St. Louis Science Museum

The St. Louis Science Museum ROCKS! Absolutely fantastic experience, very hands on, even rode a jet simulator that moved in all directions. Emily and I laughed the whole time.

We didn’t get to the famous St. Louis arch but drove by and waived – promising to visit again when we didn’t have Tess along. Finding shady spots and seeing things early in the day has been our working mojo.

Did manage to snag a Cardinals ball cap and mug before heading out of town.

Driving into Illinois, I kid you not, I literally didn’t know if we were in Illinois or Indiana. It was the first time in my life I truly didn’t know what state I was in, and it felt kind of neat! Like a mystery or something I knew would eventually reveal itself.

Our drive through Indiana and Illinois was fairly uneventful – naturally we stopped in each state to pick up a rock. Have quite a collection of them now, each marked with a Sharpie and slowly filling up a plastic container.

We ended our day at this fantastic KOA campground just south of Louisville in Shephersville, KY.

"Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there..."

I don’t think I’d even fully parked before Emily had flung open her car door and was off and running, having spied a giant jumpy “pillow” and a ton of kids her age.

We are apparently “fire challenged” as we were able to build a fire long enough to make S’Mores but not long enough to keep it going for too long. And our roasting stick broke. But never let it be said that any challenge can dampen the spirit of girls who want chocolate, melted or not!

Found a cool cave!

Tess went nuts over the squirrels and even managed to sneak up on one and sniff it! The squirrel leaped in the air causing Tess to do the same, both having freaked the other one out. Too funny. I don’t think Tess ever expected to get that close and seems to have added a little strut to her step now.

Jumpy Pillow

Great way to get around the campgrounds

Tess Isn't Too Sure About This Whole Camping Deal

Tess and I started the morning with a brisk walk which included a 180 degree turn upon finding a snake curled up on the sidewalk. Pretty sure it was dead but it was big and scary and we weren’t going to hang around to find out.

A second walk with Emily before we departed the hotel included a return to said snake upon which we confirmed it was definitely dead. And still scary.

First stop of the morning was the Air Force Academy. Fantastic B52 bomber on display at the entrance. The movie they show at the visitor’s center, about a year in the life of a new cadet, was outstanding. Viewed the cadet parade field and exterior of the chapel, unfortunately not open for visits due to scheduled weddings.

It was extremely windy and, although it was sunny and June, it was cold. I can only imagine a dark day in January out on the parade field. Drove by Falcon stadium and reminisced about being there for the Navy/Air Force game in 1992. Good memories.

Hit the road and, after a brief sojourn through the black forest, we hopped on the highway, queued up the cruise control and pointed the car east. Crossing into Kansas we informed Tess she would heretofore be called Toto until we left the state. Kansas is beautiful – I’m struck by how far you can see in all directions and really only recall being able to do that in one or two other places, including out on the ocean. At one point Emily said, “Look, it’s the little house on the prairie” and darned if she wasn’t right.

Listened to comedy channels on Pandora, stopped for Subway at a truck stop (“attention professional drivers, driver #62, shower 4 is now available”) and showed up in Hays, Kansas six hours later.

One thing’s for sure, there is never a line at the salad bar at Golden Corral, and it is one of the best salad bars around.

Grabbed a 20 minute workout on the Precor to get the blood flowing this morning and hit that huffing and puffing point earlier than usual due to the altitude. Then played fetch and “bubbles” with Tess on the front lawn of the hotel. She loves jumping and snapping at soap bubbles, loves the taste or something and it certainly doesn’t hurt her breath. An equal love is anything that squeaks and her squeaky soccer ball is a favorite. Never knew a Westie that fetched before her and it sure is fun to watch her bounding across the lawn for another round.

I can almost hear the original framers of the state lines saying, “let’s run a state line across here by color – brown is New Mexico, green Colorado.”

Traveling through the Colorado mountains made me reach for the John Denver CD I’d stashed in the center console – just had to listen to “Rocky Mountain High.” Spectacular scenery, including a little leftover snow, and a few songs later I found myself welling up with thoughts of my mom. Lyrics that meant only one thing in the past now seem to reach out and choke me.

