Road Trippin' - Part 1; Minnesota to Arizona

For our honeymoon, we took a road trip to the Grand Canyon and then on to Hoover Dam.  Because I was busy with the wedding plans, I left the trip planning to Hubby.  Little did I know at that time that we were somewhat following Route 66.  We traveled through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona along I-40, stopping at some of the small towns and attractions along the old historic road.  Ever since then I have wanted to go back and travel Route 66.   

Last winter on our way home from Florida, Hubby brought up the idea recreating the trip for our 20th anniversary which was in November.  I was so excited I immediately started planning; I wanted to hit all the things we missed the first time.  I guess you could say this trip was 20 years in the making.

The week before we left was filled with anticipation and disappointment.  My mother-in-law had recently passed away and the probate court date wasn’t until the week before we were to leave.  Hubby was waiting for a letter from the court so he could take care of some of her assets.  Each day the letter didn’t come I began to worry that we weren’t going to be able to go.  It was down to the wire and I hadn’t even started to pack or make hotel arrangements.  Two days before we were to leave, he got tied of waiting around for this letter and went to the courthouse to see if he could get it there.  Luckily he was able to get the letter and take care of what he needed to the next day and I was frantically cleaning the house, washing clothes, packing and making arrangements at the last minute.

Day 1:  Minneapolis, Mn to  Pratt, KS

We got up around 4 and were on the road by 5.   At home, we were experiencing unseasonably warm weather and heading towards a major storm that was wreaking havoc in Southern California. How this would affect us we weren’t sure.  We just crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.  We had great weather the whole day.  By the time, we hit Missouri it was in the 70’s.  I was hoping we’d make it to Kansas City by lunch so we could try some of the famous BBQ it’s so well known for but instead we ended stopping at a place in Bethany which was ok, but not great. 

Somewhere along the Kansas Turnpike

In Kansas, we traveled down I-35. If you've ever traveled through Kansas you’d know once you get on the turnpike there is absolutely nothing to look at for miles in all directions.   It’s a very long stretch of boring road with only a few places to stop for gas.  Seemed like we were driving for hours.  Once we left the Flint Hills area things got a little more interesting with a few trees on an occasional farm here and there.  My mother-in-law used to winter in Arizona and had found a "shot cut" between Wichita and Tucumcari, NM that would take us through some little towns and what seemed like back roads.  We stopped for the night in Pratt, Kansas.

Day 2:  Pratt, KS to Gallup, NM

The Temperature had dropped overnight and we woke up to fog and a chill in the air with temps in the 40’S.  Checking the weather for the day ahead, it was snowing in Flagstaff.  We thought we were going to shoot for Holbrook but it was another 12 hours of straight driving, no stops.  With the fog, we knew we wouldn’t make it.

Foggy morning on the Kansas plaines

We passed through a town called Hooker that had a Chinese massage parlor with table showers.  I’ll leave it up to you to figure out what it was. This shortcut we were talking sure didn’t seem like one as we passed through one cow town after another; some of them looking kind of sketchy.   It looked like a modern day wild west.  We thought we’d stop for lunch in Dalhart, TX, but it was Sunday and there wasn’t much open except for fast food and two Mexican restaurants.   We decided to stop at one but got ourselves turned around and were heading the wrong way.  When I saw what I thought was the restaurant we were looking for it looked busy so we stopped.   When we walked in it was pretty much empty and everything was in Spanish.  The four years of high school Spanish left me with just enough vocabulary to ask where is the bathroom, so we decided to not chance it and left.  There’s not much between Dalhart and Tucumcari but we did manage to find a bar and grill in a little town called Logan and finally got to stop for lunch around 1:30.

We joined up with I40 in Tucumcari, NM.  It was interesting to watch the landscape change.  In Kansas and Oklahoma, it was flat prairie, once we hit Texas the prairie changed to rough patchy shrub like ground cover and once we hit Tucumcari we started to see mountains.  I tried to capture the scenery as we drove by at 65-70 mph and surprisingly got some decent shots.  Nothing great but acceptable.  We stopped for the night in Gallup.  650 miles was enough driving for Hubby when he had been battling the traffic and wind all day.

