Meet me in Saint Louie...

Day 1: Greenville to Knoxville
Well, seeing as how I have made this trip like a bajillion times, I didn't really see anything of note. Nothing new. I-40 is closed through Knoxville for those who may be trying to travel through that city any time soon. I highly suggest looking up the T-DOT website to find out the status of this road before you travel through that area. And now on to the weather report. Sunny with a chance of weather. Kidding. Really though, it was the same old mountains, same old road through the mountains. We have decided to take a picture of every state line that we cross. I have done an excellent job so far (as far as I am concerned). As I am now quite learned in the ways of slideshows, I can put a slideshow of each leg of the trip (yay! I know you're all excited, right?). We had a lovely party in Knoxville, with delicious food and a surprise birthday cake for Uncle Paul and Mom, who are both turning 29 this year. All the cousins (well, not all of them were there, but that's what G-ma kept telling me) came and we had a good time. And kicked them out promptly at 9:02.



Day 2: Knoxville to St. Louis
Up bright and early today. We were out the door and started the car promptly at 5:54 am. G-ma and G-pa were up to wave out the window at us. We got on the road and headed out toward Nashville with no problems. They even gave me a cup of hot water for my tea when we stopped by McDonald's for mom's coffee. The roads were clear, it being a Sunday morning, and we breezed through most of the day. Even Nashville. We saw Amy's favorite dam on the way to Nashville. We hopped through Kentucky and stopped at a rest area in Illinois to use a picnic table for lunch. While attempting to eat lunch, our efforts were thwarted by the vicious attack of a rabid squirrel and his gang of squirrel buddies. Okay, so they weren't vicious, they weren't rabid, and there were only two. But two's company. These squirrels were not bothered by mom's valiant attempt to defend our humble meal. She chose to take a lesson out of the Scott Burka Guide to Dealing with Animals. She yelled menacingly at them and waved. I chose to remove my feet from the ground and point while saying "no!" when they got on the table with us. The drive was fast, thanks partly to the lack of traffic on the roads and partly to the loss of a time zone. We lose another one of those tomorrow. Good thing too, since it's going to be 13 or 14 hours on the road tomorrow. We need all the daylight we can get. We got into St. Louis approximately 15 minutes before the start of the Cardinals game. Of course, we were rather lost, because 4 interstates become 1 interstate for a section there, and we weren't sure about the road numbers. So, we ended up in the middle of downtown in the game traffic. Let me say that police in this city are a bit incompetent. They don't direct. They just block streets and watch. We FINALLY find a road that allows us to get past the stadium to the road we need and we discover that the middle of town is blocked off too. In fact, there are tons of roads blocked off. I just looked up an events calendar and learned that there was a May Day parade and blues festival today. For those who are thinking "may day is on the first"...you're correct. They are a little late. Nevertheless, they were celebrating. And this celebration involved the section of road by our hotel being completely blocked off. So we went back down and talked them into letting us into the arch tram early. We walked around and took pictures and then we rode up in the little eggs. Those things are so strange. And so cool. And I got pictures of the two events that were causing us so much trouble. Must admit...the arch is way cooler than I thought it would be. And most of it has to do with how they built it. We watched a video on it. Very very very cool. And UN-SAFE (that's for dad). No safety harnesses at all. Mom survived the small spaces in the building and we made it up and down alive. After this, we headed away from town, had dinner, and talked our way into a hotel outside of town. Oh, and the people in this city don't understand intersections. Or how to drive. Tomorrow, I take the wheel first. Mom is already asleep, so I am going to hit the hay. At 8:32 pm, local time. Whatever. It's a long day tomorrow. Enjoy the pictures y'all!