So today was a long one, not time wise compared to yesterday but yet even more mentally and physically draining.
Apparently the Super 8 that I stayed at last night provides a complementary breakfast, which I was going to take advantage of this morning. I get downstairs and check out and head for the breakfast table, only to find nothing but white bread and individual packets of jam. Now I wasnt expecting anything gourmet, or even bacon and eggs, but I was expecting some bagels or doughnuts or something. Nope just white bread, no toaster, and not even peanut butter to make a PB&J. Needless to say I was pissed. My mood was soon lightened by the bright sunny weather and the knowledge that I would soon be visiting the football hall of fame. I made it to the hall and spent almost 2 hours exploring and checking out all the exhibits. The amount of history and just seeing everything there was a bit overwhelming. I really need to visit that place again when im not on such a time crunch so I can take full advantage. My only possible gripe is that they didnt have any Bears hats in my size. I figure that wearing a hat from the hall of fame will get some of my favorite players in there some day, but apparently I have to wait for next time.
Heading through northern Ohio the weather was clear and bright and I had a nice ride through rolling hills decked out in fall foliage. Grassi does a similar thing that I do with burritos, he likes to Jwalk in every state capital, so when I got to Columbus I purposely jwalked to rub it in his face (Owen 1, Grassi 0). I then headed from Columbus to Cincinatti. The weather was fine until about 10 miles outside of Cincy when it started to rain (note this is where my day started to go downhill). I drove through Cincy and passed about 100 yards from Paul Brown stadium (where the Cincy Bungles play) and whatever the stadium is called that houses the Reds. In the rain I passed into Kentucky where I grabbed a Steak and Egg Burrito at Margaritas in Erlinger, KY. I then made my way down to Louisville through patchy rain. Once I got to Louisville it started pouring, I mean POURING. I made it over the Ohio river and into New Albany Indiana. The rain was coming down like crazy and the other drivers were all over the place so I decided to swing into a Mexican restaurant (forgot the name) and have a relatively forgettable pork burrito. Its funny, I drove through a similar rain storm outside of Rochester yesterday and people were going 80, and in Indiana they were going 40 and apparently freaking out, what does this say about the crazy bastards from western new york. Riding through Indiana was relatively sedate and easy, I did take a detour to visit Santa Clause, IN which is the hometown of new Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. This place is set up along the similar premise as North Pole, NY, a place that turns a Christmas theme into a tourist trap/summertime adventure. The one thing different is that they have an actual amusement park in Santa Clause (HollidayLand). I didnt get to see a lot Indiana or Illinois because it was raining and night came. I hate driving in the rain for long periods of time because it is so mentally exhausting, but im sure rain wont be much of a problem out in Chinle. I know that tonight I am going to have another nightmare about falling asleep at the wheel, but that always happens to me during/after road trips. Illinois was a relatively sedate drive, but I was messed up by the change in time zones. My GPS said that I would arrive at 10:20, but that was adjusted for the time zone, my car's clock is not so around 10:25 EST there was some confusion. This is the first time I have made it to the Central time zone, im kind of curious to see what it is like watching prime time TV an hour early. I did see more police in Illinois (4) than in Ohio (2), Kentucky (1) and Indiana (0) combined. This led along with a less generous speed limit (65 rather than 70) led me to keeping my foot off the gas, which cost me some time.
After about 10 hours of driving and over 650 miles I finally made it to Belleville, IL just about 15 minutes outside St Louis. I grabbed a vegetarian burrito at a Qdoba (kind of like Chipolte or Moes) which I am currently enjoying. Once again I am at Super 8 because they are cheap and easy to find, but hopefully this one has a better breakfast. I plan to go see the Gateway Arch and the Budweiser brewery tomorrow. But wait Owen dont you hate Budweiser (answer: yes), so why are you going? This is the biggest brewery in the US if not the world, I would be remiss if I skipped it simply because of my anti shitty beer stance. After that I plan on getting some St Louis style BBQ and heading on to Oklahoma. I will do my best to grab a burrito, but there is only so much that I can handle during such a short time.
Ill update tomorrow after I get as far as I can. I really dont want to go to Oklahoma City, so I will probably just drive until I cant take it any more then crash for the night. I am really excited about catching the last days of the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon festival on Saturday and Sunday.
-O
The Rundown
Miles: ~650
Money spent on Gas: $105
Hours spent driving: ~10
Burritos: KY, IN, IL
Overreaching though: I hate driving in the rain for 7 hours
Plan for tomorrow: Brews, BBQ, Arches, and singing songs that spell out the name of the state that I am traveling to
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