Our hotel was nice but not without its issues.  The WI-FI signal for our hotel was weaker than that of the hotel next door so every time I tried to get online it either wouldn’t connect or would kick me off in a matter of minutes.   And just before bed we had to switch rooms due to a plumbing issue but overall it was clean, comfortable and quiet.

Day 3:  Gallup, NM to Page, AZ 

What a difference a day makes.  The other day I was getting snow and rain alerts on my phone as we traveled and we passed by some areas where we could see the snow or rain falling in the distance. Arizona snow storms are different from those in Minnesota.  Wait a day or so and it melts; where at home if we get dumped on it sticks around for months.

We woke up to light rain and clouds but it quickly cleared to cloudless blue skies.   On our way, out of Gallup, we drove down part of Route 66 to get the freeway.  I guess I was expecting it to look like it did in its hay day and was a little disappointed to see a mix of rundown empty buildings with the new.  It’s a shame that the interstate pretty much killed the little towns along the way.

Giant Route 66 shield, Winslow, Az

San Fransico Peaks, Flagstaff, AZ

We stopped for a quick photo op in Winslow.  The giant 66 road shield in the intersection of Old Hwy 66 and N Kinsley Ave at Standin’ on the Corner Park.  From Winslow, we got our first look at snow capped mountains.  The San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff.  Little did I know we would be driving almost right at the base off those mountains when we turned on to Hwy 89 heading for Page.  It was an awesome view, but to close to get any decent photos.

On our way to Page, we stopped at Sunset Crater National Monument.  Since it was President’s day admission was free.  We drove through the park stopping to walk through the Bonito Lava Flow and then drove up to the volcano overlook.

Hubby and I at Sunset Crater.  The volcano is the peak behind us

Sunset Crater is two parks in one.  Drive farther through the park and you come to Wupatki National Monument where you can visit ancient pueblo ruins. 

Wupatki pueblo ruins

It was after lunch when we left the park, we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and we weren’t sure if there was any place to stop before reaching Page,  which was still 2 hours away.  There really isn’t much along this stretch of highway.  It’s all reservation land with small communities here and there.  Some of them have little vendor booths you could stop at to buy local arts and jewelry.  When we came through there were only a few open and most of them looked like little shacks about to collapse.

As we got closer to Page we had our first taste of mountain driving with switchbacks, steep uphill climbed and cliffs that dropped off right next to the road. We were both nervous, Hubby was gripping the steering wheel while I was holding my breath and praying.  We made it into town about 3:30. After getting settled in to our hotel room we went looking for something to eat.  That was kind of tough since just about everything was closed for the holiday or for the season or just because it was Monday.  We did find a bar and grill open and had an early dinner.

After dinner, we were looking for something to do but since there wasn’t much open we didn’t have very many choices.   I suggested Horseshoe Bend.  It was one of the reasons we had come to Page and since it was late afternoon the sun would be setting by the time we got there.   I really wanted to get a sunset photo over Horseshoe Bend, but as I discovered this was the wrong time of year.  The sun was setting off to the side and it was cloudy so there wasn’t much of a show.  I had read about the hike to the edge; and thought ¾ of a mile would be easy;  but what I wasn't prepared for the fact that most of it was down a steep hill that you had to walk back up.  

Horseshoe Bend from the top of the hill. Look close to see the tiny people along the rim

We stood at the top of the hill and considered turning around and leaving.  Looking down at the tiny people dotted along the rim, Hubby asked where the guardrail was.  See I had neglected to tell him there wasn’t one; knowing he would refuse to go if he knew.  I told him we were already there and if he came with me that night I wouldn’t make him come back; as I had no intention of coming back when the sky was clear try for a better photo.    

Horseshoe Bend at the rim

Slowly we made our way down, watching the people coming up who looked exhausted.  We got to the rim and stood back for a bit watching people take selfies with their backs to the edge while sitting just inches away.  One wrong move could send them over the edge 1000 feet to the bottom.   This made Hubby very nervous and he couldn’t watch for very long.  I summoned up enough courage to stand about 3 feet from the edge and take a few pictures but it really made me nervous when just as I was about to snap some pictures this guy, totally oblivious to anything other then himself, comes and stands right in front of me.  One wrong move could of sent us both over the edge.  He did this a few times not just to me but to a few other people as well. 

