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- Oct 31, 2009
Nov 1-4, 2009 Nov 5-11,2009 Nov 12-15,2009 Nov 16-Dec 2, 2009 Dec 3-6, 2009 Dec 7 -, 2009 |
Trip A East - November 12 - 15, 2009
The weather for this segment was still pretty good. We knew there was a snow storm predicted for the Denver area for Friday, but we stayed ahead of the front all the way back to the house. The skies were overcast, which helped the driving, but no actual precipitation. Each evening, at the motels, I managed to chip away at the Christmas cards. I’d finish those about the second night back at the house. On this segment of the journey, we spotted 32 rigs like ours - a box truck pulling a car on an auto transport. Thursday, November 12 We had a relaxed morning around the apartment before packing our travel stuff for the trip back east. We walked up to the office to let the manager know that we’d be gone for about three weeks and that we’d left a timer for a light and the radio in the evening. And we'd set the thermostat on low, just in case it freezes.... Then we loaded our stuff in the back of the truck (which looks very empty), locked the car in the garage, locked the apartment, and headed east, leaving a little after 10 am. Lunch was at the Arby’s in Limon, CO, again. And we’d spend the night in Hays, KS, again. This time, we stayed at the Sleep Inn, which is right behind the Comfort Inn that we stayed in on the way west. We wound up parking in exactly the same spot, but saved about $25 and stayed in a newer motel. Once again, we walked across the street for dinner at Applebee’s. Friday, November 13 No ominous happenings today... We grabbed a quick breakfast in the lobby before heading out. This was a fairly normal driving day. Lunch was at the Cracker Barrel in Topeka, KS. We didn’t get Meg for a waitress, but saw her taking care of others. Back around the Kansas City southern bypass and on to the Best Western in Columbia, MO. Their internet server was acting up, so we didn’t spend as much time online as usual this evening. Knowing that this was Friday night, we headed for TGI Friday’s a little earlier than usual, expecting a line. Little did we know... There was a state cheerleading competition going on this weekend centered in Columbia, and four of the teams had decided to eat at Friday’s... We learned later that the groups ranged in size from 14 to 28. Friday’s did a good job of getting to everyone, but the groups were seated in batches of 4-8, so they dominated the tables. The wait wasn’t actually too bad. We waited about 20 minutes, then got seated for a nice meal and a very nice waitress. Carl had a good view of the area where the wait staff picks up the prepared meals and was very entertained watching the line cooks do their thing. He learned a lot about the restaurant business that evening. And the waitress patiently answered every one of his questions. She earned a good tip (g). Saturday, November 14 The cheerleaders and their chaperones dominated the breakfast area this morning, also. We ate our cereal quickly and split. This morning saw us on the northern bypass around St. Louis again. Lunch was again in Mt. Vernon, IL. I sure wish they’d fix the vegetable soup that Cracker Barrel normally has... And on into the Comfort Inn in Nashville for the night. Once again, we walked to the Santa Fe Cattle Company for dinner, but were a bit disappointed. It’s under new ownership (in just ten days!!!) and they didn’t have their beer license yet. The food was still good, but not as good as it was the first time. Sunday, November 15 Normally, when we’re on the road on a Sunday, we try to find an IHOP for a leisurely breakfast with a Sunday paper. There’s none near this hotel. However, there’s a Cracker Barrel fairly near. We decided to try that instead. First disappointment, people had parked so close to the truck last night that it took some maneuvering to get back out. Don’t people realize they need to leave space for something that big to maneuver??? We did finally get out, but it took me watching bumpers and signaling to Carl to get the truck turned around and facing the correct direction. Second disappointment, this is one of those rare Cracker Barrels that doesn’t have RV or bus parking. We found a large enough spot (since we didn’t have the trailer this time), and backed into it. This spot also had a clear path for the exit.... Third disappointment, we had a waitress that was obviously only doing this job while waiting for her singing break. She was disinterested. The food was delivered by one of her colleagues and my scrambled eggs and bacon were cooler than room temperature. And she only came to the table to take our order, deliver our teas, and deliver the bill. No refills on the tea. No, "how was everything". On the way out, I mentioned the cold food and that the waitress wasn’t up to what we expected for a Cracker Barrel. The manager took my order off the bill. I don’t think we’ll stop here on the way back west. It’s just not quite big enough... And it makes the Nashville to Mt. Vernon (or Mt. Vernon to Nashville) link about 45 minutes longer than the other segments. I think I’ll see if I can find something appropriate around Clarksville, TN, on the Kentucky border.... Lunch was at a Cracker Barrel in Knoxville, then we made the turn onto I-81. We knew traffic on I-81 would be heavier than normal because of a massive rockslide that closed I-40 between Knoxville and Asheville - the detour route takes traffic north on I-81 then back south on I-26 between Knoxville and Asheville. However, we didn’t expect it to come to a dead stop within four miles... All this distance and it’s the last 50 miles that has traffic problems!!! We could see traffic exiting at Exit 8 and so I pulled the map out. Aha, US 25 through Morristown to get to 11W - the old road between Knoxville and Kingsport. We took that exit, also, driving the old road back to the house. Neither of us had been on most of that route in years, so it brought back some memories... Found out later that the highway department had spent the previous night doing repair work on a bridge around mile marker 13 or so and had traffic routed up the exit ramp and back down the other side. In other words, a big bottleneck. They were supposed to reopen the road for normal traffic about 10 that morning, but they were either working longer than planned or it still wasn’t cleared up several hours later, when we got in line. We drove into the driveway about 5 pm. A quick trip to the grocery store for fresh food and we settled back into the routine here. |