Earlier this week I returned home from a 7-day solo road trip.  It was my mom’s wish that our sister Judy have all of her photos, news clippings, family history, and correspondence she’d saved over her 103 years in this world.  All of that in addition to other items that needed to go to Judy was contained in enough boxes to fill the back of my Rav4.  Plus I had to put two more boxes in the back seat because they wouldn’t fit in the way back.  So taking these things to my sister was the main purpose of this mid-west trip.

Judy lives in Illinois.  Illinois is also the state in which I grew up.  I had been planning this trip since mid-summer.  Back in August when I saw my brother Jack in Alaska, I got to thinking that, relatively speaking, he doesn’t live all that far from Judy.  His home in Kentucky is about a 4 1/2 hour drive from her place. So I decided to make that part of the trip, too.  And when I spoke to my brother Steve over the phone in early September, I started thinking that he wouldn’t be that far a drive from Jack’s.  When I looked into it, I found it was also about a 4 1/2 hour drive.  There was my plan.  Judy’s, then Jack’s, and finish off with a visit to Steve’s.

Day 1: Tuesday, 9/17/2019

The first day was pretty much just solid driving.  I left Tuesday morning ready to be on the road for about 8 hours.  Before this I think I’ve only done three kinds of solo road trips in my life.  Most recently from 2010 to a little over two years ago I made the 4-hour trip to Houston MANY times to see my daughter Cara and her family.  That stopped when they moved to Nigeria.  The only road trips I can remember doing alone before that were to visit Cara in college in Colorado Springs (an 11-hour trip I drove in one day) and to get my son Danny in Austin (about 2 1/2 hours).

The only pictures I took this first day were of welcome signs at rest areas after I had crossed state lines.

 

As I said, it was pretty much just driving.  I was glad to get out of the car for the day when I reached my hotel in Marshfield, MO.

 

Day 2: Wednesday, 9/18/2019

I realized I wouldn’t be too far from my mom’s last surviving sibling, my Aunt Dorothy, in Illinois.  I decided to pay her a visit.  Who knows how long it’ll be before I’m ever up in this part of the country again.  I tried a few times to call her, but had to leave a voicemail.  I was pretty sure she wouldn’t listen to it, and therefore this would be a surprise visit.  But I didn’t plan to stay long…just an hour or less.  Long enough to have a nice chat.  I don’t know if she gets visitors very often.

The drive from Marshfield to Macomb, IL where Aunt Dorothy lives was supposed to take about 3 1/2 hours.  I don’t know what happened, but it ended up taking 5 hours.  I should have gotten there by 1, but didn’t get there until 2:30.  This was a case of me letting the technology dumb me down!  I just did whatever the lady on Google Maps told me to do.  But I learned my lesson.  Always study the route well before starting out, so you’ll be aware when a change occurs in the directions you’re hearing.

At any rate, I did finally make it to see Aunt Dorothy.  I don’t have a picture of the Illinois welcome sign, because there was no rest area after crossing the border.  But I do have a picture of Aunt Dorothy and me.

I need practice taking selfies.  I think I also need a new pair of sunglasses.  The ones I’d been wearing while driving left big red marks on the sides of my nose!  Aunt Dorothy is 96 years young.  As I took this picture, she commented that she doesn’t think anyone 60 or above should be allowed to have close-ups taken.  Ha!  If that were the case, this picture wouldn’t be here.  I think she looks great!  I’m so glad I got to visit with her.

After about 45 minutes of catching up with each other, I said good-bye to my aunt.  It would be about a 2-hour drive now to my sister Judy’s in Bloomington.

Because of a few traffic delays, it was more like 2 1/2 hours, but I did finally get to Judy’s.  On the way, I had been wondering to myself about how long it had been since I was there.  According to my recollection, it had been 35 years!  It was nice to see her and her husband George at their home again.  We unloaded all of the boxes I had brought before enjoying a pizza for dinner.  By then it was already dark outside, so we made plans for the next morning, and I left for my hotel.

 

Day 3: Thursday, 9/19/2019

I met Judy and George at their place around 8 the next morning, and they took me to breakfast at a place called Shannon’s.  It was a really nice place.  I had biscuits and gravy and scrambled eggs.  Really good!