  

We spent about a half hour at the rim.  The sun was going down and we wanted to be at the top of the hill before it was dark.  I don’t know how long it took us but right towards the end was the toughest.  I had to stop and catch my breath a few times, this other couple who was coming up behind us stopped to ask if I needed help.  I politely declined and told them I made it this far I could make it another 100 yards or so.  It was dark when we got to the top of hill and I stopped to take a picture of the city lights in the distance, but it didn't turn out because I didn't have my tripod.  We made our way back to the hotel and collapsed in bed for the night.  We had to be up early for tomorrow’s adventure.

 Road Trippin' - Part 2; White Pocket

Running away from home

Recently the Hubby and I ran away from home for two weeks.  We drove all the way from Minnesota to Florida.  Stopping in Loretto, Kentucky to visit Maker's Mark distillery and Nashville, Tennessee to visit the George Jones museum (Hubby's a fan).  And finally after four days of driving and getting a little lost we arrived in Bradenton, Florida. 

The weather was beautiful.  It was hard to believe just a few days earlier it was middle of February and we were in winter coats.  Here it was 70 and sunny and felt like late May.

We got into town about 3 pm and spent the afternoon just setting in; we had 3 full days to spend sightseeing.  

Sarasota Farmer's Market

In the morning we got up and headed to the Sarasota Farmers Market.  Because we work all summer we don't get to go to the farmers markets around home so it was really neat to see all the fruits and vegetables and other things for sale.  We ran across some items that we weren't quite sure what they were as they weren't something found up North.  I came across one booth that was selling fresh pineapples and coconuts with straws.  I love pineapple but have never had a fresh one before (only canned) so I bought one, they peeled it for me and I had breakfast for the next couple days.  I also bought a coconut thinking I'd take it home whole; but before I knew it the gal behind the table had punched a hole in it and inserted a straw.  So I walked around the market drinking coconut water right from the coconut.  I didn't have any way to crack it open afterwards and tried to keep it from spoiling by keeping it in our room mini fridge.  But after doing a little research I found that coconuts will only last about a week after they've been tapped and since we would be on the road for at least 2 weeks it just wasn't to possible to keep it fresh for that long and I had to throw it away.  

There were also prepared  food vendors at the market.  We tried empanadas, some German pasties, a pulled pork sandwich and a turducken sandwich.  They were all good except the turducken; yuck.  Hubby liked it though.

Mote Marine Lab & Aquarium

After the farmer's market we headed to Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium where we saw all kinds of sea life from the tiniest seahorses to manatees and sharks. My favorites were the sea turtles and manatees.  Before we left home the plan was to spend a night in Crystal River so I could swim with the manatees but once I saw how big they really were; I got a little scared and decided to skip that part our trip.  Maybe someday.

After leaving the aquarium we headed to a little seaside bar called the the Old Salty Dog and tried conch fritters.  It's kind of like a hush puppy with little pieces of conch.  We couldn't really taste the conch other than a slight seafood taste to the fritter.  Which was fine, I think if I could see or taste to much of it I probably wouldn't of eaten it. It's one of those things you're better off not thinking too much about.

Big Cat Habitat

Before we left home I had heard about Big Cat Habitat and Sanctuary, but after reading a few reviews I was a little reluctant to go.  The negative reviews mentioned small cages, not much of a natural habitat for the animals and the fact that they do circus like shows kind of turned me off, but I wanted to go see it for myself.  When we got there it was explained that all of these these animals were rescue animals who otherwise would've been put down.  I felt much better and could see for myself that they really were loved by their caretakers.  I was able to get some good photos of these gorgeous cats.  The other animals there included monkeys, parrots, bears, camels, and farm animals.

After all the walking we did the day before we decided to take it easy the next morning and headed to the beach. From our hotel, it was a straight shot to the beach on Anna Marie Island.  It was a Sunday morning and the beach was pretty quiet.  There were two large groups sitting in a circle for what I assume was some kind of Sunday service. How cool to be able to attend church on the beach.  We pretty much had the beach to ourselves except for a few people walking.   As we approached the water I saw 3 dolphin swimming by.  That was a treat to see; as I had never seen a dolphin in the wild before. 

