Three Days of Travel

This post is more of a travel journal for me for our days of travel between The Badlands in South Dakota to Lexington in Kentucky on Our Land That We Love Tour. Tomorrow I’ll share the photos from the cemetery we visited in Louisville.

Friday September 24th our route to Omaha, Nebraska took us through more of Iowa than Nebraska. We traveled I-90 from the Badlands to Interstate 29 south through Iowa to Omaha. These photos are proof positive that taking photos from a moving car isn’t the best way to do it.

Sapp Brothers headquartered in Nebraska. Because we were in Omaha we thought eating steak would be appropriate. We found Gorat’s Steakhouse and were able to get an early table and meal. Gorat’s where the food was good but the ambiance could be described as ‘faded glory’. The service was good and the food was good and we’ll leave it at that. We paid about the same for steak here that we did in Wyoming $67.00 for two steak dinners.

After dinner we found a Costco to fill our tank up with gas. We paid $2.739 per gallon. Then we checked into our hotel for the night. We tried Aloft a new offering from Marriott properties. It was a modern, trendy property with minimalist interiors. No free breakfast. Our AAA rate was $125.00 and with taxes the total was $147.71. This new modern concept was not pleasing to us or comfortable for us.

On this day Friday September 24th we drove 469 miles and it took approximately 6-1/2 hours.

Our drive to St. Louis on Saturday September 25th took us south through Missouri. The miles we would drive were 431 and it took approximately 6-1/2 hours. We filled up with gas from Costco again in Independence, Missouri at $2.579 per gallon.

Our hotel in the burbs of St. Louis was a Residence Inn and we enjoyed the extra space. Our AAA rate was $137.00 for the night with the total after taxes $157.43. We also topped off our gas tank at another Costco closer to our hotel at $2.699 and did a little shopping while there. We found a Mexican Restaurant for Linner.

Early Sunday morning the 26th of September we tried to travel on Interstate 64 to Kentucky. What a sad photo of the St. Louis Arch. We ended up on the wrong highway when google was over zealous in making sure we would miss road closures in Louisville, Kentucky 250 miles away! They wanted us to go north to Indianapolis so my vantage point for getting a clear and good shot was lost. We got off that route pronto and reconfigured to go our original route with plans to deal with the closures when we got closer to Kentucky. Back on Interstate 64 we traveled through parts of Illinois and Indiana before we crossed into Kentucky.

When we made it around the detour to get into Louisville we took a short side trip to Cave Hill Cemetery. We had a little time before we needed to carry on to a scheduled tour of Bulleit Distillery in Shelbeyville at 3:30, which we enjoyed.

It was a good day of travel after our early morning google maps mess up. While we were at the Bulleit Distillery we asked the staff for a recommendation for dinner. One of the recommendations was for the best barbecue in Kentucky which we decided would be our choice. Red State Barbecue on Georgetown Road in Lexington did not disappoint.

Delicious! We both got the brisket. This was a self serve type of arrangement where you go up and order at the front counter and pay, you are given a number and you wait to hear your number when your food is ready. There was a constant stream of people coming and going picking up orders or ordering in and eating. I didn’t keep the receipt and we paid cash so I don’t remember the total but it was very reasonable. This was one of our favorite meals on our trip.

Our hotel for this night was in Georgetown at the Lexington Georgetown Fairfield Inn. Our AAA rate was $129.60 and with taxes $142.88. This property was rundown and not a favorite. The staff was friendly. Our total miles this day were approximately 337 miles with driving time at 5 hours.

We were in for an amazing experience on Monday September 27th with a short drive north of Georgetown. That post or more likely posts will be for another day or days. But first, Cave Hill Cemetery tomorrow.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

SeaJack Road Trip Day #5

On day 5 we started in Illinois and backtracked to St. Louis, Missouri so we could investigate the Bellefontaine Cemetery. It was worth back tracking for. We spent about 3 hours at the cemetery and I’ll devote a whole post later to this beautiful place filled with so much history. When we were done at the Cemetery we headed east again to Illinois and then crossed into Kentucky and made it to our Tennessee destination for the night at 5:30. Here are a few shots from the road.

I have so much to share from Bellefontaine.

Our day #5 on the road was Thursday May 1st. We started in Illinois, traveled back to Missouri, back to Illinois, then to Kentucky and finally ended up in Tennessee.

Kentucky

Tennessee

On Thursday evening we had dinner with Andrew’s best man’s mom in Hendersonville, Tennessee. We were given a nice place to lay our heads and headed out on Friday morning for Asheville, North Carolina via a scenic route that took us through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg next to the Great Smoky Mountains.

We are thankful to be so far into our journey safe and sound. Tomorrow we stay put right here in Asheville. I’ll be sharing all about our time soon. We traveled from the central time zone to the eastern time zone today.

Hope May has started out well for all of you!

The 2nd Half of SeaJack #4!

After our fabulous barbecue lunch in Kansas City we headed on east to just beyond St. Louis for the night. We crossed from Missouri into Illinois.

We crossed the Missouri River and in St. Louis we crossed the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi River.

