Day 4: Wentzville, MO to Chicago, IL
Thursday Oct. 23, 2008
It was time to get on the road again. The weather was overcast, a slow moving storm front was creeping across the plains. Since we were driving North-north-east, we spent the whole day in it. First though, it was Megan turned 17 Month old so we had to take some portraits. We had brought along the foam numbers we’d been using, and set up in the Baugher’s dining area with the Megan-o-lantern. We got dressed up in the outfits we’d be wearing to Amanda’s wedding, since we had them along. By the way Tina is a twin. She looks like her sister Teri, but they sound different. Breakfast was a delicious meal cooked up by Alan: French toast and sausages.Then we packed back up the car, said our good-byes and headed out. It was 10:45 am, first stop: Jefferson National Expansion Monument, also known as the Gateway Arch.
The Arch is right on the Mississippi River, and only about 40 miles from Alan and Tina’s house. But a pretty bad car accident near the airport, shut down the interstate, and we had to detour around it. We arrived at the Arch around noon, and the parking apparently was free as there wasn’t anyone collecting money. Since the overcast skies clouded over the top of the arch, we chose not to ascend the arch, but rather wander around the Western Expansion museum exhibits underneath the arch. The exhibits included Lewis and Clark’s expedition but also what Meriwether Lewis and William Clark did after the expedition. We enjoyed the browsing America’s past, especially since later in the trip we’d be visiting Lewis’s memorial on the Natchez Trace. AFter a couple hours we decided to leave. It was still lightly raining as we drove across the Mississippi into Illinois.
30 Minutes east of the state Line, we had lunch at Cracker Barrel. We always enjoy eating there and they have the coolest high chairs. We reached Springfield, Il just before 5 pm and drove in a circle around the state house. This was one of the harder ones to take a picture of, as there were either lots of trees or buildings in the way. We got a little lost trying to get back to the interstate, Julie got a milk shake at a Burger King, and we fortuitously drove past the old state house, and Abraham Lincoln’s Presidential Library and Museum. We didn’t stop as we didn’t really have any time, and they were probably closed by that time. Eventually we found our way back to the I-55 North.
We should mention that we listened to three categories of audio entertainment on the road, NPR news and other shows (This American Life, and Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me), Audiobooks (Bill Bryson’s Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and Gregory Maguire’s Wicked:The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West) [I just realized typing this, the similarity in titles of the two books] and Children’s songs. The first week of the trip also corresponded to NPR’s fall fund raising campaign. It was interesting to hear the different contribution levels different stations were trying to raise, as well as the different incentives the stations were offering. The station in Springfield (WUIS) was offering a chance to win a one week trip for two to Belize on a Reefs, Ruins and Rain Forests Tour, which included a trip to Mayan Temple that’s not open to the public, and in fact had only been explored once previously by archeologist from the University who would also be leading this tour or something. In Chicago, WBEZ was giving away a dozen Wiis to donors.
Also it was along this last stretch to Chicago that Julie realized that since Oklahoma City, we’d been essentially driving the interstate equivalent of Route 66 (Except when we veered north to go to Jeff City). There was a small display of Route 66 at the Rest Area south of Bloomington, as well as a display on historic Lincoln sites in the area. It was raining pretty hard and the sun had set making for dark wet roads. Driving on a 2-lane highway would not have been my idea of fun. And given that we’d been taking longer than expected as it was on the road, I’m grateful for the interstate system we have. We did stop however in Pontiac, Il for gas and dinner. Dinner was at a place labeled “Super Gyro” but the credit card receipt was labeled “Baba’s Steak and Lemonade” which is near the corner of Historic Route 66 and Il 116. The portions were huge and the food was yummy. We added 7.2 gallons of gas at $2.68/gal. 100 miles later, just outside of Peggy’s place in Chicago gas was $3.86.
Just before 11 PM and after driving 355 miles that day, we reached Peggy and Brady’s apartment, we were tired and ready for bed. They have a really nice apartment, that I’ll talk about more in the next entry.
See the Photos
The Arch is right on the Mississippi River, and only about 40 miles from Alan and Tina’s house. But a pretty bad car accident near the airport, shut down the interstate, and we had to detour around it. We arrived at the Arch around noon, and the parking apparently was free as there wasn’t anyone collecting money. Since the overcast skies clouded over the top of the arch, we chose not to ascend the arch, but rather wander around the Western Expansion museum exhibits underneath the arch. The exhibits included Lewis and Clark’s expedition but also what Meriwether Lewis and William Clark did after the expedition. We enjoyed the browsing America’s past, especially since later in the trip we’d be visiting Lewis’s memorial on the Natchez Trace. AFter a couple hours we decided to leave. It was still lightly raining as we drove across the Mississippi into Illinois.
30 Minutes east of the state Line, we had lunch at Cracker Barrel. We always enjoy eating there and they have the coolest high chairs. We reached Springfield, Il just before 5 pm and drove in a circle around the state house. This was one of the harder ones to take a picture of, as there were either lots of trees or buildings in the way. We got a little lost trying to get back to the interstate, Julie got a milk shake at a Burger King, and we fortuitously drove past the old state house, and Abraham Lincoln’s Presidential Library and Museum. We didn’t stop as we didn’t really have any time, and they were probably closed by that time. Eventually we found our way back to the I-55 North.
We should mention that we listened to three categories of audio entertainment on the road, NPR news and other shows (This American Life, and Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me), Audiobooks (Bill Bryson’s Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and Gregory Maguire’s Wicked:The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West) [I just realized typing this, the similarity in titles of the two books] and Children’s songs. The first week of the trip also corresponded to NPR’s fall fund raising campaign. It was interesting to hear the different contribution levels different stations were trying to raise, as well as the different incentives the stations were offering. The station in Springfield (WUIS) was offering a chance to win a one week trip for two to Belize on a Reefs, Ruins and Rain Forests Tour, which included a trip to Mayan Temple that’s not open to the public, and in fact had only been explored once previously by archeologist from the University who would also be leading this tour or something. In Chicago, WBEZ was giving away a dozen Wiis to donors.
Also it was along this last stretch to Chicago that Julie realized that since Oklahoma City, we’d been essentially driving the interstate equivalent of Route 66 (Except when we veered north to go to Jeff City). There was a small display of Route 66 at the Rest Area south of Bloomington, as well as a display on historic Lincoln sites in the area. It was raining pretty hard and the sun had set making for dark wet roads. Driving on a 2-lane highway would not have been my idea of fun. And given that we’d been taking longer than expected as it was on the road, I’m grateful for the interstate system we have. We did stop however in Pontiac, Il for gas and dinner. Dinner was at a place labeled “Super Gyro” but the credit card receipt was labeled “Baba’s Steak and Lemonade” which is near the corner of Historic Route 66 and Il 116. The portions were huge and the food was yummy. We added 7.2 gallons of gas at $2.68/gal. 100 miles later, just outside of Peggy’s place in Chicago gas was $3.86.
Just before 11 PM and after driving 355 miles that day, we reached Peggy and Brady’s apartment, we were tired and ready for bed. They have a really nice apartment, that I’ll talk about more in the next entry.
See the Photos