Anna Marie Island, Manatee Beach

We planted our camp chairs in the sand and just watched the gentle waves lap at the sand while we soaked up the sun.  I took my shoes off and dug my toes in the cool sand and after a while dipped them in the water.  The water was colder that I was expecting but it felt good.  Around lunch time the beach was starting to fill up; we decided it have lunch at the beach cafe and see the rest of Anna Marie Island. Somehow we found ourselves at a pier where we found the pelicans watching people fish and trying to steal their bait.

Sunset over Longboat Key

It was Valentine's Day, and I had booked us a sunset cruise on a catamaran.  So later that afternoon we went to go meet our captain.  We had a great cruise.  It was just us and two other couples.  We all sat at the front of the boat as the captain hoisted the sails and we sailed with the wind.  Watching the sun go down over the water was a great way to end our valentine's day at the beach.  

The next morning we hung around the hotel doing some laundry and resting up and later decided to take a drive to Siesta Key.  The only island in the area we hadn't seen yet. We stopped at a few wine places and tried some tropical fruit wines and just drove around looking at the beach houses.  Later we watched the sun set as we sat on the beach again and had dinner at a beach side restaurant.

The next morning was our checkout day, so we packed up and headed for St. Augustine. We got to St. Augustine late in the afternoon.  Everything closes around 5 in town so that afternoon we were only able to do the distillery tour at St. Augustine Distillery and a wine tasting at San Sebastian winery.  

St. Augustine Distillery

I had done a little research on St. Augustine before we left and I'm glad I did.  I found out the best way to see the city was to buy trolley tickets and you could park your car and hop on and off the trolley all day long to get from one place to another.   Parking and driving in St. Augustine can be kind of a nightmare, very narrow streets.  We bought the 3 day trolley pass and rode the whole route once listening to the history and points of interest, then decided where we wanted to get off.  We spent a good deal of time walking along St George St. where there were shops and restaurants. About mid-day we found ourselves in front of Flagler College.  I would've liked to take a tour but we were there at the wrong time.   The architecture in town is beautiful and we spent most of our time walking around taking pictures of the old buildings.  Eventually we ended up along the bay front and visited the Castello de San Marco; the Spanish fort built in the 1600's.  It was interesting to see the old canons and to walk along the top fort walls looking over the water.  While we were there we watched a mock pirate attack, some of the young kids there thought it was real and kept saying "We have to fire the canons and stop the pirates!"

That night we had tickets for a ghost tour.  Hubby isn't into that kind of thing,  but he humored me.  I'm a fan of Ghost Hunters and remember watching an episode where they investigated a few places in St. Augustine, and I was hoping this tour would take us to those places.  The only place on our tour that was featured on Ghost Hunters was the Old Jail.  It was interesting that we had toured the jail that morning.  The day time tour doesn't talk about it being haunted and while our group was standing in one room on the first floor I clearly heard the slam of a cell door from upstairs.  We were the first tour of the day, and nobody else was in the building, so who slammed the cell door?  Nobody else reacted so I'm not sure if I was the only one who heard it.   

Unexplained light streaks.  Ghosts?

After my experience earlier in the day, I was very excited to tour the jail on the ghost tour.   I had overheard an employee telling another tourist that he wouldn't go into the jail alone day or night,  so I was expecting something to happen.  The actual tour was more listening to actors tell local folklore, much like the the daytime tour, but with a spooky twist.  It wasn't really what I was looking for, but it was fun.  There was a family with two preteens who were getting a little freaked out though.  As we toured the jail that night I waited to see if I would hear the slamming cell door again but never did.  I had my cell phone to take pictures and I caught some streaks of light but I'm not sure what to make of them.  Might be a bug, might be light reflecting from somewhere.  I'm not so sure it's a ghost.   

