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DAY 14 - GEORGE WASHINGTON'S MOUNT VERNON
It was raining when we got up this morning and hasn't let up much. With hopes for a nice day to see Mount Vernon pretty well dashed, we got in the truck anyway and drove the not-quite-4 miles down to Mount Vernon.
We got in on the military rate of $14 per person, down from $20 for a walk-in ticket, with ID. We came in at 9:45 am and they were already selling 11:45 am tour tickets. We wandered around a little, seeing the grounds, the view from the Mt Vernon front porch of the Potomac River, the greens, all the various farm/plantation type buildings on the property, and down to George and Martha's tomb. A little later at the gift shop, hubby found a coffee cup for our collection, and then 2 glasses for his bar.
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The tour was very interesting. There were a few rooms with what I term “ugly wall paper”, and two rooms with the gaudiest green paint. I told my hubby, I'd rather see that kind of green on my lawn than on my wall,” and he agreed. Lots of rooms, plenty of space, a few beds that looked comfortable, and really, some gorgeous furniture, particularly in what's termed “the new room”.
After the tour, we continued to walk through the pouring rain (thankfully with our umbrellas) to the main building, then out to the parking lot.
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On the way out, we stopped at the Grist Mill and Distillery, where hubby treated himself to a bottle of special whiskey. It was EXPENSIVE, but it was rare and the bottle will be a nice souvenir after the whiskey is long gone.
Back out at US-1, we continued up that road for 5 miles to find a gas station with the “right” price on diesel, as we are heading out tomorrow. It was $2.79, when all others around here are between $3.05 and $3.15. Then we stopped at a Walmart on the way back to the hotel, for ice for tomorrow, which we threw in the freezer.
Came back to the room and ate up what foods we can't take with us easily in the cooler tomorrow.
Donna
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DAY 15 - DRIVING AND MONTICELLO
We just got in to a different motel after a day doing both driving and sightseeing.
This morning, we got out of the place we stayed in DC with no problems. We weren't 10 miles down I-95 when that highway became a slow moving parking lot. We *crawled* to Fredericksburg. It set our teeth on edge to think we only made 35 miles (from hotel to VA-3, where we finally got off 95 to head west) in 1-hr, 25 minutes. If we never see I-95 again, it will be too soon.
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Had breakfast at a very busy IHOP just off I-95 at VA-3, wondering when we went in if we'd lose another hour and a half. Nope, very fast service and meal, in and out of there in 40 minutes.
Finally got to Monticello around 12:45. Sorry to say this, but it was so danged expensive! $29 PER PERSON for a day pass, but that included a house tour and two other tours if you chose to stay and do them.* After yesterday's Mount Vernon and Today's Monticello, we are thinking that both should become National Historic Sites and be preserved by the National Park Service. They're too commercial as they stand right now.
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The home is beautiful and there were sure many things to see inside it. It was a longer tour than yesterday's Mount Vernon. It was also a far nicer day, no rain, not overly hot but a wee bit sticky (humid).
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We rode the shuttle to the Grave and viewed that, then rode back to the parking lot and headed out.
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We are staying about 30 minutes from Monticello in Waynesboro. The town itself is along I-64, but we are a bit inside Waynesboro. The room itself is okay. They tried to cram too much furniture into the space, though, so that one of us has to put our suitcase on a table. (Usually, one of us gets the luggage rack and the other takes floor space,and we trade off. But there's no floor space in this room.)
Donna
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DAY 16 - WAYNESBORO, VA to CORYDON, IN - 499 miles, 9 hrs 25 min
We pulled into Corydon, IN, right when we expected to. We'd left Waynesboro this morning and headed west on I-64, stopping in Staunton (VA) for a bite to eat and then moving on. Traffic was light for most of the day. We found a few pockets of construction where nobody was working, but lanes closed anyway.
Random shots out the passenger windows, either western Virginia or eastern West Virginia:
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Talk about overkill! This truck is towing this car:
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The worst part of the trip was in Charleston, WV. As we entered that city, rain started to drip on us, but the further west we went, the heavier the rain came down. Warren tried to pass a semi using the left lane and that truck gave us his wash -- had almost no visibility without the wipers going as fast as they could! We were so grateful to drive out of that rainstorm.
