Day 2. Aug 13

We woke up in Mascoutah and had a nice breakfast at the Best Western. I just love those waffle makers!

Driving through St. Louis was wonderful. It was so green and clean. Flowers, landscaping, bridges, the arches - Gateway to the West, Busch Stadium (home of St. Louis Cardinal baseball), all while driving right through downtown.  Washington University of St. Louis was one of the law schools John III considered. It was beautiful, too. Would have loved to have stopped, but on we go.

Heading toward Kansas City, I realized we were very close to Glasgow, Missouri, where my paternal grandmother grew up.  After some deliberation and quick research, off we went!  The "highway" was so pretty and green and well-kept, and very much like a roller coaster ride! It was fun! No traffic made it more fun because with all the up, down, and curves I'm sure it could be scary meeting other cars. The town of Glasgow is idyllic to me. I had called ahead and we met the cemetery caretaker (also undertaker, grave digger, fireman, EMS) Scott, there. He showed us the Steinmetz plot. There were only a few there with iron fencing around them. He says, "you can tell they had money!"  We told him our next quick stop was to be Hazel Ridge, the old Steinmetz property. We have a picture of it, from "back in the day," and I always dreamed of being able to see it.  It has the plot number on it, and with a bit of quick research, I was pretty sure I could come close to locating it. Then he said, "Evelyn Steinmetz Brucks lives a couple of houses right up there. She's in her 90's. I'll bet she'd be tickled to meet you. Want me to take you up there and introduce you?" Why, YES!
I'm telling you, that was a gem. Evelyn's daughter was there, and we had the best time yacking it up and remembering my grandmother together.
When it was time to go, Jane Ann rode with us to show the old property! Her brother has actually bought back some of it. Isn't that cool?

When we left, we got to drive a whole lot of miles on no-traffic two lane highway that was just beautiful. We wound up hitting the next Interstate north of Kansas City.

The nation should not want for lack of corn. Miles and mile of corn, as far as one could see ahead, out to the side, and behind! They were only interrupted by the many casinos.

Spent the night in the Comfort Inn near the Sioux Falls airport.

Day 1 Aug 12

Started out a very gray day at 8:30 this morning.

 Then heavy fog.  And then heavy rain.

Finally brightened up.

Camera battery has died, so pictures will have to be added tomorrow night.  Phone data is already down to 74%, so I resorted to turning it off late this afternoon.

We waved as we went through towns where old high school friends live, and towns where parents of friends live.  I know they didn't see us, and I'm sorry we had to be in such a hurry, but I hope they felt our presence.  :-)

Lunch at Tudor's in Charleston, WV that I found in our AAA book.
The gold domed Capitol building was ready pretty from the highway. We love to tour Capitols, but we've "got no time,"

The Interstate went right through downtown Louisville KY and it was beautiful. So clean, and tidy. Loved all the bridges over the river.
John noticed the KFC Yum center, the new home of Louisville Cardinal basketball, right in then heart of downtown. It made us realize even more how Raleigh should have done the same.

Dinner at Denny's near Santa Claus, Indiana. And guess what? Santa Clause was there having dinner with some buddies!  When he finished, he stopped at every table and greeted children by name!  Zach at the table next to us  had just started kindergarten. He was special needs and in a wheelchair. It was the cutest thing. His grandfather took pictures of him snuggling up to Santa!  I do hope they have that printed at least 5x7 and share with him often.  Santa had on red pants and a great big belt buckle and a white tuxedo ruffled shirt with red trim.

We tried to stop for the night in The first town after Mount Vernon, but there was no room in the inn. Literally .... the one inn!  We found another about 25 miles down the road in our AAA book in Mascoutah. I called ahead and there were 3 rooms left!  So here we are, settling in, finally.

Tomorrow it's on to Sioux Falls, or maybe a bit farther.

T minus 1

Oh, today was such an experience. Trying to eat all the food that will go bad, finishing up the packing, mowing the lawn, etc. and then discovering Riley, our "new" one year old spayed Wheaten is not spayed after all. After talking with the vet and a friend with good advice, we're up late trying to make it as easy as we can for our pet sitter.
So sorry Caroline!!!!!!!
Up later than we meant to be. Got a long day ahead of us tomorrow!

Goodnight.

T minus 2

Today we had brunch with our dear supper club.  Then went to Target to buy an "iPad camera converter kit" so we can take pictures with our digital camera and transfer them to the iPad.  That way I can add pictures to the blog as we go and not have to depend on cell phone pictures entirely. 
Tonight we're having dinner with Drew.  I need to check the fridge before we go and see what is going to go bad.  He might get some strange hodge-podge of food that he can either use or throw out ... at least I can think it got used!

T minus 3

Today we started packing our bags to see how much we need to take.  Then we started packing the car with things for John III and making sure we have room for our luggage and, of course, the GOLF CLUBS and the bag for them to fly home.  Yep, we're going to be fine.  Plus, we have a canvas car-top carrier we can use once John III joins us in Portland if we don't have room for everything.

Now to get all the food in the house eaten that will go bad.  Or, we can give it to Drew when we see him tomorrow!

Making a list of all those last-minute items.

T minus 4

We leave Tuesday morning. We have a pretty well developed schedule. The 2007 Honda Civic has been in for the pre-travel check-up. Dog sitter has been hired and prepped. AAA membership has been upgraded and we got maps and books for every state we're going through, as well as pamphlets for each of the National Parks we plan to visit.
Concerns about data usage have been addressed. It turns out that overages on our plan aren't all that expensive. That's good, because playing games on my phone for hours on end, day after day might put me over. Well, that and searching for gas stations and best prices and restaurants nearby and downloading menus, and ...  I don't know... whatever else it is I can find to do on my phone or IPad while riding down the highway!
So, here we go....