We left the boat and headed west (and north). We stopped for lunch at the Bear's Den in Macon GA. It was an old fashioned line serve buffet with a slightly different menu for each day of the week. The fried chicken and sides were great. We hit the road again, skirting the south side of Atlanta and heading west toward Birmingham. We made it to Tupelo MS (birthplace of Elvis) and were greeted by a full sized Elvis cutout in the hotel lobby. Across the street was a place called the Neon Pig, which claimed to have the best burger in the country (according to somebody). They had their own butcher shop, so I'm sure that helps. There was so much in that burger it almost seemed like it should be called something else, but it was tasty.
We headed out in the morning to make some miles before breakfast, stopping in Oxford MS. We've been on the lookout for places that might be appealing once we "swallow the anchor" (move back onto land full time), and for some reason Oxford is one of the few places that had some appeal for me. Not flat, lots of trees, college town, neither too "Stepford" or too scruffy. It's a little too small for Heather, and much more removed from things like major airports and a Costco than we would like, but still - interesting. I'm sure it is steamy in the summer. After breakfast at another Big Bad Breakfast (see Birmingham last year) we cruised through Memphis. We left the interstates and headed up to Springfield MO. We had dinner at Zio's Italian Kitchen, where we over-ordered and the food was underwhelming, especially my chicken parmigiana. Not my best Yelping. Can't win them all.
Heather drove us into the sunset after dinner. The GPS kept trying to send us on a shorter route, so I should have just added Carthage as a stop. Between that and some construction confusion I got us on this country road detour through the toolies as the light was fading to black. We finally made it back to the interstate and spent the night somewhere south of Kansas City MO.
In the morning we headed west, skipped Lawrence KS this time, and took the loop around Topeka. West of Lawrence was new to us because last year we had headed south from Lawrence for my meeting in Wichita. When we got to the Manhattan turnoff we needed gas, and I had a couple of friends that had gone to school there. It was a ways off the interstate but by then we were committed. A very nice little college town tucked away in a little valley along the confluence of a couple rivers. We had brunch at The Chef, which was excellent. It looked like a mix of college students and retirees most places we looked. Like Oxford, probably too far from other things, but interesting. Back to interstate 70 we went. There were Apache helicopters at Ft. Riley on the way out of town.
Salina was the last decent sized town for hours. Just rolling hills and grass and patches of trees, with occasional little towns that looked like the good times had been long ago, if ever. We've been discovering for ourselves some of the places termed "flyover states" for the last couple years, and while there has been a lot that has been great, there is this band from west Texas up which is, if nothing else, not particularly interesting to drive through.
Salina was the last decent sized town for hours. Just rolling hills and grass and patches of trees, with occasional little towns that looked like the good times had been long ago, if ever. We've been discovering for ourselves some of the places termed "flyover states" for the last couple years, and while there has been a lot that has been great, there is this band from west Texas up which is, if nothing else, not particularly interesting to drive through.
We'd thought we'd stop east of Denver at an airport hotel, but we were hankering for a steak. My mother had re-introduced us to Texas Roadhouse, which we had been to once ages ago and had since avoided. She wanted to go for her birthday and it was - nice. I doubt they have changed much so it must be us, but they've recently been a decent choice for getting a steak without the Ruth's Chris experience. By the time we got far enough into Denver to hit one for dinner, we figured we could get to the other side that night and avoid the rush in the morning. In the morning there was a Costco a little more than a mile away, so we filled up the tank and dined at the food court after picking up a few things.
On the way out of Denver I wanted to stop at a Cruiser place in Golden. It wasn't far off the 70 and I was interested in some accessories for the car. We spend a lot of time in it these days. Well, for what a new front bumper and some driving lights would cost, I'd rather have a new outboard that would plane our new dinghy. Maybe some other time.
We then headed west on the 70 into the Rockies. Heather's brother had recommended this drive some time ago, and it was stunning. I certainly want to drive back the other way and stop in the park some time, then start branching off to places like Breckinridge. I had to downshift the cruiser into 2nd more than once, and it seemed to be wheezing a bit a 10k feet, but it did fine and it was so worth it. I want to watch Cliffhanger again.
We had slept in a bit in Denver, then stopped at Costco and the cruiser shop before leaving the metro area. Between that, a delay getting into one of the tunnels, and the terrain slowing us down (still worth it) we didn't make much time that day. We ended up stopping in Grand Junction because it seemed like the last decent sized town before Provo. We had dinner at the oddly named but very nice Bin 707 Foodbar. It seemed to be especially nice for GJ, with great food, but I believe we were underdressed. GJ seemed nice and compared to the other side of the Rockies has not outrageously priced real estate, at least for Colorado these days.
The next morning we went back to the little downtown area to have breakfast at the aptly named Dream Cafe. Once we left town the terrain changed rapidly to desert as we headed north and west into Utah, but Price Canyon was beautiful. We were picking Heather's mother and sister up from the SLC airport, but we had filled the car up to the point where it was really a two seater. In our defense, we were planning to be on the road for a couple months visiting lots of places warm and cold. Holly's husband Scott had driven their RV to a cute park near the lake in Provo, so we dumped a half a dozen bags in the Mini they haul behind them to make room in our car.
Their flights landed within minutes of each other, so after picking them up we headed back towards Provo to a family friend's cabin, actually Heather's namesake.
We've been listening to the Harry Potter books for almost a year while we have been on the road. We started this latest trip towards the end of the sixth book, and finished the 7th, over 200 hours of listening. Next up - Game of Thrones.
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