cathleen's place: Road trip

After our night in Chattanooga, we drove to Paducah, Kentucky (a short trip, only 267 miles). The next morning, we decided that a side trip was in order, so we headed out early and took a county road instead of the freeway.

One of the coolest parts of a long road trip is not being in a hurry -- feeling that exploration is time well spent, especially in small towns. We chose Anna, Illinois. Just because.

A little research into the town of Anna tells us that it was a sundown town (non-whites were not allowed to live in or pass through the town after the sun went down) and that as of the 2000 census, Anna is 96.2% white. Anna is the name of the founder's wife, but there is a story that in 2005 a store clerk told James Loewen (the inventor of the neologism "sundown town") that Anna stood for "ain't no niggers allowed." Yuck. The town has a total area of 3.4 square miles and the area around it is primarily farm land, as it has been since it was founded in 1854. (If you want bigger pictures, click 'em.)

Of course we had to stop for breakfast on our way to Anna. Somewhere outside of town we found this little place and had us some greasy eggs and really bad coffee. Yum. At least the waitress was nice. The rest of the people looked at us like we were from Mars.

The first thing we saw when we got to Anna proper was this antique store. It turned out that inside was the very famous Anna Kirkpatrick Pottery Museum. The pottery itself is fascinating and the stories about the two brothers who created it are fabulous. If you're into old stuff and funny stuff, follow the link -- you'll love it.

After an hour of Mr. Isom's great storytelling, we wandered around the little town. It's mostly old buildings in various stages of decay, but it's got life and spirit and I'll wager their 4th of July celebrations offer up the best BBQ, apple pie and fireworks you'll find anywhere.

These are the kinds of pictures I like -- sort of for flavor, you know? Flowers, old bricks, windows, and so on. It's an interesting little town. I suspect it would be okay to live there, everybody knowing your business, hearing every detail of other people's lives. Hmmm, but not for me.

We wanted to follow a road along the Mississippi River up to St. Louis, but we never could quite find it, in fact, we got really lost. Oh well. We saw some beautiful countryside and we did get a glimpse of the Mighty River.

It was a long day. We drove over 500 miles that day. And the first town we got to outside of St. Louis happened to be hosting some gigantic soccer thing and every hotel/motel was booked. We got back on the road. Arghh. Gotta love it. That's a road trip at it's finest.

I've procrastinated long enough. It's time to tell some stories about driving across the country.

Our first night away from Clearwater, Florida was spent in Valdosta, Georgia -- not a place I recommend. But I most likely wouldn't recommend any town or city in Georgia, simply because it's the deep south and I'm not fond of deep south, deep fried food. And you must understand, everything is deep fried. Everything. Even your salad. We went to find some dinner and stopped at what looked like a real restaurant, you know, the kind with chefs and real food. The first tip-off that everything wasn't quite right was the distance between the booth seat and the table. Hmmm. I had to sit on the very edge of the seat to be near the table. I was at a loss until I looked around and realized that for most Valdostans, that huge space was necessary. Enough said. Our choice for an appetizer was stuffed mushrooms, because how difficult is that and it was one of the only things that didn't have the word fried in front of it. Guess what? The stuffed mushrooms ARE fried. Deep fried. In old oil. We gasped when we saw them and sent them back. The rest of the dinner was actually fabulous (nice fish with rice, simple food, not fried).

The next day we drove through Georgia and into Tennessee. (Refer to the map if your geography skills are as horrible as mine.) Crossing into TN from GA, we chose Chattanooga as a place that looked interesting and worthy of a bit of exploring. Consulting our trusty AAA guidebook, we find that the old Mayor's Mansion has been converted into a Bed and Breakfast, so off we went.

THIS is the Mansion. It has been lovingly restored and gently updated for the comfort of paying guests.

We arrived early enough in the day to take a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. Of course, even though we were in a new place, never before seen, I only have eyes for the flowers. I've said it before and I'll say it again: flowers are the best.

I love big, old trees. I'm also fond of flowering trees. And I cannot resist napping cats.

The Mayor's Mansion has a first-class manager/chef and the breakfast was incredible. I was in too big a hurry to taste the second course (the baked eggs/cheese/asparagus) so I only got pictures of the first and third courses. Amazing, wonderful food, served in a lovely dining room.

We traveled 3,202.4 miles on our trip across this huge country. Some days, like jamming through Kansas and Missouri, we drove over 450 miles. One day we only drove 143 miles -- that was the day we drove from Limon, Colorado to Ft. Collins, Colorado, where we spent some great time with Patti and Walter, who we knew in San Diego.

Our route took us from Florida through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and finally, to Oregon.

We realized how much we don't know about the people of middle America -- how they live, what they do, what matters in their lives. We don't consider ourselves as being in that group, I'm not quite sure why, but we don't. Maybe we think we're better or smarter. I know I made plenty of jokes about hicks and red-necks and very over-weight people. I've lived in a bubble of one kind or another for the last 10 years. I'd like to see beyond my own nose for a change.

And 3200 miles later:

I have 100s of photos to edit and sort and clean up and write about, so it will be a little while before the story gets filled in. We had a safe and wonderful journey to our new ~~home~~ state.

We really did do it. We really did leave Florida. And we're never going back.

(all the pictures get huge if you click on them)

On Monday the truck showed up, two guys loaded all our stuff and the truck went away. On Tuesday, we finished the house sale, cleaned the house for the new owners, turned in our cable box and made one last stop at the Betty Lane Thrift Store.

We thought that it would take us all day to do that stuff but we breezed through it and hit the road. This is the main road/bridge out of Clearwater -- over to Tampa and the major freeway.

There are 30 pages in our handy little TripTik. On Tuesday we flew through 3 of them.

Our only desire was to drive and drive and drive until we were out of the state.

And that's exactly what we did. I wanted to stop the car and kiss the red Georgia clay. Instead, we quietly left Florida behind.

But not with me and Kim. We're going with Lorelei and Roland. Woohoo! Today's trip is to Kinnitty Castle which is almost smack dab in the middle of Ireland.

We're going to see some great stuff on the way and stay over in one of the castle's exciting haunted rooms. Oooooo.

And here we are!! Looks just like you'd expect a castle to look, yeah? From the website:

Kinnitty Castle is located in the heart of Ireland, close to the picturesque village of Kinnitty in County Offaly. Approximately one hour 30 minutes from both Dublin and Shannon airports, it nestles in the foothills of the beautiful Slieve Bloom Mountains and is in Ireland's only designated Environment Park. The whole area is steeped in Irish history and there is a wide range of things to see and do.

Things to see and do? How about horseback riding?

And here's our room:

Well, what a great day! Reminds me of the time Allison and I were visiting Ireland. We drove across the country, from Dublin to the Dingle Peninsula in an afternoon (AND I had managed to pick up a cold on the ferry boat from Wales). It is a glorious place to drive. Roads are awful, getting used to driving on the left side is a nightmare, but the scenery is unbelievable. Truly magnificent. I recommend an Ireland road trip as soon as you can possibly get yourself over there.