wuzzy...

Fuzzy Wuzzy
Was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy
Had no hair
Fuzzy Wuzzy
Wasn't fuzzy, was he?
Was he bare?
 
I am!  All I have left is a little fuzz on top of my head.  There will be no problems with my hair blowing into my face while we travel with the top down on the Solara.  There isn't a hair on my head longer than 1 inch!

What city did we sleep in last night?

So we put our heads together (some people say it takes both of our brains put together to meet the IQ of a normal person) and came up with the following proposed itenerary for our upcoming road trip. I guess first, you need to understand that we are booking it on the expressway (with our eyes closed all the way in order not to see the scenery) to St. Louis in order to officially start our trip in St. Louis.

Friday, June 25: I fly to Raleigh, NC where Jerry will pick me up at the airport & we will drive to somewhere in West Virginia.

Saturday, June 26: West Virginia to St. Louis, IL (These two days will be the pre-game warm up.)

Sunday, June 27: Our trip officially starts with sightseeing in St. Louis---probably a tour of the brewery, the botanical gardens, etc. (You can see where we're staying in one of Jerry's earlier entries---looks cool!)

Monday, June 28: Leaving St. Louis heading east. Courthouses in Salem, Louisville and Olney, IL.

Tuesday, June 29: Spending the day in West Liberty, IL with family.

Wednesday, June 30: Heading east. Courthouses in Lawrenceville, IL, Vincennes, Washington, Shoals, Bedford, Brownstown, IN. Then, short detour to Louisville, KY

Thursday, July 1: Sightseeing in Louisville. Certainly wouldn't want to miss the "world's largest bat".

Friday, July 2: Back on route 50. Courthouse in Lawrenceburg.

Saturday, July 3: Heading east. Courthouses in Cincinnati, Hillsboro and Chillicothe, OH.
In Chillicothe we plan to see "Tecumseh"...The Ultimate Outdoor Drama Experience.
(http://www.tecumsehdrama.com/)

Sunday, July 4: Heading east. Courthouses in Athens, OH, Parkersburg, W VA, Clarksburg,

Monday, July 5: Heading east. Courthouses in Grafton, Romney, W VA, Winchester, Manassas, VA

Tuesday, July 6: Heading east to Arlington (looking for Trace)

Wednesday, July 7: Sightseeing in DC. We have scheduled tours for both the Whitehouse & the Capitol and also are planning a nightime tour of the monuments.

Thursday, July 8: Leaving DC. Driving through Maryland. Courthouses in Annapolis & Easton and on to Ocean City and the beach.

Friday, July 9: Relaxing at the beach!

Saturday, July 10: Heading home to Carrboro - visiting with family there.

Sunday, July 11: Debby - home to Rockmart!

We won't be covering nearly as many miles as we have on some of our previous roadtrips but have some serious sightseeing planned and of course, some geocaching along the way. I've just mentioned a few of the highlights here but we will keep you updated as we go. Looking forward to hitting "The Lonliest Road" again this summer.

There ain't nothin' wrong with the radio...

In the immortal words of Aaron Tippin -- 

Sometimes she runs, sometimes she don't
More than once she's left me on the side of the road
The older she gets the slower we go
But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio
She needs a carburetor, a set of plug wires
She's ridin' me around on four bald tires
The wipers don't work and the horn don't blow
But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio

I picked up the Solara from the shop after having a pre-road trip shakedown, including oil and filter change, lube, top off fluids, visual safety inspection, tire rotation and North Carolina emissions and state safety inspection. I've renewed the registration and am awaiting the new license plate sticker.

I'll wait til the week we leave to get a good wash and interior clean so she'll be all spiffy when we set out.

As of today, the odometer is at 173,874. With a beach trip this weekend and 2 1/2 more weeks of commuting, by the time we leave on June 25, it will be just under 175,000. So she's well used, but we're going to hope that she's not used up!

Mabel* is getting ready...

She's been loaded with the lastest map updates.  She even knows that you can't get through to Wabash Avenue via Henrietta Street in Effingham now.  The last time I tried using her up there -- a year or two ago -- she kept trying to take me via that route.  And for those of you who live up there, you know that you can't get across the railroad tracks that way anymore.

She still needs to be loaded with any points of interest that we want to make sure and map out on our route.

*Mabel is the name of my GPS.  You can't very well argue with someone who is giving you directions, if you don't know what to call them.  Hence, she has a name.  Also, you may note that my GPS is a female.  You don't really think we would listen to some man telling us where to go, now do you?  :-)

Our official starting point...

St. Louis. Although we've traveled through St. Louis on several of our previous road trips (Route 66, Great River Road, and Route 50 part 1), we've had limited time to explore the town. In fact, I don't think we have ever spent the night there. So I think we are going to stay at the Marriott in the historic Union Station.

