Driving Through Rural Missouri and Illinois

This is why I love road trips:

Eat here. Get worms.

Usually, when we come back from Kansas City, we take Interstate 70 all the way through Missouri to St. Louis, and then 55 up to Chicago. This time, we took a bunch of two-lane country roads to get to Peoria, where the Maine Coon breeder is located. Boy, once you get off the highways and away from the cities, the choice of radio stations becomes a bit bleak. Or, I should say, it's tougher to pull in NPR clearly. So we ended up listening to a lot of local ultra- conservative talk radio. The day before the election.

But election day is now in the past, so I won't get into some of the downright weirdness we were hearing, although some of it was pretty darn shocking...

Anyway, I love taking side roads. We passed through several interesting small towns, got to do some antique shopping (but no real buying), and couldn't have asked for a more perfect driving day. Sunny, clear blue skies and in the seventies. (Although part of me fretted over the fact that these were the last clear, warm days to get outside work on the house done without bundling up to my eyeballs! I think it's now impossible to get away from The Box House completely.)

We've been so busy lately with winterizing The Box House and trying to find new tenants for both our other properties, that I've almost forgotten what it is like to kick back for a few days and just relax, to be somewhere that's not home. Getting away to see family and friends was just the pick-me-up we needed.