Traffic in the cities we passed through wasn't bad at all. Of course, other than Charleston, the only other cities we passed thru were Lexington and Louisville, KY. I was surprised at the amount of traffic in Louisville, as we went right smack dab through it on 64 without taking the beltways, and it was pretty light for a city.
Leaving Louisville, about to head over the Ohio River into Indiana:
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We are situated in Corydon, which is about 19 miles across the Ohio River from Louisville, in IN. It's a Comfort Inn, but the room is a bit small for a Comfort Inn. While last night's place had too MUCH furniture in the room, this place doesn't have a chair to sit in other than the desk chair (which I am currently in).
Right next door is a Big Boy restaurant. Prices were very reasonable and the meal was a nice size.
This place does have an outdoor pool, pretty decent water temperature, so we went for a dip before dinner, and a small fitness center which I used after dinner.
Donna
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DAY 17 - CORYDON, IN to COLUMBIA, MO - 380 mi. plus sightseeing
We set out this morning just after 7 on the local time (EDT), made a left turn to get onto the road to take us to the freeway, and promptly got stopped by a policeman. Hubby and I had both thought there were two lanes to turn into, but there was only one and we cut off one of those senior-citizen type buses. Hubby apologized to the cop, telling him that we thought there were two lanes not one, in the rain the lines were very obscure. The policeman looked (and ran) hubby's license and our registration, came back and told us to be careful and enjoy our trip.
It rained most of the way through Indiana, at one point driving through a deluge. It was mostly just cloudy through Illinois, with only a few drips here and there. One of those times was attempting to get fuel for the truck about 30 miles before we'd turn off I-64 for good.
We turned north on I-255, drove on that for 10 miles, then turned west on I-270 before getting off at IL-3. We took that up to the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site. We looked around the museum there, then took a group tour out to the replica of Camp River Dubois. It was different from Fort Mandan and Fort Clatsop, that's for sure. The only thing we raised eyebrows about was the mention of the Mississippi River freezing over in winter. (We've lived here enough to know that is almost impossible now, and rarely happened in the past.)
The new visitor center at Camp River Dubois:
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The newly constructed re-creation of Camp River Dubois:
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Beaver pelt inside one of the cabins:
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After the group tour, we drove to a place where we could look at the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. You could see more than you'd think.
Memorial out by the Confluence:
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The confluence:
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The rest of the ride was on I-270 west and then I-70 west, into Columbia. We arrived around 2:25 pm, and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening visiting with our Missouri family members.
Donna
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That was the last post for a little while. We are now with family for a bit. If we go out sightseeing, I will do another write-up, but the next real sightseeing isn't for awhile.
Donna
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DAY 21 & 22 - SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Seven of us left Columbia at about 8:30 on Friday morning, in one van. Each of us took a small satchel for the overnight trip. I had to borrow one from my daughter.
It took us about 3-1/2 hours to get down there. We took I-70 east to MO-47 south, which we took to MO-21 south. We took a different route than usual into Irondale and it turned me all around. The driver was confused, too. She'd relied on the GPS. Shouldn't have done that.
The reason I am including this in my trip report is that it covers something we see a lot in RTA: a request from folks to see "small town America". Irondale definitely fills that bill. It's hard to find unless you know what you're looking for, and with less than 500 residents, it's small town. If you have a Missouri map, find Farmington, Park Hills, and Potosi. It's in that region.
First thing we found was "downtown Irondale" (hah) and the Blue Haven Cafe', AKA "Earl's." I swear that little cafe hasn't changed menu or prices since I was last down there which had to be 30+ years ago. You wait forever for your food, but it is freshly cooked and it is yummy. We had to put "dibs" on the last pieces of pie that they had, because hubby and his sister both wanted the Coconut Creme pie, as did my daughter. I had their last piece of apple pie -- I had said all along that I was going to break the eating plan twice on the trip. Once was for Earl's. Other than the pie, though, I ate pretty decently. But when 7 people eat full meals for less than $35, you know it's pretty cheap. My grandgirls both ate everything on their plate, too. And had room for a brownie for dessert.
Blue Haven: The eating side is on the left, the house thing is an extra "banquet room" that they only open when needed, like on Sundays after church.
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Small town America: Irondale, MO City Hall:
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Small town America: Irondale, MO. Church (brown building) on left, Masonic Hall (white) on right:
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After Earl's, we went down to the cemetery where a lot of the folks on my husband's side of the family were buried. It isn't a particularly well kept cemetery, and has been there for well over a century, judging by the headstones.