Note to self: never, ever, ever, ever, ever eat at Long John Silvers again.

After a brief stop at a fast-rushing river where we skipped rocks and Em attempted to build a fire from rocks and sticks, Tess spied her first cattle and had a stare-down with an equally inquisitive steer.

Dinner at Outback, dipping my legs in the in the hotel hot tub, and a chocolate cookie in bed and I don’t remember a thing after that.

June 6, 2013

Well, I must say I have had enough of the desert. I miss the cool beaches of the California Coast. The day started unintentionally early. Though we were awake since 6:00 some how it took us four hours to leave the hotel. We were on the road at ten. Tess had spent the morning sniffing around tumbleweeds and chasing geckos. Oh what a life! Our venture into the desert was filled with wide open spaces and tiny dirt tornados. We stopped at a local gas station to grab some food as, to my surprise, McDonalds is not everywhere, at least not in the desert. If you have ever spent long hours in the desert, you know that you go just a little bit insane for a few hours until you make it back to civilization. On one of our longer stretches threw the desert I, being the wonderful singer that I am, sang 99 Bottle of Beer on the Wall. It took me forty-five minutes to sing the entire thing and I am shocked that my mom did not just pull over and push me out of the car by the fifty-fifth beer. To my surprise towards the end she also went a little insane and started to sing along with me.

In the desert you seem to run across weird things. Such as we were driving along and one the side of the road on the other side of a fence was a single llama. He was facing away from the road and he had this look on his face like:

“Well, Carl you did it again, you lost the herd.”

One of the cooler things we did, was we went to the four corners. I had never been to Utah so I stood in the corner of Utah!

Chilling back at the hotel with my little buddy!

I love travel and heading out on a “round the country” adventure with my FAB daughter is the trip of a lifetime. I hope to grow as a mother, a mentor, and a friend.

I plan to learn everything I can from her and simply soak in her presence.

And of course, I fully intend to laugh so hard I spit water out of my nose.

Packing light is the way to go – seems we have more stuff for Tess, our wonderful Westie, than we do for ourselves. It all fit in the car and we were ready to launch.

We left San Diego at high noon, driving for a few miles behind my husband as he filmed our departure with the Go-Pro camera attached to the back of his car.

Traveling in the heat with a dog has some added challenges. The temps hit triple digits so the goal was to keep the car running. Since we are not eating in the car, we had to find areas outside where we could sit with the dog. And in Arizona that means we’ll take anything with shade and had to remove anything from the car that might melt or explode, like chocolate, cosmetics, and computers.

June 5, 2013

The trip begins! At 10:00 this morning when I returned home from my graduation breakfast, I dawned on me that we were not ready. I had not fully packed my bag, the car was not loaded, and the dog who was supposed to come with us was giving us the evil eye because she knew that suitcases meant people leaving. (little did she know that we had spent several days packing for her and forgetting to back for ourselves) At 12:00 sharp (one hour behind schedule) we departed San Diego and headed off on our big adventure. Five minutes into the drive Tess (our dog)  was already sound asleep, I not far behind her. If you have never driven about an hour away from the beachy southern California coast, let me give you a visual of what is out there: NOTHING. It is a hot, flat, dry, hot, dirty, hot wasteland. Did I mention it is hot? The temperature rose to a balmy 111 degrees. About two and a half hours into the drive, (we would have stopped at two hours, but we had to keep going because every time we wanted to stop, we were gently reminded that we were in the middle of nowhere.) we stopped and I dined on Panda Express and my mom had In and Out. We ate outside with Tess while she chugged down a bottle of water. We then spent the next four hours in the car together. I would like to take a moment to applaud my mom. She sat in the car for four hours with me of all people…and Tess.

The conversation gets pretty dull when your in the middle of nowhere. I decided that it was time to play some “fun car games” the only one I was ever good at was I Spy. For the next hour my mom sat patiently in the car playing I Spy with me. Let me explain a normal conversation between two people playing I Spy in the middle of the Arizona desert:

Me: “I Spy something white.”

