August 9, 2024
Traveling from Louisville, KY to California, MO — staying two nights in California.
Had better weather for the drive, so that was a plus. Not really sure how long it took because the time changed when I wasn’t looking (we are in the second time zone out of four). It was a little shorter at 430 miles. Breakfast was two bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits from a gas station somewhere after we got out of the Louisville area (we had to make a big circle north before going back down south to hook up with I64 — to avoid a bridge that was not conducive to speedy travel).
Anyway, the bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit was good, but I noticed when I was unwrapping it how heavy it was — I call these things belly bombs. Luckily I survived the ordeal.
Really the drive was quite uneventful, until we got off the interstate to proceed to where we are staying. After exiting the highway, it was about 12 miles south on a two lane, HILLY road with a speed limit of 55 MPH. Kind of like Virginia, but we are used to the roads in Virginia and have no difficulty keeping up with the flow of traffic. Here, the roads are like a roller coaster, both the paved and unpaved roads. Plus, of course, we have Virginia plates so all the good old boys, loose women, and senior citizens who cannot see over the steering wheel try to Dale Earnhart us off the road if we are traveling less than 15 MPH over the speed limit…
Oh, did I mention the unpaved roads? We ended up driving about 15 to 20 miles from the interstate, and the last three to four miles was/is on unpaved DUSTY roads — as you can see the picture of the car below. By the time we leave, the blue color will no longer be visible unless it rains.
So we are in one-half of a barn that has been redone – the other half of the building is inhabited by animals — including chickens and dogs. Right outside the bedroom window is a field where a bull, his cow, and their youngster wander around. I opened the back door once last night and stood there looking at the bull — let’s just say the bull won the staredown and I shut the door.
The dogs are nice – a few big white guard dogs, a young basset-hound type, and some kind of poodle or something that doesn’t visit. The dogs try to get into the space when we leave (or come back). To be fair, they also try to get into the car…
When we finally got to the airbnb, it was dinnertime, so we went on a 20 minute drive to town (ever notice people in the country say “to town” a lot?). Nobody much here says “to town”, they are mostly Amish and we haven’t had much contact with them. There is a phone in the barn where they come to use a phone if they need one — park their horse and buggy right out front.
So, we went to a Mexican restaurant “in town”, it was quite crowded and the food was good. Thanks Google — again!
Tomorrow we go to a cave, hopefully I will have a better photo selection.
Thanks for reading.
Kevin