Then we went to find Camp Irondale, an old Boy Scout Camp where hubby's grandparents were caretakers and where my FIL grew up. Find it, we did. Looked around. Took a bunch more pictures.
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By then we were all tuckered out, so we went to find the motel we had reserved. Quality Inn at Farmington. It surprised us because the Internet site said it had an indoor pool, but it ALSO had an outdoor pool (Seasonal, of course). We all enjoyed that for a long while, as the temperature was "just right" and of course the little girls wanted to play.
After being in the pool for almost 2 hours, we decided that maybe we should go eat dinner. In retrospect, a fast food joint would have been fine though the food at the place we chose was decent and not overtly expensive. We were just still not overly hungry after that heavy lunch.
All of us slept pretty good last night, ate breakfast at the hotel (their coffee was lousy). The only bummer is that I walked out and left my pillow there. So we'll have to go buy me another one. Not so much the pillow but I hated losing the pillowcase.
It took us about 3-1/2 hours to drive back, though we took a different route. Took US-67 north out of Farmington to Park Hills, then MO-8 from there all the way to I-44. Went west on 44 for about 9 miles, where we caught US-63 north. And took that all the way up to Columbia. The traffic on MO-8 was great, but on US-63 we kept getting stuck behind somebody that had to go slow and there were took many hills, curves, and double yellow lines to go around them. It was great when US-63 joined US-50 just east of Jefferson City, and it became 4 lane. Zoom zoom!
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We stopped in Jefferson City at my very favorite place there, and I broke my special eating plan for the 2nd place I said that I would: Central Dairy, where they serve the BEST ice cream and it is not expensive. I had some kind of a chocolate thing. The little girls thought they'd died and gone to heaven, they got ice cream for lunch, and they had "birthday cake" flavor. My daughter had recommended the chocolate, and had it too. Not sure what my Sis-in-law and bro-in-law had, but hubby had peppermint stick. It was 97F outside, too, making ice cream very appealing to all of us.
We got back into Columbia at about 12:30.
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Just saw this sign at the McDonald's on Osage Beach Parkway in Osage Beach, MO:
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So what are the job requirements?
Donna
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DAY 23 - LES BOURGEOIS WINERY, ROCHEPORT, MO
In the afternoon, however, 8 of us went out to Les Bourgeois, the winery out by Rocheport and the Missouri River. Family members packed a small picnic of cheese, crackers, and grapes.
When we got there, my hubby bought a bottle of red wine and red grape juice, and my Sis-in-law bought a bottle of white wine and white grape juice. The minors all had juice, the rest of the adults shared the wine. That place has been there for years, as I remember going there and leaving our daughters with their Missouri grandparents, while sister-in-law and brother-in-law did not have kids at that point.
We only stayed about an hour, due to evening plans.
I always post this when we go to MO, because we love it so much, it's a nice relaxing break that anyone can make by going 2 miles north of I-70 at MO exit #115 and following the signs.
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So close to the freeway, and yet so far (you don't hear it):
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Donna
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DAY 25 - WILLMORE LODGE AND POINT, LAKE OF THE OZARKS, MO
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In the afternoon, we all got in two vehicles and went a few miles down the road to the Willmore Lodge. There is a beautiful view of the Lake of the Ozarks, and a small museum, inside the Lodge. Unfortunately their porch, which looks extensive and inviting, was under rehabilitation (the story of this trip, I think). The little girls were bored in the museum, but the 4 adults looked at the small exhibits about the land pre-Lake (since the Lake is man-made by damming up Osage River), during construction, the early years, and a few other things. It was a beautiful and interesting afternoon.
Fortunately, the inside of the Lodge and its museum were air conditioned. Outside, it was warm (mid-90s) and humid!
Beautiful stone fireplace, inside the Lodge:
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Inside the Lodge. Yes, that's me, taking the picture of the fireplace, above. My husband contributes this photo.
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View out the Lodge window:
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Chinaware saved from an area that would be wiped out by the building of the Bagnell Dam (about 1930). I loved the hand painting on this china!
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The Bagnell Dam was built in 1931. Here is a time capsule they saved, which will be opened in 2031. Hope I'm still around to see what's in it!
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Donna
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Donna,
I love the history part of the trip. I guess all trips are about history. That what's so great about our country. Jeep posting.
Thanks
