The playlist for today’s drive (thanks to all who contributed music to our ipods prior to the trip):
-“Old Tyme Religion” -Hugo
-“My Head is an Animal” -Of Monsters and Men
-“Torches” -Foster the People
-“Some Nights” -Fun
We began our drive across America bright and early this morning, leaving Lexington early enough both to see the horses playing in the fields on Old Frankfort Pike and to immediately require coffee.
We drove through four states today: Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. And while none of these offer the most exciting scenery, we were able to pull through with the use of our roadtrip scavenger hunt, which I mentioned in the last post. It’s a list of 18 different things to look for while on the road. I think it’s pretty clever, so I’ll share it for those of you who hate being in the car for long periods of time, like me.
The Roadtrip Scavenger Hunt
-Blue VW Bug
-Pizza Delivery Guy
-Live Deer
-Dead Deer
-3 of the same color car in a row
-The second “My child is an honor student at _________ school” bumper sticker
-Something that reminds you of your small group
-Ski/snowboard/surfboard on a roof rack
-RV towing a Toyota
-Barn
-Person (alone) singing in their car
-A packed car (i.e. five people in a five seater with luggage)
-First place you see a sign with the word “Oregon” on it
-Car with fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror
-Dog with its head out of the window
-Biker gang
-Car pulled over by more than one police officer
-Canadian license plate
I’m keeping track of where we see these things, along with what day we saw them. So far, we’ve seen a dead deer (in New Harmony, Indiana), a barn (almost immediately on Old Frankfort Pike in Lexington), a packed car (in Okawville, Illinois), and a car with fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror (in Corydon, Indiana). It’s silly, but I really think this game made the drive go a little faster today.
Speaking of games, my incredibly creative and thoughtful sister gave us a notebook for the drive, which includes a license plate game, places to record photos and events of the trip, and lots of other super cute stuff. We’ve been watching license plates all day. I’m a little disappointed that we already saw Oregon and Washington. But I’ll feel really successful when we spot Alaska or Hawaii. Dream big, right?
Aside from playing car games today, we also stopped in St. Louis to see our friend, Peggy. We got to eat lunch with her at a Middle Eastern restaurant in a cool little area of St. Louis that is really beautiful. I’m super glad that we got to see Peggy and see a different side of the city. I’ve never had a very good impression of St. Louis (despite it being Nelly’s hometown), but after driving through some of the nice, historic areas near Washington University in St. Louis today, I think St. Louis might actually be pretty cool. Peggy took us to this really cool park with an enormous pond where people were paddle boating and enjoying the views. We walked around a bit (which was excellent for our poor car-trapped legs) and just enjoyed some Peggy time, which I have certainly missed over the past few years.
After St. Louis, we got back on the road and drove to Columbia, Missouri, where we ate dinner at a BBQ restaurant called “Smokin’ Chicks.” We were really hoping to enjoy some Kansas City BBQ, but I’m afraid we couldn’t hold out for another 2 hours to actually get to Kansas City.
But eventually we made to it to Kansas City, Missouri, where we spent the night on the 33rd floor of a hotel with spectacular views of the city. They were even setting off fireworks when we got to our room! And the best thing about the hotel? The 24-hour gym, which let us exercise our car-trapped legs. If I may offer a suggestion to anyone roadtripping in the future, stay at hotels with gyms. Your legs will greatly appreciate it.
We’ll hit the road again early tomorrow morning, hitting up 4 more states on our journey across America!
Happy trails to you!
-Ally
Becca says
This is AWESOME! I am pumped to check this every day for the next week.