Lincoln Highway and Mayonnaise Sandwiches

We got a fairly early start from Laramie, getting on the road right after picking up some of the hotel breakfast. It was what has kind of become the standard for hotel breakfast, complete with waffle maker. This one was extra nice because it had the machine that you push a button and it makes two pancakes.

We hadn't even made it down the on ramp before I asked Jason of we could visit the next rest area. Not because I forgot to go at the hotel but because it featured a tribute to Abraham Lincoln. The first road to cross the United States was the Lincoln Highway and I-80 mostly follows the route (at least through Wyoming). The rest area is also a state park and very nice. There is a full visitor center but it was closed. Pretty cool stop.

The rest area was at the highest elevation of I-80. The few miles around it were more like what I thought Wyoming would look like. Pretty but brief.

Nebraska started out a lot like Wyoming. They slowly introduced corn but the cattle were there mile 1. The roads in Nebraska are pretty nice. Pretty much all cast concrete. There are a few construction zones and a few miles that could use improvement but overall very good. It was nearly all two lanes each direction, though. This can slow things as trucks decide to pass each other.

We had an option to dip into Colorado by taking a ten mile or so detour but there was a lot of construction in the area and it didn't seem worth it. Sorry Colorado. I'll have to visit you properly on another trip.

Somewhere along the way, signs told us that we entered the Central Time Zone. In Henderson, Nebraska, we stopped for lunch at a Subway. When I asked for some sauce on my wrap, I heard the lady mutter something and as she started going crazy, I realized she had said "say when". I quickly said "WHEN!" Jason didn't hear her say anything and ended up with a mayonnaise sandwich.

In Lincoln, we left I-80 to continue due East. It's a nice city, being both a capital and a college town. The highway (Nebraska 2) took us around the outside edge of town before becoming a full fledged divided highway through the countryside.

As we approached the Missouri River, more construction welcomed us. The roads were clearly in pretty rough shape. I thought the river served as the state line into Iowa but there there was no sign saying so. A few miles later near I-29, a small sign pointed the direction to an Iowa visitor's center. We must have made it? At this point, Bryan was asleep in the back seat and he missed the dozen or so miles of Iowa. The interstate was a slight improvement. The vegetation in the median and off the shoulder was unkempt and not very nice. The road itself was actually fairly smooth despite looking pretty rough.

The last mile or two of Iowa featured more construction, which continued into Missouri. There was no mistaking this state line, and a huge sign welcomed us. A few miles later, there was an incredibly nice rest area we visited. It's Sunday afternoon.

Wild Chicken and Barbecue Pork

Monday morning, we picked up Linda, got some gas and got on I-70 heading east. I should note that the breakfast at Drury Inn was excellent. An hour or so into the day's drive, we stopped at a Casey's General Store for a break and a chicken greeted us in the parking lot.

We took a bypass route that took us south of St. Louis. You could get a sense of how big the St. Louis metropolitan area is by how long the bypass was, going through a lot of the suburban towns. It was interesting to still see signs indicating that we were on the Lewis and Clark Trail, despite being so far from home.

I-59 took us south, just west of the Mississippi River. This continued into Arkansas. I think it's safe to say the flattest land we've seen so far wasn't in Wyoming out even Nebraska, but in northeast Arkansas. You can see for MILES. I guess that doesn't sound impressive but it was flat.

The interstate through Arkansas was okay. Better than Iowa but that's about it. I was driving at this point and hit I-40 East.

It wasn't long before we were finally crossing the Mississippi River into Memphis, Tennessee. To the left of the bridge was a giant glass pyramid that said Bass Pro Shops. I don't know much about it and couldn't really look more than that. I drove right through the city to check into our hotel in Southaven, Mississippi.

After check-in, we headed to Graceland, hoping there would be some late activity related to Elvis Week. Since it was August 16, it was the 44th anniversary of Elvis's death. When we got there, though, everything was closed. We were able to kind of see the buildings and planes but not able to visit the Meditation Garden or exhibits.

For dinner, we went to Marlowe's, one of the many famous barbecue joints around Memphis. The smoke smelt amazing. I think Jason got a full order of proper barbecue but I had an amazing black bean burger. It was fun, fast, good, super friendly. I'm pretty sure Elvis ate there. Slightly touristy but well worth it.

After dinner, everyone wanted treats. So, we walked from our hotel to an Aldi. Like the German grocery chain. I'm not sure why it was there in Mississippi but it was. I had some lower cal ice cream.

As has become tradition on this trip, I went to bed long before everyone else. I need my beauty sleep.

Missouri Loves Company

Missouri has really nice roads and it took no time before the scenery was much more interesting than anything we had seen in a while. Waze told us we were better off going directly into the heart of Kansas City, so we did. It's pretty fortunate that we had good navigation because it would be easy to get lost in the maze. Think Portland but much worse. And because many highways start there, the exit numbers are all low and need letters to keep the clear. Like Exit 2L. We did not dip into Kansas, as far as I could tell, so that's another state saved for a future trip. We must have been pretty close, though.

We checked into the Drury Inn and Suites in Blue Springs. I had never heard of the chain but it was really nice. When I checked in, they let me know there was still twenty minutes we could grab dinner and drinks. We ended up not getting anything but that was partly because Bryan didn't hear me say that you could get a beer. Honestly, I think I'm future trips, I would lean toward this chain. It's not Sheraton or Hilton but in many ways, it was pretty close. And the rate was reasonable, right on the average for this trip.

Then we headed over to Linda and Darwin's. Darwin knew we were coming. Linda did not. She was a little late getting out of work. I had messaged her to let her know some kid sized KISS masks would be delivered soon. She asked what I was up to. I said that I was hanging out with Jason and Bryan, which turned out to be a mistake. If I wasn't busy, she would have called and chatted on the way home. It worked out, though.

We went to the Walmart and passed a few minutes. I should note that EVERYONE in the store was wearing masks. Pretty impressive and not what I was being told about Missouri. We decided to just head over to their house and wait. We visited Darwin and their son. He's a pretty cool, smart, athletic, energetic and kind six year old. He liked the masks, as that is his favorite band.

When Linda got home from work, I kind of hid around the corner in the living room. I could hear her react as she noticed that the same Bryan and Jason that I was hanging out with were sitting in her kitchen. She quickly found me and there was a long and tight hug as she started crying. Bryan and Jason were also treated to very nice hugs. I think she was crying because she was happy but I'm not entirely sure how these things work.

She did ask how long we were in town and we had to detail what was up and that we were only there for the night. A plan was quickly hatched, a flight was booked, kitty medicines were organized and Linda would be to join us in the morning, at least for a few days.

With that figured out, we set to order dinner. This is when we realized their quiet little suburb closes shop early on Sunday evening. We ended up going to a drive through Italian chain called Fazoli's. It was okay, had vegetarian choices, was inexpensive, fast, but most importantly, available.

After a few hours of celebration and catching up, we returned to our room. Barely 48 hours into our road trip and it was already epic.