 

It's just a hop, skip and a jump

I just got the mileage data in our planning spreadsheet.  It contains entries for mileage between the towns listed in our travel book, plus possible detours.  The route is just under a thousand miles with an additional 400 miles for possible detours.  Last year's portion was well over 2,000 miles so this will be just a mere jaunt!

Just goes to show these eastern states are miniature compared to the western states.  Last year, we travelled through 6 states (not counting Illinois) and this year will cover 7 states (plus Washington, DC).

So now it is time for Debby to do her daily drive breakdown using the mileage in the spreadsheet.  Part of the daily allotment is impacted by what fun stuff we decide to stop and do...some of which will only be decided along the way.  So she has to plan for where our whims might lead!

"Are we there yet?"

I don't really wanna be there yet. I just wanna get started. I just read through all of our blog from last year and it makes me wanna jump in the car. I'm pretty sure I must have a little gypsy in me.

I have plenty to do to keep me busy until we can hit the road but nothing I enjoy as much as traveling with Jerry. I'm planning a trip to her house for Easter week-end. We'll probably do some serious planning, scheduling & map perusing while I'm there.

Ready!!!! Set!!!! Is it time to go yet????

On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again....

Time to start planning the second leg of the journey -- St Louis MO to Ocean City MD.

And just to get us in the mood, I found this Route 50 theme song. 



This could be a good serenade for the journey!

Happy Trails

A lot has occurred since the last blog post. We spent Thursday morning strolling the quiet spaces of the Jefferson City, Missouri state capital. It's a lovely building. Perhaps not quite as grand as some we have visited, but notably filled to the brim with exhibits and art. Every rotunda archway, hallway, alcove, and wall space is decorated in some way. The outside of the rotunda, however, looks like it has a row of flesh-colored band-aids on it -- nothing nearly so flashy as the silver of Carson City or the gold of Atlanta.

Then we headed east toward St. Louis, stopping along the way at courthouses. However, just west of St. Louis, I made the call that we needed to just get on I-70 at St. Louis and beat it east to Effingham and a permanent bed. So we skipped the Illinois portion of Route 50. We have driven it before, on one of our side trips to see our parents. However, we didn't make the planned Route 50 stops. So we will have to say that we have done Route 50 from San Francisco, California through Missouri.

We later learned that our industrious cousin Billie, had not JUST planned a "hello" with us at the Louisville, Illinois courthouse, but had been sharing our story with a local reporter and we were slated to be met and photographed for the local paper. Our one chance at our 15 minutes of fame and I managed to blow it. Plus, I totally hosed Billie's plans. So sorry on that count.

So we got into Effingham about 1 day early. I hit the bed at about 4PM. As of the next day, I felt no better. Debby enjoyed a visit at the local hospital where one of our nieces (Miranda) had delivered her first little boy a couple of days earlier. Then she went out to Mom and Dad's for the day. I stayed at the hotel being pathetic.

I got the message from my parents that they wanted me to come and see them on Saturday, if I felt well enough, even if I did still have germs. When I got up today, I felt a little better. So Debby and I went to Mom and Dad's for a nice, comfortable visit. Our nephew Aaron and his Dad, George joined us at Mom's for a while. Then we had the pleasure of DeeDee (wife to Aaron) and their children, plus Karol and her daughter Jessica of joining us as Mom's. So it was a great visit. Debby was regaling them with stories of geocaching. So we all loaded up and went out on a couple of finds. Snagged them both. They are GOOD hunters.

Now we are back at the hotel and getting our things organized for heading to Indianapolis for flying home tomorrow. We have to remember to allow enough time to deal with the rental car company about the accident report. We hope that will be simple. I have all the paperwork filled out and the other driver's insurance agent has already contacted me with a claim number and an admission of liability.

What's next for us?

Debby will be home for almost a week, trying to catch up on her insurance statement transcription and handling some claims arbitration issues. Then on Saturday, Leslie, the boys and Debby head (driving) to Couer d'Alene, Idaho for Leslie's final move out there. I can't quite believe that. The distance is probably comparable to what we just did. (I'll try to remember to get our final mileage numbers from the car.) She'll stay with them a couple of days and then fly home.

I'll be back at work starting on Monday. I have a doctor's appointment at SAS health care on Monday at 1:15. This is the first day lately that I have not been in a lot of discomfort. I have a variety of symptoms, nothing pleasant enough to list here. But I have a feeling everything was complicated by total exhaustion. Early on, we probably should have spent a couple of days in a hotel just resting and recovering. In fact, someone's whose initials do NOT start with J kept suggesting that. But the other one never agreed. I'm still playing it by ear on whether I am going to ask Michael to come out to the airport and help me manage the luggage and drive me home.

Once I get accustomed to sleeping in my own bed, which will probably only take 1 night, I need to get started making reservations for the Brockett Babe September beach trip.

This was our 7th summer road trip. As far as I can recall, this is the first time either of us has had any major ailment. So, I guess we are still ahead of the game. Thanks for all of the home support and good wishes.

Jerrry and Debby