Road Trip October 2016

[Photo credits go to Brad.]

Brad drove to Vernal, Thursday, October 6, and we left early

Friday, October 7, deciding that today was going to be our longest drive.  We packed stuff for lunch so we didn't have to eat out.  Brad was pulled over in the early evening, only given a warning.  Made it to Kansas City.  We stayed in a Sleep Inn.  Ate at Cox BBQ, it was good. 

Saturday, October 8, went to the Kansas Temple and did baptisms.  I had printed a few names before we left - about 9 male, 12 female.  There was a family ahead of us and one brother waited to be a witness for us, but he also needed a few female names done for him.  While we were waiting to do confirmations, a young couple came in that only had a couple names to do.  Scott and Brad were the witnesses for them and then we were able to do our confirmations together.  It worked out beautifully.  I loved being there.

Headed to Louisville.  Walked a little around campus.  Seemed very small, but a ton of red all through the town. 

Trip Advisor told us the #1 attraction was the Mega Cavern, so we gave it a try.  It is a former limestone mine that is huge!  Part of it is used for storage and part of it is used for zip lines and a rope course.  We did the zip lines and you would go through the cave and over large valleys? on these zip lines and it was all in the dark, with few lights.  It was really fun, but some of it was hard for me, to step off or to be on a very small platform even though we had safety ropes.

We also had to do a rope bridge, and the guy on it with me was swinging it, I wasn't thrilled about that.  Because Brad was with us we used Airbnb, and stayed at a huge home in a mansion district?  It was a young family that would rent out rooms while they were trying to restore this home.  We just stayed in an upstairs room that had a full bed and a twin bunk bed.  It looked like we were using a bathroom that the family used, a little strange for me, but it was definitely a good price.  Our dinner was Wendy's before the cave and then a stop at Kroger to pick up stuff for breakfast.

Sunday, October 9, we went to a ward in Louisville and then did a tour of Churchill Downs.  This was a highlight of my trip.  It was beautiful and fun to be there.  Then we drove to Durham, after stopping for dinner at an Arbys.

Monday, October 10, loved being there with the kids, Brigham took no time in warming up.  Bryce and Alicia took off for Asheville and the Sigur Ros concert.  Brad and I later left for Charlotte, a 2 hour drive, to see Monday Night Football, the Panthers and Buccaneers.  I was going to stay and babysit but Scott would rather babysit than go to the football game, so I was all in.  It was a lot of fun.  Our tickets were up high but we could see great.  It was warm, the stadium was right downtown.  We didn't really care about the teams, and it ended up being a very close game, but we left with about 3 minutes left and literally ran about 1/2 mile to the car so that we would miss the traffic, because it was about 11:30 and we still had 2 hours to drive. 

Tuesday, Wednesday, October 11-12, just hung out with the kids, went shopping with Alicia to the outlets to get the kids clothes, went to the kids museum and did the train ride, and just enjoyed being with them. 

Thursday, October 13, it was the State Fair in Raleigh.  Had some great fried food and Addy did some rides.  Brigham is such a good baby to take places.  Had a great time.

Friday, October 14, said our goodbyes and headed out for the trip home.  Headed to Atlanta and stopped in Greenville, SC, which was having a downtown fair with food vendors from the local establishments.  Absolutely gorgeous, a few years ago they revitalized the downtown around a park with a waterfall including a large walking bridge.  Ate near there at Brazwells, wonderful.

Stayed at the LaQuinta in Atlanta, where I think this was the place that had a very loud Asian family with a couple young girls next door.  We finally had to call the front desk. 

Saturday, October 15, went to the Atlanta temple to do initiatories for the baptisms we had done.  It was quick but great to be there.

 Did a tour of the Smith plantation, it was very interesting.  Couldn't find much to do there, which was a little disappointing, so we headed west.

Stopped at a monument in Birmingham, Alabama, the Vulcan statue.

Stopped in Tuscaloosa to see the Alabama football stadium.  Walked around the stadium, the sororities/fraternities near there were incredible buildings.  There must be a lot of money at that university.  The town was dead because the Bama game was going on (out of town).  As we were leaving, it was half time during the game and people started coming out.  Brad was thrilled as we were walking down the street and a block away at an apartment, a man yelled out "Roll Tide". 

Headed to Memphis.  Another fair down historic Beale Street, ate at Sulky O'Sullivans, an outdoor restaurant, food was wonderful.  Wandered up and down the street for a short time and decided we had better leave.  That was the only time during the trip that we felt a little uncomfortable.

Stayed at another LaQuinta.

Sunday, October 16, went to sacrament meeting at a branch in West Memphis which was in Arkansas.  Such a small branch but the people were so friendly.  Went back to Memphis to see a couple of bridges over the Mississippi River.

 On to Tulsa where we stopped to see the Golden Driller historic landmark and on to the Airbnb.

 A beautiful home, cute family, had a master suite with an attached bedroom and a bathroom which I became very acquainted with later in the evening.  We had dinner at Hideaway Pizza, we could walk to it, beautiful neighborhood.  About 1 in the morning I had a very bad pain in my stomach which would not go away, I spent about an hour in the bathroom hoping something would happen.  Finally, went and got Scott and said I needed a blessing.  I was sitting on the toilet while he gave the blessing, and immediately when he was done, I turned around and started to throw up.  I threw up intermittently for a few hours, still with a horrible pain in my stomach, with lots of prayers that it would stop so that we could continue home.  About 6 am I was able to go back to bed, about 7 Brad and Scott went to get breakfast at Queenies and I was able to shower.  Just a little weak, not hungry, but we were able to leave on time.  I didn't eat much that day, just a lot of sleeping.  The lasagne was good, but not that good, and I don't know that I would ever be able to eat at the Hideaway Pizza again.


Monday, October 17, headed west and then north into Denver.  It was an extremely warm and windy day driving through Kansas, about 90 degrees.  When we started to head in to Denver, the weather changed.  The wind kept up but it dropped down to the 50s.  It was chilly and a rude awakening back to the mountain west.  We stopped at Chipotle in Castle Rock (I had rice), and then we went and enjoyed Troy and Traci's hospitality. 

Tuesday, October 18, one more short day of driving.  We had been too early for fall foliage back east, the prettiest drive was probably through Alabama/Georgia/Arkansas, but not much color, so it was fun to see some of the brightest colors on the last day in our own neck of the woods.  Between Meeker and Rangely the trees were bright gold and spectacular, then we were warned:

Coming into Rangely I was pulled over, but due to another call that the cop received, we were only chastised.  Made it home with only good memories.

What a wonderful trip.  4,798.8 miles.  The driving was much more enjoyable than I had imagined.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.