Summer Vacation '05

We left Wednesday June 22. Destination St. Louis. Daryl had to work, so we didn't get away until 8:00 p.m. We only made it as far as Tallahassee. Stayed overnight, overslept the next morning and headed out again. Got a little lost going through Birmingham and overshot the exit. I started driving outside Birmingham (we took a little twisty road to get to 78 - headed to Tupelo). Made a brief pit stop for Daryl just outside Tupelo (won't go into details on that stop) and continued on past Tennessee, through Arkansas and made it to Cape Girardeau in Missouri. We stayed at a brand new Holiday Inn Express. It was very nice. Left the next morning, not knowing anything was amiss - or missing. We got to our hotel in St. Louis and prepared to go to Kory and Tammy's reception.

The reception was very nice and the next day we went to Ellise & Tom's for more R, R, & R. (That's Rest, Relaxation, and Recreational Sporting Games.) Games included whiffle ball, shooting hoops, a water balloon toss, and karaoke. Jeff took first, Daryl second, and Tyler took third place in the competions. Did I mention there were tons of food and recreational beverages?? A day or so later, we switched hotels. We went into downtown St. Louis. That's when Eric announced his ipod was missing. We made several attempts to contact the hotel in Cape Girardeau and finally found they had it. We would end up going back through to pick up the errant ipod.

We went to the arch and a St. Louis Cardinals game. I got to meet the Cardinal mascot, and having nothing else to get signed, had him sign my ticket. When I got back to my seat, I told Daryl and the boys the chicken signed my ticket. (They were somewhat puzzled by this, thinking back, I would have been too. The chicken of which I spoke was actually THE CARDINAL)

We left St. Louis and headed for Springfield, IL to the new Lincoln Library and Museum. Enroute, we stopped by Staunton and Daryl gave us a tour. That's where the picture of Ray's corn came from. (If you think finding an elephant in the corn is unusual, I actually saw a camel in Arkansas - just walking along at a statuary business alongside the highway.) We ended up getting to Springfield on Wednesday evening. As luck would have it, the museum was open until 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays so we were able to tour it first. I pulled up lame trying to catch up to Daryl, Eric and Chris, who were crossing against a traffic light. Pulled a large muscle in my right leg and had to hobble back to the hotel. Took some ibuprofen and the leg felt better the next morning. We headed out to see Lincoln's tomb. After that, we headed out. Picked up the ipod in Cape Girardeau, had dinner at Marlowes in Memphis, and managed to make it to a hotel in Tupelo around 12:30 p.m.

The next day, we went briefly to the Elvis Presley birthplace in Tupelo and picked up a few souvenirs. I ended up driving and once again, got lost in Birmingham. By the time I backtracked and got onto the expressway, we ended up in a large traffic jam. That Birmingham is one tough place to navigate. I kept driving as long as I could (almost to Montgomery) at which point Daryl took over. We drove, and drove, and drove. Didn't get home until 3:30 a.m., Saturday morning and we still haven't recovered yet.

Liz had made her move to Atlanta, so her bedroom was pretty much cleared out. Fuji (Chris' cat) was very happy to see us. Baxter (Liz's cat), was hiding out behind Liz's dresser. I called and called him, but he wasn't having any of it. I went to bed, saw him trotting down the hall towards my bedroom, but when he saw Daryl heading for the closet, he turned right around and heading back to his hiding place. When he finally came out the second time, I knelt down on the floor to pet him. Naturally, my prior leg injury flared up again, and this time, I had to crawl back to my bed. (More ibuprofen). I don't think I'll be kneeling much anymore.

If you're interested in seeing the photos (no, there are none of me crawling on all fours), they're on the Epson photo center web site, http://www.photo.epson.com/ and type in my former email address theogress@juno.com.

Special thanks to Bev who straightened me out about Illinois and Missouri. I kept putting cities in the wrong states. Lucky they don't have me draw the maps for AAA.