Mom: “That truck”

Me: “No”

Mom: “That sign”

Me: “yep, your turn”

Mom: “I spy something brown”

Me: “That bush, dirt, tree, tumbleweed, that bush, a tree, dirt, a tumbleweed”

Mom: “Emily you can’t say more then one thing thats cheating”

Me: “You can’t at I Spy”

Mom: “Well it doesn’t matter none of those were correct.”

Me: “Mom only so many things are in the desert and I just named all of them.”

Mom: “It was a shrub.”

Me: “Mom a shrub and a bush are the same.”

Mom: “No they are not”

Me: “Yes they are”

Once again I would like to applaud my mother for putting up with all of this. Not only did she put up with this, but she put up with Tess having to go to the bathroom almost every hour. Us pulling up on the side of a highway because she is whining, me getting out and walking her so she can use the restroom., but no false alarm she just wants to sniff around. We get back in the car and repeat. Though we did this trip last year, I am very excited for this years trip as we are also driving back cross-country, too. We arrived at our hotel in Phoenix in time for dinner and to go swimming. It was a great day and I am excited to continue on the hot, dry adventure tomorrow!

Good night to all,

Emily Vertel

Two cups of coffee in the Memphis Marriott Courtyard lobby and I was good to go.

Emily & Elvis - Sun Studios, Memphis, TN

We thought we’d go to Graceland but opted instead to visit Sun Studio on Union Street, the “birthplace of rock and roll.” This is where Elvis cut his first demo record and the atmosphere and tour were top notch. Lots of memorabilia.

The building itself is very small with a small soda fountain, upstairs room filled with memorabilia, very tiny front office still in its original condition, and the recording room and sound booth.

The best part of the tour was that they played little snippets of music throughout, including one of Elvis laughing and trying to record a song while Carl Perkins was making faces at him through the window – a very relaxed, personal recording that was played as you stood in the studio were it was made. If you closed your eyes, you felt like you were right there.

I’m glad we visited Sun Sudios instead of Graceland as we got to experience Elivs at the beginning of his life and career, full of hope and dreams and talent, in a small intimate setting that made me feel like I got to meet him. Highly recommended if you’re ever in Memphis. Before leaving I grabbed a “diner” cup of coffee and bought Em her first Moon Pie.

As soon as we got on the road Em declared she was hungry. Hey we’re in Memphis, how about ribs? She quickly looked up a good ribs restaurant on TVFoodMaps.com that lists all the featured restaurants on the Food Network’s programs. We chose Marlowe’s Ribs over near Graceland and it did not disappoint. If I could have taken a bucket of their corn fritters and deep fried pickles I would have – yum!

Em’ declaration as we headed out the door of Marlowe’s, “We ride!” Indeed we do.

We headed out of Memphis via Elvis Presley Blvd. and listened to Elvis music via XM Satellite radio for the first hour on the road.

Passed the Williams-Sonoma distribution center in Memphis. Who knew?

Lots of traffic in Birmingham and a few photo ops as we crossed into Mississippi and Alabama, including one run for a rock and one “leaning out the car door” rock gathering episode.

Red Lobster closes at 11 p.m. but we managed to pull in there in Atlanta at 10:45 pm. Once filled with cheese biscuits and crab linguini alfredo, it was apparent we had better get to the hotel before we passed out.

Mixed feelings about the cross-country part of our trip coming to an end – it’s a long trip but it has been a joy. If you’re going to drive 2,900 miles, I recommend going with someone who makes you laugh yourself silly! – Ann

I woke up to a beautiful day in Memphis, Tennessee. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping. We got on the road quickly. The first placed we stopped was Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. It was an amazing tour.

I got to stand on the same spot Elvis Presley stood when he recorded his very first record. I also got to use the same microphone that Elvis used when he recorded songs. It was pretty cool. It was neat to hear the history of how he came to Sun Studios and how he became a hit. If you are ever in Memphis, Tennessee, I recommend going to Sun Studios!

After Sun Studios we rode over to a place called Marlows Ribs. We discovered Marlows Ribs because it was on Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives which airs on the Food Network. We ordered the sampler platter which had: Fried Pickles, Fried Chicken, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Fried Corn Fritters. I will say that the Corn Fritters and the Fried Pickles were my favorite.

