Next stop, Mt. Vernon, Illinois

Leaving St. Louis, what a beautiful modern Bridge.
The sign just meant turn off for Louisville is 2 miles
We will stay at New Albany tonight and going to Louisville tomorrow which is 20 minutes away.
Illinois Welcome Sign – spring time

One thing I notice about the states we are traveling through right now, we notice they have pride in being Americans.
Pineapple Bag loves to read signs as we go along.
I love that habit of pineapple bags as my mom used to do that for us as kids and we learned to read easier.
… Reflections from the Navigator

From 7000 feet now down to below 400 ft above sea level…

The weather here out of Hannibal, Missouri on our way to St Louis, is 63 degrees, bright and sunny.

A beautiful redbud tree that is a popular tree to be planted along the highway. Seems very proliferous in Missouri, and may even grow wild.
I want a semi just this color! We’ve seen several Kelly Green semi’s, but this one was Metallic Green.
Reminds me of my first car, which was a 1975 Volkswagen Rabbit that was Kelly Green not sparkly metallic:)
The captain has just said that another name for the semis is 18 wheelers or long hauls.
Anyone know of anything else you might call them?

To be continued..

I just saw an advertisement for Black Bear Diner & BBQ; interesting pictures coming up soon.

Getting time for lunch; the Captain Navigator, and Pineapple Bag are all hungry!

On to St. Louis, Missouri, the Barbecue City…

They have many types of BBQ, but the one I’m looking most forward to is in Asheville North Carolina called 12 Bones, a home owned BBQ.
I’ve promised several people cookbooks from there. It is supposed to be Primo family-owned Barbecue!
Pineapple Bag ready to go with her exercise weight, apples, and natural bars from Kate.
I even see an overripe banana laying on her bag; probably, she is aching to cook, and wants to make banana bread or a banana milkshake😋

The Captain and I did our nightly exercise in their beautiful gym last night at the Hampton Inn.
Pineapple Bag was socializing with friends and did not join u
An Old Grist mill located somewhere in the Ozarks

Exercising in order to get a good night’s rest!

Great conditioning room at the Columbia, Missouri Hampton Inn, with two top of the line treadmills, two brand new ellipticals and a sit down bike; plus, exercise bench, lots of weights, exercise balls and plenty of fresh towels and wipes for the equipment…
It is very important to wipe down all the equipment after you use it because of Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, VRE, a hazard in exercise rooms/gyms that serve the public.
Candida Aureus is another one that has become a resistant bug that one needs to actually wipe down the equipment before they exercise and after.
And, of course, one needs to watch the Food Channel as they exercise!

Service with a smile at the Hampton Inn in Columbia, Missouri…

Getting all checked in and ready to go to the Cracker Barrel for a home cookin’ meal…
Right next door!


Our great meal at Cracker Barrel tonight!
Country fried chicken with Sawmill gravy and a 7 oz braised, sirloin.
Green salad, turnip greens, green beans, and pintos, with cornmeal muffin to accompany-YUM!
Lots of Cracker Barrel unsweet tea with lemon; plus, a no added sugar root beer.

We’re not in Kansas anymore…

Decided not to detour to see the Wizard of Oz museum.
We must march onward; we are now in St Louis Missouri on the outskirts.
Leaving bad weather behind and currently 60° and the sun is shining with blue skies, but headed into potential bad weather reports of many tornadoes.
Hopefully, they won’t make it into Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, or South Carolina
Left the Sunflower State.
Amazingly friendly folks and great service at restaurants and stops everywhere.
Had friendly service set one of my favorite food chains.
I don’t believe we have any of these in Oregon yet.
Prime lettuce wrap Angus beef.
Friendly service-oriented faces!!!

Why the purple dumpster, well because I’ve never seen a purple dumpster, and look how the ground cover matches, and the Beautiful Blue Sky and scenery.
I just thought it was kind of neat!
Thank you for indulging me😁
We had lunch at that Hardee’s place where I showed you the picture in Tecumseh, Kansas.
Remember Chief Tecumseh from that history class that you did so well in😊
This is actually a rest stop. I don’t know about you but we sure don’t have this type of rest stop where I’m from😉
Remember this lady from the federal government DHS, she resigned in 2014.
Was governor of Kansas while her dad was governor of Ohio previous to that job.
I enjoy trivia and history, can you tell?
… As Kansas used to be

Proceeding “On the road again”…

Controlled burning of field’s is a practice around Manhattan, Kansas and other towns.
Their purpose is to reduce the prairie grass and other growth.
The smoke in the picture above is actually an active controlled burn going on.
The captain Navigator and pineapple bag were actually able to see live fire on the fields with no fire trucks or emergency folks attending.

After a great breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express…

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Heading on, as our journey continues.
Beautiful facility, excellent staff, and happy customers!
Serving the public is not an easy job, but folks here seem to give 100% or more!
Thank you Salina, Kansas.
Note: All photos were agreed upon that are being seen in the blog.
Pineapple Bag was really appreciative of all the good service!
On to the next adventure, and the next stop!
Before getting on interstate 70 again, we refueled and got a large, unsweetened iced tea at McDonald’s.