Nov 2013 travels from Iowa to Florida with my Dad

Nov 17, 2013-Sun:::: my Dad, (Jerry) & I took off at 0900 & stopped to see my Dad's sister, Carm who is 97.We had a nice visit & headed south towards Kansas City. Besides the "Welcome to Missouri" sign, there is a creek sign "Po Cat creek"...There are a couple definitions  for Po Cat- check that out in Bing or Google!!!    It was realllly windy so I was ready to call it a day around 5 PM ... I found a cute place in Blackwater, 3 miles off the interstate, but when we arrived this small town looked like a ghost town.... So we headed down the interstate for another 20 miles & found a Holiday Inn Express.  Arby's treated us with a meal, the hotel provided the hot tub & a movie = a good recipe for a good night sleep.....after our 394 mile drive :)
 

Nov 18, 2013 - Monday:: Boonville is in the middle of Missouri, and the drive through Missouri was uneventful - we were thankful for the blue sky, and for the fact that we did Not leave one day earlier, as the high winds from yesterday brought multiple tornados through the Midwest, one hit near St. Louis. One tornado wiped out a town in Indiana. Dad & I talked about times, years ago when we all came to see the Cardinals play baseball- there were several trips! The latest trip for Dad, Bob (brother) & Robbie (nephew), was game 6 of the 2011 World Series - if you are a Cardinal Fan, you will remember that the Cards won in the 11th inning ( & that was the night I was listening to the recap of the game, comming home from an evening meeting, I crossed the fog line & was stopped by a cop- I did not get a ticket, but was asked multiple questions & had to get out of the car & perform the 'sobriety test' -- now that was an interesting experience !)  Dad wanted to drive, so when we were several miles East of St Louis  (I-70 turned into I-64) and we are in Illinois, Dad drive for 2 hours. We headed south on I-57, then I-24 into Kentucky. I was amazed at all the billboards along the way (in S. Dakota,  the main sign was for Wall Drug -- yes it's still there!!). I called ahead & booked us a room at The Best Western on Music Row in Nashville. We logged in at 448 miles. I highly  recommend this hotel - reasonable price & one block from Music Row. We ate at The Tin Roof  - they only have music Thur- Sat.  The food was good, my Margaretta was good , just very different. We walked up the street & found an Irish Pub with a live band, which was fabulous!  Amateur musicians played or sang with the band, & there was a "scout" there. Most of the singers were really good. ( no cover charge ). Of course the music was all country (my kind of music) - Dad enjoyed this also. By 1000 PM we decided to walk back to the hotel. The temp was around 50. ( cooler then 
normal).
Nov 19, 2013 - Tuesday ::  we look a little detour to S. Carolina to visit my first cousin Jake Ohlinger & his wife Kathy.  The trip to Greenville - 352 miles - was via the beautiful Smokey Mountains. We had a lovely visit with Jake & Kathy, played cards (of course) and had a peaceful sleep. Kathy found photos when Mom & Dad visited in Feb1988 with Uncle Clem & Aunt Micky (I'll email there to my 
brothers & sisters when I get a chance -- it's great seeing photos of Mom & Dad so young!)

Nov 20, 2013 - Wednesday :: We followed the GPS Lady & took the interstates towards Augusta Georgia / Savannah Georgia. The trees / grass became greener, started seeing palm trees. The temps were in the low 60's & partly cloudy. When we rolled into Florida ( the sunshine state), the rains started--  ironic!!!!  We stopped in Flagler Beach (20 miles north of Daytona - a sleepy town, with red sand on the beach). This was a 495 mile day. It was still light enough to see the ocean when we arrived at the Fisherman's Nest Restaurant.  I love the ocean!! After eating we drove around for a few minutes; then want to a Mexican restaurant where were 2 comedians -- the first one, Adam was funny, but the second guy, not so much.


Nov 21, 2013 - Thursday :: we had a nice breakfast at the hotel, and started our last miles to Eric's... It continued to rain off & on, and traffic was light so our last 203 miles was easy. We stopped at Steak & Shake for lunch; and rolled into Eric's driveway around 3:30PM. And we were ready to relax: 

 We meet Peg (sister), Mike (brother-in-law), Garrett (nephew), and their friend Steve for dinner at The Outback.  A good end to a fabulous road trip!!  --  Picture at Eric's home -- Garrett, Peg, Mike, Eric, Anne (Eric's Sweetheart), Dad, Bette