We also got a Half-Rack-o-Ribs which were AMAZING. Sorry dad, but you have been beaten when it comes to ribs. With the ribs came the Mac n’ Cheese. Now, this baked Mac n’ Cheese was heavenly. We left Marlows Ribs and got on the road.

We were on the road for about five hours with out stopping. Yet, we had to stop for a bit to get more gas.

• When you stop to get gas, you go and use the restroom in a Cracker Barrel.
• When you go to use the restroom in a Cracker Barrel, you shop in their store.
• When you look around in their store, you buy junk. Not just junk, but junk that you could live with out. Thus the word “Junk”.
• When you do leave the Cracker Barrel your mother must stop and stretch in the parking lot.
• When your mother stops to stretch in the parking lot, you ride your rip-stick.
• When you ride your rip-stick you learn a new trick.
• When you learn a new rip-stick trick, you soon learn that you have not been driving for 45 minutes.

So, you get on the road.

It soon became late at night and mom and I were delirious. I saw a sign that said, “Hong Kong Buffet”. So for the next few hours mom and I said, “Hong Kong Buffet” in weird voices. We were very tired when we finally arrived at our hotel. It was 9:30 when we arrived.

We had not eaten since Marlows, so we decided to go have dinner at Red Lobster. We arrived at Red Lobster at 11:00 at night. We had an amazing dinner then returned to the hotel at midnight. Tomorrow we plan on leaving early so that we can get to my Gramps and Nana’s at a decent time. I know that I will be having meatballs for dinner! (Meatballs=a very long story)

I will say that this being one of the last post about our Cross-Country trip, I am happy because I know that when this adventure ends a new one will open.

Through this long journey cross our grand country I have really learned the true meaning of the saying, “It is not the destination but the journey”. Even though this may seem like the end, it is only the beginning of a truly amazing summer!

From,

Emily

It was soooo hard to leave our cousins! Pancakes and coffee by the pool was delightful – the kids swam then rip-sticked in the driveway, Em pulling Gillian and Grace on a second ripstick by horse lead!

After a quick load of laundry, the borrowing of two pair of riding boots for horse camp (English and Western – yee haw, thank you Melissa!!!!), some calendar comparisons about future meet-ups, and the knowledge that no matter how well we checked, we were sure to leave something (and in fact, it was Em’s Rein and Shine tee shirt!), we loaded up and headed out.

Last thing in the car was the ripstick, helmet, and wrist pads…of course!

Drove through the University of Arkansas campus – beautiful, hilly, and lots of construction. Loved seeing all the huge frat houses (well, mansions really). A quick one hour drive to Fort Smith didn’t deter Em from taking a nap – she woke up in the parking lot of Fuji’s Steakhouse and Sushi restaurant where we met my gal-pal Debbie for lunch and laughs.

When we got up to leave, we were literally the last people in the restaurant…including the staff! All the lights in the lobby were out and there wasn’t a person in sight. Debbie says they close between 2 and 4 and we were there ’til 3:30.

From Fort Smith it was about 3 1/2 hours to Memphis but it seemed like an eternity. Em slept most of the way, lots of construction including several points where it was one lane and a dead stop. Was actually able to read at one point. Listening to the truckers on the CB was too funny throughout the traffic and helped the time go by.

Did manage to rouse Em to watch the odometer turn over to 000 again (2,000 miles) – we missed it the first time so had to catch it today.

Cracker Barrel Turkey Dinner

Despite the fact that were just miles from Memphis ribs, we opted to stop at the last Arkansas exit for Cracker Barrel’s Thursday turkey dinner special and it was juuuuuuust right. Ate so much we even turned down dessert. Em had an extra serving of stuffing and gravy.

We love shopping in their little store, even looked for a new “On the Road Again” type CD but no luck. The sun was setting just as we arrived at the restaurant so our “Welcome to Tennessee” photo op an hour later was pretty dark.

Arrived at the Memphis airport Marriott Courtyard (great decorations and music!) and enjoyed a half hour of rip-sticking in the parking lot. Em glides along and I stretch my legs and we talk about everything from here to the moon – some of my favorite times on this trip.

Plans are for Graceland tomorrow morning then off to HOT-lanta. – Ann

Odometer Reading - 2,000 so far!