Before we left the South to go home I decided I wanted to try chicken and waffles.  I searched up the best place to get chicken and waffles in St. Augustine and found the Metro Dinner.    The Metro has been featured on Diners Drive ins & Dives so I figured it had to be good.  Never having had chicken and waffles before I wasn't sure what to expect.  When the waitresses brought me a small bowl with pancake syrup and hot sauce I began to wonder what I was getting myself into.  Being of Scandinavian descent I don't eat too many spicy foods and Hubby likes to joke that parsley is about as spicy as we Swedes get.  Hot sauce in my pancake syrup was way out of my Scandinavian taste palate.  I must of made a face or something because the waitresses said “I know.  It sounds crazy but somehow it works with the chicken waffles.”  And she was right, it was crazy but somehow it worked.  Although I only used it to dip my chicken into, there was no way I was dumping it on the waffle.

After lunch we headed over to Anastasia Island where the St. Augustine lighthouse stands.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

164 feet tall; 219 steps to the top or 14 stories and we climbed them all.  Let me tell you, it wasn't easy.  It's a very narrow spiral staircase and people are trying to go down while others are coming up.  Luckily there's a landing in between each set of stairs to stop and rest if you need to or to let others by.  Since we're both overweight and I have a bad knee it took us awhile but we took our time and eventually made it to the top.  It was windy that day on the ground, and it was super windy at the top.  So windy that Hubby didn't stay out on the observation deck with me.  I was determined that since I made it this far I was going to get the full view.  Hugging the wall, I inched my way around the top of the lighthouse taking a few pictures for a full 360 view.  If going up was hard; going down was harder.  My bad knee was tired from the climb and hurt to bend it and on top of that I was starting to get vertigo.  I really had to concentrate on one flight at a time; stopping on each landing to get my head straight before proceeding.  I was very happy to be on the ground when we finally got to the bottom.

On our way back to the hotel that night I told Hubby I was ready to go home.  We had been on the road for almost two weeks and we still had the drive home.  This morning we got up, packed our stuff  and checked out of the hotel.  Before leaving town we made one more stop at the beach and spend a little time looking for seashells before saying goodbye to Florida.  When we started this trip I suggested we buy a RV when we retire and travel across the country.  I still want to do that but to a lesser extent, I realized I missed the kids and our animals.  With every mile Florida gets farther behind us and I realize how much I appreciate home.

Next year, we're heading West.  Following Route 66 to Arizona.  We took that trip 20 years ago as newlyweds, so it will be sort of a second honeymoon.

Vacation plans gone awry

It seems our family vacations never go as planned.  Something always happens that changes the whole mood of the trip.  Oh we start off with the best of intentions but somebody gets sick, or something breaks down, or sometimes mother nature has other plans.  This trip was no different only we had mother nature, car trouble, and technology bugs against us.

We left early Christmas morning from Minnesota headed for the Alabama Gulf Coast.  One last big family trip before our daughter, Alison, graduated high school.  We had planned to spend a few days on the beach, even if the water temperature was only around 56 degrees.  Taking in a dolphin tour and then heading to Huntsville to the NASA Space Center, so our son, Jim, could see some rockets.

We packed a cooler with some lunch meat, bread, some water and chips; knowing that there weren’t going to be to many places to stop for lunch on Christmas day.  We made it through Wisconsin and into Illinois by 10:30 am.

We had heard about winter storm Goliath, but mostly what impact it would have on the weather at home.  We thought we’d be ok if we put as many miles between us and it as we could.  I checked the weather in Mobile before we left and it said rain, but rain was better than snow, right?

Picnic lunch in December

We had driven most of the day only stopping for gas, when Al decided to stop for lunch around 3 pm at a rest stop in Effingham, Il.  (Its a real town, look it up) It was a chilly 52 degrees outside, but we needed to stretch so we grabbed the cooler and had a picnic at one of the tables outside the rest stop building.  As I pulled out the lunch meat I packed; I noticed there wasn’t as much in there as I thought.  Looking at the package date I realized I grabbed the wrong package and the lunch meat was about 3 weeks old.  Not wanting anybody to get sick, I threw it in the nearest garbage can.  Luckily Al had packed some summer sausage and I bought some peanut butter at the last gas station we were at so we were able to put together some kind of lunch.

Once back on the road we heard about the flooding that Goliath was causing in the south and wondered how it was going to affect us, but we pressed onward to Paducah, Ky.  As we got closer to Paducah, the weather reports weren’t good.  Severe flooding in Alabama and parts of Tennessee and it was only going to get worse.