After we settled into our hotel in Illinois just outside of St. Louis for the night this restaurant was recommended to us for dinner. This is a one of a kind restaurant. We found out that this restaurant was featured on Man vs. Food. The portions are huge here so I ordered a small salad still feeling full from our huge lunch. These rolls are served at the table whether you order them or not with a wonderful butter cinnamon honey spread and just plain butter. The rolls were just the perfect temp and softness to please my palate. Delicious!

I’m saving our stop at Calvary Cemetery in E. St. Louis and the Bellefontaine Cemetery for posts after I’m settled into our hotel at our final destination.

Today was day #5 and we are now in Tennessee. I’ll be catching up with my posts soon. We are staying with a friend of Andrew and Katie here. Tomorrow we continue east to Asheville, North Carolina where we will be spending two nights! I’m looking forward to two nights in one picturesque spot! Finally the weather has settled down for us and we have had no challenges on the road.

SeaJack Day #4

Wednesday was the fourth day of our road trip and because of the special event on this day I’m going to have two separate posts breaking the day into two halfs.

The first post for Day #4 can be called, ” I’m going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come.” We started in Nebraska, crossed a bridge into Iowa and then continued on I-29 crossing into Missouri and on to Kansas City.

Our route to I-29 took us through this quaint Main street in Plattsmouth where we continued on crossing the Plattsmouth bridge over the Missouri river and which had a $1.25 toll.

Did you notice we have sunshine and clouds? We had mostly dry weather on this day. There were pockets of rain but they didn’t last long.

After two and a half hours on the road we spotted Kansas City in the distance.

We had a very important lunch date in Kansas City and I’m happy to say we weren’t late. We found our way to Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue where we were meeting up with a long time bloggy friend Pam and her daughter Whitney.

Over my blogging years I’ve always appreciated Pam’s thoughtful words and prayers for me and others. She’s a gem.

Pam’s husband sent Pam to lunch with instructions to pay for our meal. Thank you Pam’s hubby. We really appreciate your generosity. We had no problem with conversation throughout our meal. The food was delicious and filling. Pam gave Katie and me a bag with homemade cookies to take along our journey. Pam! The cookies are delicious and we do want the recipe…as close as you can get it! 🙂

We are so happy it worked out with timing for us to be able to meet up for lunch. This was the end of the first half of day four on the road. I’ll share about the second half of day 4 tomorrow as we continued east through St. Louis into Illinois.

Cross Country

For my flashback post this week I’m posting some photos from Dear and my trip from California to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We made this trip in 1976. We stopped in Denver, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan and Canada in our little yellow 1976 Honda Civic.

Somewhere in Colorado on our way to Denver to visit Dear’s uncles and aunts on his mother’s side. Just as we entered the fine state of Colorado the state patrol decided we should contribute some money for the state’s economy!

Dear had 2 uncles that never married and they cared for their mother till she died. We had a good time in the kitchen and I helped Uncle Cliff make his famous Rhubarb pie. This was my first experience ever with Rhubarb. Uncle Arnold was the poet of the family and historian. We spent some time with Uncle Red (Chester) and Aunt Jeanette at their cabin and Dear helped Uncle Red saw wood. We also stopped to see my sister’s SIL’s family who had moved to Denver from Chicago, Kenneth and Lillian Semenchuk. (Upper left photo). We would stop at another of my sister’s SIL’s in Michigan.

As we continued east we went through Kansas and stopped at Dear’s Great Aunt Matilda’s. She was single all her life and never forgot anyone’s birthday. We all received cards every year while she was alive.

Our next stop was in Peoria, Illinois to visit Dear’s paternal grandmother and his uncle Harry at the family home. We visited other aunts and uncles while in Peoria but I don’t have photos. One uncle was a pig farmer and those pigs scared me. So huge! From Peoria we made a stop in Wheaton to visit our friend Andrew Semenchuk who officiated our wedding and his dear wife, Pauline. They worked for Slavic Gospel Association so we visited the offices in Wheaton.

From Chicago we drove to Michigan to my sister Kathy’s sister-in-law’s home. Peter and Ruth Leonovich were so hospitable and generous to us whenever we ended up at their home on the lake. I learned to water ski here.

We continued on our journey into Canada from Detroit with a plan to stop at a China shop in Windsor to complete my Royal Albert china set. All I had was a tea set that I purchased on one of our trips to England. We found a shop that had a good selection of seconds and we bought service for 12 in my pattern. We decided to continue on and visit the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We also visited Niagara on the Lake. If only I had a digital camera then. I would love to visit this area again.

Have you ever visited Niagara Falls? This was my second visit. In 1970 I visited friends in Buffalo, New York and they took me to the U.S. side of Niagara Falls.

It’s good for my brain to document these trips we took so long ago. It’s amazing how far we’ve come in the world of photography since those days. When we crossed back into the U.S. from this trip we were given the 3rd degree about our camera. They would not believe we hadn’t purchased it in Canada. I gave them all the receipts for the China but they did not care about the China, all they were concerned about was the camera! Oye!

This week I’m looking forward to a visit to my hairdresser and then our tax return appointment with our accountant. It will be nice to have that behind me. How’s your week shaping up?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Illinois