Take Me Home, Country Roads

It’s been a couple of good days of driving.  We got on the road about 7:30 AM and then headed west.  Our first destination is St Louis to see the Gateway Arch.  Day 1 was a beautiful drive along I-64 to West Virginia - about 480 miles.

We made regular stops at rest areas ever hour or two so we don’t wear ourselves out.  I don’t recall what the rest stops in West Virginia were like but after seeing these, we were very impressed.  

We had a picnic lunch and took a sun-grin selfie.

We got to Huntington WV and our Hampton Inn about 3:00 PM.

* Note to Jim and Sandie - We checked out the Priceline App for lowest same-day rates and to my surprise they were MORE EXPENSIVE that our regular Hilton App or Marriott (BONVoY app).  

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the fitness center in the hotel had a Peloton.

That worked out well.  I spent a few minutes on the bike and swam a few laps in the pool.

Later, we had some dinner.  We're trying to eat more healthy and save a few bucks so, we got a couple of microwave dinners.  We're looking for those meals that have low sodium, low calorie, high protein etc.  We spent a whooping $9.95 for dinner.

That evening I looked up Huntington WV. Have you ever been traveling and wondered, “What do these people here do for a living?  I wonder what the key attractions in this area are?”   Wikipedia and Google answer those for me.

As we drove into town, we saw that Huntington WV is the home of Marshall University. You may remember the movie - "We Are Marshall” - the tragic story of the 75 football players dying in a plane crash in 1970.  That happened here.

Also - Marhall is the second largest city in West Virginia and located in the Tri-State (Ohio/Kentucky/West Virginia area).  Historically, it is the terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad built in 1871. I was struck again by what an impact railroads had on the growth and development of our country.  At one point coal was shipped from this region all the way to the east coast to Newport News, VA. 

It was the second city in America to feature city street cars (after San Francisco) in 1988.  The main employers in the area include the university, the local hospital and medical center, as well as an Amazon Distribution Center.

Enough on the history lesson....

Day 2 on the road continued with about the same distance and we stopped just outside of St. Louis in Collinsville, Illinois.  This time we hit intemittent rain along the way.  

But a couple hours later we had beautiful sunshine as we drove along some very big farms in Illinois.

We rolled into town about 2 PM and found a local grocery store - Schnuck’s.  Reminded me of Kroger’s grocery stores back home.  We found a rotisserie chicken and a a russet potatoe and see and had a fine hotel room dinner.  Grand total: $10.52.   Enough of that also -- I won’t be posting how much we spend on each meal but I just goes to show you that there are ways to eat well without eating out every meal -- even on the road.  

The indoor pool here was closed and the fitness center is a little sparse so I settled for some very modest weight lifting (I used to laugh at guys that would lift those puny little weights, now that’s me!) We watched some golf and baseball on TV.  Coordinated with our friends Kirk and Susan and called it a night.

Today - The Gateway Arch! and then this after noon a couple of days with Kirk and Susan in Branson, MO.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!