We had stayed overnight at the Super 8 in Kingston, TN. It recently changed from a Comfort Inn and is not yet on the Super 8 computer reservation system. I made my reservation online, but luckily I called the hotel directly to confirm. They had not received our information but happily reserved us a room over the phone. Good news since I knew we would be arriving late at night.
I had resolved to keep our luggage to a minimum so we wouldn't feel crowded in our station wagon over the 2 week journey (and would have space for souvenirs). I also worked out a system so we wouldn't have to unpack & re-pack every day. I brought a large Ziploc bag to hold a change of clothes & our toiletries. That's the only thing we carried into the hotel. In theory it was a good idea. But on our first night it was clear the system needed some tweaking. A few extra trips to the car got us all of the necessary provisions.
The Super 8 facility had had a few upgrades recently and was much nicer inside than it appeared from the parking lot. The mattress & pillows were comfy and the bedding was soft. There were plenty of towels for the four of us.
There were really only 2 problems for us during our stay. The bathroom light could not be turned on independently of the exhaust fan, which sounded like a jet engine. The kids were terrified of it & chose to do their business in the dark (unfortunate for the housekeeping staff). In an effort to streamline our luggage, I left the kids' nightlight at home. I was certain I'd be able to crack the bathroom door & leave the light on instead. That wasn't possible at this Super 8. The vanity light had to suffice -- it made the room brighter than I like, but at least the kids didn't have any nightmares.
The other problem for me was the A/C unit. I'm a light sleeper so I knew motel life on the road might be rough. I was right. Every time that baby wound up its engine, I would jolt awake. It continued into the wee hours. Finally around 4a I was too tired to care anymore. So I woke the next morning bleary-eyed, having gotten 2 hours of sleep.
The continental breakfast was fine -- we snarfed down a variety of cereal, waffles, pastries, bagels & juice. The wi-fi signal was strong. And the lobby/breakfast room had a comfy couch.
Jacob & I are self-proclaimed coffee snobs, so we decided to skip the Super 8 offering & stop at the first coffee shop we spotted.
We departed around 9a -- about an hour later than planned. Yep, we also need to work on our morning routine too.
A few miles on I-40 were necessary to get to our "jumping off" location. But thereafter we stuck to state & local roads, especially ones designated as scenic byways. I pointed the car straight toward Kentucky & Jacob navigated our way.
The scenery was relaxing. We were fascinated by the blasting to widen the road.
Our first destination was Cave City, Kentucky. But just as we got to Glasgow (about 10 miles from Cave City), a nasty thunderstorm rolled through. The rain was so heavy the wipers couldn't keep the windshield clear. And lightning was striking nearby. So we decided it might be a good time to stop for lunch. We parked at the Glasgow city square and ran like crazy across a flooded street to the Fine Arts Bistro.
The bistro had a limited menu, but all the sandwiches were delicious. Jacob & I finally got our coffee -- except it wasn't very good. Mostly we enjoyed the artwork that filled the little cafe. There were paintings & photos & jewelry. And the kids entertained themselves with my camera.
By the end of lunch, the storm was letting up. But a quick weather check showed an even nastier storm just minutes away. So during a break in the clouds, we drove over to the local library. The kids read a book while I finished our household bills.
When the thunder had finally moved on, we loaded back in the car on our way to Cave City. It was still raining when we pulled up to Wigwam Village #2 just outside of Mammoth Caves National Park.
The movie CARS was our motivation for this trip and I wanted to visit as many movie-related locations along the way. Since we wouldn't get as far West as the Wigwam Village along Route 66 in Holbrook, AZ, this teepee would have to do.
The owner had closed the main office until check-in time but he offered to open it for us. He even ran back to his residence to get more Wigwam postcards for us to buy. We managed to get a few pictures in between thunder claps.
There were still storms in the distance. And the main teepee/gift shop was leaking something terrible. So I bought my first cheesy souvenir and we continued on our journey.
Keeping to the state roads, we skirted the edge of Mammoth Cave park -- gorgeous tree cover. Saw a family of wild turkeys walking in the rain. We continued through the Kentucky countryside to Hartford, KY. Their welcome sign says, "home to 2,000 happy people....and a few soreheads". LOL
It was getting late & we realized it would be impossible to get to the Giant Catsup Bottle in Collinsville, IL before nightfall. So we decided to stop for a picnic dinner at a park in Owensboro, KY. I had packed the bread & deli meat for lunch, but Mother Nature had changed those plans. We were approaching Owensboro & were nearly at the park when a confusing road sign sent us on a one hour detour back through the Kentucky countryside. (See Jacob's previous post)
Once we were headed in the right direction again, there was no time left for a picnic. We were in a race against darkness & also trying to time our arrival around a storm that was battering our final destination.
We bypassed Owensboro & headed straight for Evansville, IN over the Ohio River.
We passed through Indiana briefly and stopped at the Illinois Welcome Center to fix turkey sandwiches for the road. As we cruised through southern Illinois, the weather broke & we got to see a beautiful sunset.
But our day wasn't over yet. A quick check of my Twitter feed showed an update from St. Louis saying parts of the Interstate were closed due to flooding. That set off a flurry of map-checks and a phone call to Kip Welborn. He is a St. Louis resident I met on the Route 66 e-group. He wrote a book about traveling in St. Louis & I hoped he could help us navigate around the trouble spots. Kip assured us that if we took the proper detour straight to Staunton, IL and bypassed the Interstate, we wouldn't have trouble. Thanks, Kip!
We drove IL Hwy 4 through miles & miles of farmland in the dark. It was a little harrowing with all the tractor trailers using the same tiny 2-lane to get around the Interstate fiasco. And the local bugs seemed to be on a kamikaze mission. But we finally arrived at the Super 8 in Staunton, IL.
Our "hotel procedure" went a little more smoothly. We all went straight to bed & straight to sleep. And the bathroom light (separate from the fan) stayed on for the kids. No air conditioning unit could have kept me awake after a trip like that.
Notes for the day:
-- As I was cruising into KY from TN, I was upset when a butterfly got stuck on the windshield wiper & died. I didn't realize then that butterflies would be a common theme for our day. There were literally thousands of them along our path. They were all different sizes & colors. Some were traveling north, some south. It was impossible to avoid killing a few. And after a while I joked that it was a good thing our windshields were engaged & at maximum power because they seemed to be gunning for us.
-- We left our portable DVD player at home, insisting that our children would not be buried in a movie for the entire trip. I questioned my own sanity in that decision, but it worked out just fine. Though the boys didn't spend the whole day oohing & aahing at the scenery (like Jacob & I), they found their own way to entertain themselves. Charlie read his Harry Potter book.
And Will used his binoculars to spot pirates(?) along the way
-- Along the backroads of Kentucky, we started seeing brilliant folk art on the side of old barns. Turns out we were on the Kentucky Quilt Trail. I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of any. But it was quite a lot of fun to find those little "treasures" along the way.
-- I burned a couple of "Road Music" CDs before we left and they were a big hit. I can only imagine how strange we looked to other drivers rockin' out Wayne & Garth style to Bohemian Rhapsody. Party on!