After that we went back to the house and visited.  Judy has done A LOT of genealogy, and she showed me all of the books she has organized with all of the different family information.  Very impressive!  I need to select a wedding picture of Danny and Erin to print out and send to her, so she can add it to their page.

At lunch time, I accompanied Judy to her monthly book club meeting.  This month it was held at an Italian restaurant.  She had invited me beforehand in an email, so I was able to find out what book they were reading for that month.  I downloaded it onto my Kindle and read it before the trip, so I would be able to participate in the discussion.  It was a fun meeting.  I only wish I had taken a picture!

Afterwards, we returned to the house and continued to visit.  We also took a couple of pictures.

 

 

 

That evening they treated me to a nice dinner at an up-scale restaurant called Baxter’s.  I had beef and vegetable kabobs over rice and a salad.  The portions were HUGE!  I took half of my entree back to Judy’s and told her she could have it for lunch or dinner the next day.  Everything was delicious!  Not too long after we returned to their house, I left for my hotel.  I wanted to get up early the next day to workout.  Plus it was dark!

 

Day 4: Friday 9/20/2019

On this morning I got up around 5 a.m., so I could start my day off with a workout at the Bloomington Orangetheory Fitness Studio.

 

This was the first time I had ever attended a workout at a studio other than my home studio.  I went to the 6:15 class.  It was a great workout, but the physical studio itself was a very narrow and deep set-up compared to the one in Burleson.  It made me really appreciate the spaciousness of my home studio.

After the workout, back to my hotel, quick shower and dress, and then check out.  I met Judy and George at a restaurant called Garden of Paradise for breakfast before hitting the road for Kentucky.  We had a good breakfast and visit.  They offered to have me follow their car out to 74-E, so I took them up on it.

At one of the stop lights on the way, I had to snap this pic of her license plate.  How cool is that!?  I’d ridden in her car a couple of times the day before, but hadn’t realized what her license plate said.

So now I was on the road to Jack’s.  Louisville, Kentucky…here I come!

 

I had to pass through Indiana first, of course.

I got to Jack’s around 4 in the afternoon.  He surprised me with what a host he is!  When I got there he was putting together a Dole Whip Float for me!

 

Just look at this incredible concoction!  And, oh!…it was SO good and refreshing!  He had one, too, and we sat there and drank them and chatted together.

He already had part of dinner prepared.  Are you kidding me?  I was sure we would eat out somewhere.  But, no!  He made Chicken Lazone, which I only discovered 2 or 3 years ago, and I love it.  After we finished our floats, we started putting dinner together.  I told him I felt like I’d had dessert before dinner.  He replied that he figured I would enjoy something cold to drink after that time on the road.  He was right!  And it didn’t squelch my appetite for dinner one bit.

 

I mean look at this!  Such deliciousness!  After dinner we cleaned up the kitchen and retired to his living room.  There we watched some music videos and some old home movie clips that he had transferred to DVD.  Films my dad had taken when we were kids.  That’s good stuff there.  We stayed up ’til midnight talking and watching these things.  It was great!

 

Day 5: Saturday 9/21/2019

The next morning I woke up first, so I got ready for the day.  Once it was light outside, I took advantage of the opportunity to take a couple of shots of the outside of Jack’s place.

 

This picture was taken from his porch looking down the walk to his garage.  He has a 2-car garage, so I was able to park in there.  I was glad, because I had been worried about parking my car on the street in a big city like Louisville.  No need to worry.

 

Here I’m standing at his garage looking the opposite direction back at his place.  It’s a really nice grassy private area.

When Jack got up, we decided to go out for breakfast.  We went in his car, and it was the first time I had ever ridden in a convertible with the top down!  So much fun!  We drove down the historic Dixie Highway to the COOLEST diner!

It’s located at this intersection.

 

It’s called Frontier Diner.

 

Here’s a shot of the inside.  Look at all the cool memorabilia overhead!

 

I LOVE the checkerboard floor and the checked oilcloths on the tables!  They didn’t need to bring you a menu, because they’re under glass on top of the table.  The food was spot on, too.

 

I took this picture right before we pulled out of the parking lot after we ate.  There’s Jack in his car and the sign for the diner.

On the drive back to his place, Jack drove past Churchill Downs for me.  I wanted to see where they hold the Kentucky Derby.

 

 

I felt pretty stylish zipping past Churchill Downs in a sporty convertible.  Ha!  It’s weird…I had always pictured the Kentucky Derby being held somewhere out on the outskirts of town.  But it’s right in town on Central Avenue.