We spent the night in Paducah in a motel room with 2 double beds and a sofa sleeper.  Being on the heavier side of the scale, Al and I prefer a king bed, we can both fit on a queen, but there was no way we could both fit on a double.  I volunteered to share a bed with Alison, since Al was doing all the driving and needed his rest, and Jim claimed the sofa sleeper.  But the beds were still too narrow for Alison and I to share; so she decided to sleep on the sofa cushions on the floor.

Our only choices for dinner that night were Applebee’s, where there was an hour and a half wait, or Subway.  Hungry from our measly lunch we decided on Subway, where we saw an Amish family eating dinner.  Huh?  The Amish eat at Subway; who knew?  When we left to go back to the motel one of the kids asked me where their buggy was.  I figured since it looked like they were there with an English family, that they must have come in a car and since there wasn’t anything else open, what choice did they have.

Back at the motel room we watched the weather and saw that high winds had shut down a fishing pier in Mobile and that Huntsville had gotten 4 inches of rain in a matter of minutes.  It was pretty clear right there that we weren’t going to make it to the gulf.

The next morning, we got up and decided we’d try doing some cave tours instead and headed for Bowling Green, Ky.  Al checked the map, and I set the GPS on my phone and off we went.  Only it wasn’t that simple.  Al was trying to follow the map and I was trying to give directions from my GPS and before we knew it; we were lost.  I reset the GPS for the fastest route and instead of taking a freeway or highway, it chose to drive us through every small town and backroad it could find.

Eventually we got there only to find the cave tours were closed due to flooding also.  Ok, yeah I get it, underground is probably the last place you want to be when it’s flooding.  So we settled on the National Corvette Museum instead.  What could go wrong there?

We walked up the ticket counter and I was floored by the price.  $35 for the four of us to go look at some cars?  But where else were we going to go; so we paid for the tickets.  Just off to the side of the ticket counter was a convertible corvette that they allowed you to get in.  I thought it would be fun to get a picture of the kids in the driver’s seat and had to wait for the family in front of us to finish their turn.  The grandpa, got in, they snapped a few photos and when he tried to get out, the door wouldn’t open.  They told him to unlock the door and then try it, but it wouldn’t budge.  Then they tried the outside handle and nothing.  Next they tried both the outside and inside handles together and it still wouldn’t open.  The old man was getting frustrated as his family tried to hold back the giggles.  How does somebody lock themselves in a car and can’t get out?  In a convertible no less. The kids decided they didn’t want to mess with it and we went to go look at other things.  We never did see how they got the old man out of the car, but we had a good laugh about it the rest of the day.

1953 Corvette

The corvette museum was ok if you’re into that kind of thing.  It was kind of cool to see the old styles of corvettes, since all I know are the styling from the early 80’s.We got to see the room and cars that fell into a sink hole in 2014.  There was an outline on the floor showing where the sink hole and cave underneath the floor was, and a window in one part of the floor so you could see just how far down it was (about 20-30 feet according the museum website).  That made me a little nervous, especially with all the rain and flooding going on in the area.  What if it were to happen again while we were standing there, but I’m sure they have some measure in place to keep that from happening again. (The sink hole was filled during reconstruction.)

Next we headed for Union City, TN to go to something called Discovery Park of America.  We weren’t really sure what it was since their website didn’t explain to much, but it looked like it had some science type exhibits.  If Jim couldn’t see rockets, at least he’d be able to see something science related.

Before making it to Union City, Al asked as a joke if we wanted to go see the Eiffel Tower in Paris, TN, since it was kind of on the way.  I said, “What the hell, it’s not like we’re ever going to see the real one.”  So we set the GPS for Paris.

