Four States and Fred

Location: Louisville, KY
Miles: 6305

Saturday morning we awoke in Springfield, Missourituky...by the time we stopped, we were in Louisville, Kensylvania. In between, we passed through Illitucky and Indianatucky -- meaning that today we were in four different states.

Let's see. Our first stop was in Dixon, MO, where we visited Thomas's friend Fred King and his lovely family.


(above) Fred and Family.

Back on the road again, we were on our way to Meramec Caverns when we made a serendipitous stop at the Toy & Truck Museum.


(above) The sign for the Toy & Truck Museum. We were particularly amused by the juxtaposition of "A Truckers Must" with "Absolutely no Tractor Trailers"

The Musuem, run by Bruce and his lovely wife [their last name is on the brochure, which is in Eurovan, but it's 3:30 in the morning and I can't lay my hands on it right away]. A converted Stuckey's, the Museum is a great place, crammed full of thousands of toys from the 1920s onward.


(above) Inside the Toy & Truck Museum

We then toured Meramec Caverns, where the very capable Jeremy gave an informative and amusing tour. Meramec Caverns is amazing, and definitely should not be missed.


(above) Inside Meramec Caverns

We were on the road again by 7:00 pm, and stopped briefly for Italian fast food at Fazoli's in St. Louis.

At 10:50, with gas getting low, we were on a frantic search through southern Illitucky for an open gas station. Southern Illitucky has a lot in common with, say, rural Arizona...i.e. there are no big towns and few gas stations. We finally found one ten miles off the Interstate in Fairfield, IL.

We drove on, and about midnight we started looking for a motel off I-64 in Evanston, IN. All the motels we checked were full. The combination of Labor Day weekend with some NASCAR event meant every room was full. We drove on, checking every motel (there was one about every three exits), but no luck. So we continued to and past Louisville, KY. Finally, at a little past 2 am, we found a Red Roof Inn that had vacancies -- and discovered that we were now in Eastern Time, so it was really past 3 am.

A quick blog entry later, now it's time for sleep.

Tomorrow: drive like hell until we get home.