I had already packed up my car, so when we got back to Jack’s place, I bid him adieu and headed south toward Tennessee.

There was no welcome center when I crossed the border into Kentucky the day before.  Louisville sits right on the border, though, so I hadn’t gone very far this day when I did encounter the welcome center.

 

While driving around with Jack, I noticed that a lot of the businesses in Louisville also have horse statues in front of them.  It’s a thing there, what with the Kentucky Derby and all.

 

About 3 1/2 hours later, I crossed over into Tennessee.  And about an hour after that, I was at Steve’s.

 

Steve and Karen’s front porch is so adorable!  See how it’s kind of divided into two sections?

 

This is closer up of the section on the right.

 

And closer up of the section on the left.

 

This is out on the front part of the decking.  There was also a fountain behind the bushes that provided a very calming background sound while we sat out on the porch drinking coffee and visiting.  I wish I had just a quarter of Karen’s decorating know-how!

They’re two daughters live within spitting distance, so after coffee, we walked to their homes.  I got a tour of each.  I love home tours!

 

Here I am with Steve and his two daughters Julie and Sara.  I’m kicking myself for not taking any pictures at Julie’s house.  But here’s the back of Sara’s.

 

The deck extends to the right.  I didn’t get it all in this picture.  The girls inherited their mother’s decorating abilities.  So cute!

This is just part of Sara’s flock of chickens.  When they hear the back door of the house opening, they come running to the stairs of the deck hoping for a treat to be thrown their way.  So neat!

Sara’s husband DJ had smoked meat all day for our dinner.  There was pulled pork, ribs, and chicken.  Quite a spread!  And the salads the ladies had made to accompany the meats were all delicious, too!  Wish I had thought to take a picture of all the food.

After telling everyone there about my ride in Jack’s convertible, they all said Steve had to take me for a ride in his Corvette.  Are you kidding me?  AWESOME!

 

I went from having never ridden in a convertible with the top down to riding in TWO in one day!  It doesn’t matter how old you are…you’re never too old to experience firsts.  An added bonus was that I got out of kitchen clean-up.  (wink)

 

 

 

We drove down to Panther Creek State Park to the lake where Steve takes his boat.  I think it’s called Cherokee Lake.  Then we drove back.  There were lots of twists and turns, and the car hugged all the curves as Steve whipped around them!  The cool air of early evening felt so good!

When we got back to the house, we visited into the night until bed time.  Here’s the guest room where I slept.

 

It also had it’s own private bathroom!

 

Day 6: Sunday 9/22/2019

 

I slept so good that I didn’t wake up until almost 8 in the morning.  Yikes!

After I got up and got ready for the day, I walked out of my room and was promptly handed a cup of coffee…doctored up with cream and sugar just the way I like it.  Wow!  I’m not used to such treatment.  At home, I’m the one MAKING the coffee.  So the amazing hospitality was really appreciated!

 

Steve and Karen needed to get ready for church, and I needed to hit the road, so after coffee and conversation, I waved good-bye.  Thanks for a great visit, Steve and Karen!

 

About 7 hours later I crossed into Arkansas.  A couple of hours after that, I was at my hotel for the night in Lonoke.

 

Day 7: Monday 9/23/2019

It was around 9 in the morning when I left the hotel.  I decided to skip the free hotel breakfast and look for a Cracker Barrel instead.  So a little ways down the road, I did just that.  The day before, I had lunch at a Cracker Barrel, and I spent some time eyeing a glitter globe Christmas lantern they had on display there.  I resisted the temptation to buy it, though.  I’ll be darned if this morning that same lantern caught my eye at this Cracker Barrel while I was in line to pay for my meal.  And, yes, I caved and made the purchase.

About 3 hours later, Texas welcomed me back!

 

Funny!  We have as much road rage in Texas as they do anywhere, unfortunately.

 

One of the best parts of a road trip (or any trip for that matter) is getting back home again.  After being gone for almost a full week, I was ready to be back.

It was so great to see three of my siblings in their own digs, though.  And Aunt Dorothy, too!  Hopefully, I can visit the other five of my siblings at their places before too much longer.

How about you?  What’s the last road trip you took?  Or maybe you have one coming up you’d like to tell me about.  I welcome any and all comments, so type away!