We knew we weren’t going to get there before dark so I called ahead and got us a room.  Checking in I asked the desk clerk if there was anything else to see besides the tower and she said that was about it, but she thought they might have decorated it for Christmas and gave us directions to the park.  After settling into our room, we went to check it out.  No Christmas lights to be seen.  Just the tower under some street lights.  I was hoping to take some Christmas light photos but at this point I didn’t care.  I set up the camera and tripod and took a few of the tower against the black sky.  After we had dinner, it was still warm and humid, so we went for some ice cream and sat outside to eat it.  It was pretty clear to the locals we weren’t from around there.  We kind of stuck out like a sore thumb.  We didn’t talk with a southern drawl and we were the only ones sitting outside the Dairy Delight in short sleeves, while the locals sat inside with sweaters and sweatshirts on.

Paris, TN

In the morning we got up and went back to the tower to take a few selfies.  Everybody was in a fairly good mood for having our plans thrown out the window.  As I told Alison, “Thank God for a sense of humor, otherwise all we’d do is cry.”  Before leaving town we wondered where we could find some souvenirs, but there was none to be found.  Nobody sold anything even remotely related to Paris or the tower.  NO SOUVENIRS FOR YOU!

Union City, TN

We headed off for Union City then.  Discovery Park was more than I thought it was.  Part history, part science, part children’s museum.  You name it, they had it there.  In the main building there was a section devoted to transportation and military. A section for Tennessee history, an aquarium, dinosaur bones, civil war uniforms and weapons.  The top floor was for the universe, space and energy and an interactive hands-on place for kids with a 50-foot sculpture that also doubled as a slide.  Outside there was a settlement village, a barn full of antique tractors, a general store, a one room school house, and grist mill with working water wheel.  Another part of the park that we didn’t see, had a church, Japanese gardens, a train depot, a maze you could walk through and more.

Figuring this was all the further south we could get we decided to head for home after leaving Union City.  When Al missed the turn for the freeway, the GPS took us down every backroad it could find to get us back to the freeway.  We drove through areas no tourist was meant to see.  Down roads so narrow it was difficult to stay on the road when a car came from the opposite direction.   Threw areas where both sides of the road were flooded almost up the road; we even came to an area that had to be detoured because the road was flooded over.  Eventually we made our way back to the freeway and headed back toward Illinois.

We spent the night in Marion, IL.  Finally, a hotel with a pool so the kids could swim.  Watching the weather that night; snow was moving in to Minnesota, Wisconsin and Northern Illinois.  Al wanted to try and beat the storm home, but we still had a ten-hour drive ahead of us.  We went to bed early but nobody slept well that night.  Alison slept in a hard uncomfortable recliner and sometime in the night ended up on the floor, Jim chose the sofa sleeper, but decided not to pull the sleeper out until after we had been asleep for a few hours.  Al and I had a king sized bed, but there were sirens going off what seemed every 20 minutes and it made me wonder what kind of area we were staying in.

In the morning after watching the weather, Al asked me if I thought we should stay put for one more night or leave and see how far towards home we could get.  Knowing he wanted to get home I agreed to leave, so we packed up and went.  Along the way I checked out motel websites and picked a few in different towns in case we needed to stop.  The weather wasn’t great, rain and strong winds, but it wasn’t terrible either so we kept driving.  It wasn’t until our first stop that he told me something was wrong with the car.  He said it wasn’t handling that great.  I had noticed it wanted to pull to the left, but I just assumed it was the wind pushing us.  It was a fight to keep the car in our lane.

It wasn’t until we got north of Bloomington, Il that things took a turn for the worse with the rain turning to sleet and you could see the ice coating the trees as we went by.  It was in the middle of nowhere along I-39; where there’s only a truck stop and a Motel 6; that we stopped for the night and it was only 1 in the afternoon.

We got two rooms at what Alison best described as an upscale crack den.  At least it was clean because it wasn’t much else.  We ate lunch at the nearby truck stop and while we were waiting for our food the lights flickered and went out.  “Oh-oh”, I thought,” this isn’t good”, but they came back on just a few minutes later and all was good.  As we were moving our stuff from the car to the room, Al said “Maybe we should use the stairs after we get everything in the rooms.”  He was right, shortly after setting in, the power went out again and stayed out for about 3 hours.  Being out in the middle of nowhere we wondered how long it would take for the power to come back on since we weren’t a top priority.

When the power did come back on, we hung around the motel watching TV until dinner time and then headed over to the truck stop for dinner.  The restaurant had closed during the earlier power outage, but there was a subway and the gas station sold pizza by the slice.  Just as we walked in the door the power went out again.  At Subway they said they couldn’t take any new customers that they hadn’t already started their order, so our only choice was the gas station pizza.  They had one pizza with a slice missing and we bought the rest of it.   

This was about the time our humor broke.  We had spent the last couple days trying to keep up good spirits; but this was just too much.  Jim was having a meltdown because nothing had gone right the whole trip and the rest of us were just tired of having to deal.  Jim decided that now would be good time to go off somewhere to pout and had us searching for him in the dark with our cell phone lights, while the gas station attendants were trying to call the power company, herd everybody out and lock the doors.

After a few minutes, we found him in the hallway that connected the gas station to the restaurant.  We paid for our pizza and went back to the motel.  Al said, “It could be worse.  We could be stuck in the elevator.”  Yeah, that would be worse.

Before going back to our rooms, I stopped by the front desk to ask for extra blankets since we didn’t know how long the power was going to be out this time.  Earlier Alison had asked for an extra pillow and was refused saying there was already 6 in a room, but our room only had 4 so I don’t know where the other two were.  She asked how many blankets I needed and I told her 4.  She looked at me, and said there’s already one blanket on each bed.  I wanted to scream, “REALLY?  DO YOU REALLY EXPECT US TO STAY WARM WITH ONE BLANKET AND NO HEAT!  YOU COULDN’T EVEN GIVE US A PILLOW EARLIER!” But I didn’t, I explained that we had 4 people in 4 beds, we needed 4 blankets.  She handed them over reluctantly, with a look like I was going to steal them.  “Yeah, that’s just what I came here for,” I thought as I walked back to the room, “to steal ugly motel bedspreads.”

We ate the pizza in the dark.  Then since there wasn’t much else to do Al went to bed.  Alison and I sat on her bed staring out the window towards the interstate.  Where we watched an occasional semi drive by and the lights of the nearby town off in the distance slowly dim and eventually go out.  We knew then the power could be out for quite a while.

I have no idea what time I fell asleep, but I woke up around 3 when I heard Al rooting around.  He hadn’t slept hardly at all because he uses a c-pap machine and no power means no c-pap.  About 3:30 the power came back on, Al was finally able to turn his machine on and get some sleep, but me on the other hand, I was wide awake.  So here I sit, typing on my phone.

We’ve stayed in crappy motels before, so it’s not like we were expecting luxury accommodations, but an extra pillow and blankets would have been nice to get without having to partially beg for them.  We were never so happy to get out of a motel as we were that morning.  The thought of spending any more time there than necessary was appalling, and Al reminded us to use the stairs because he didn't want to be stuck there in the in the elevator for another 9 hours.  We spend $120 to spend the night in a dump with no heat or electricity.  I told Al maybe we should ask for a discount, but he said it wasn’t really their fault the power went out.  Usually when we leave a motel I try to tidy up, by making sure all our garbage is in the garbage can and all the towels we used are in a pile on the bathroom floor, to make it easier for the cleaning staff.  But at this place I didn’t care.  I left everything where it was and we were packed up and checked out by 8:30. 

The roads were much better for driving that morning, although the farther north we got the more the ground was covered in snow.  We had gone from 70’s and humid in Tennessee to 20’s and snow and ice in Illinois in a matter of days.  Al just wanted to get home so we pretty much drove right through stopping only for gas and lunch.  The kids slept most of the way home.  We stopped at a rest stop just after crossing the Wisconsin border, Alison woke up and looked out the window.  “Yuck!  Snow!” she said.  “What were you expecting as we got closer to home?” I asked.  

I offered to do some driving knowing Al didn’t get much sleep, but he refused.  He doesn’t do well in the passenger seat. The rest of the way home we pretty much drove on in silence.  Al concentrating on the road and me hoping the trip we planned for Florida later this winter goes much smoother.   Every so often Jim would ask if we were in Minnesota yet.  “No, not yet, Jim.”  I kept telling him.  We pulled into our driveway around 5 pm, exhausted from the long drive but oh so happy to be home and to sleep in our own beds.  This was one vacation I don't think we'll forget, but not one we really want to remember either.