Comfort Suites Effingham

... is it impressive inside. I absolutely loved being a tourist in what I consider my hometown. Walking around the Central West End made me see the city through a whole different lens. Literally. I have photos to post.

So the journey for me continues. For this leg of the trip I shouldn't encounter any language barriers, cultural taboos or have anybody look at me as "the stupid American." However, I am still going to ...

... cemetery in Springfield Illinois. Their eldest son, Robert is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Dedicated in 1874, the tomb is constructed of brick sheathed in granite. At the center of the tomb is an obelisk that rises 117 feet, surrounded by four Civil War Union services – infantry, artillery, cavalry, and navy. At the tomb entrance is a bronze marble head of Lincoln.

... place around for those of you that don't know.) Then, after a transfer to the van and a bit of hanging out with the fam we were off again. We stopped for the night in Effingham, IL. We have to be in Chesterfield, MO tomorrow morning to check out a church there. That's about it for tonight. Just gettin ready to hit the sack. Night! Curt

On the way out of Champaign-Urbana, we saw this giant cross next to the I-57. Must be one of those quirky roadside attraction things. It's huge and looks like it has floodlights all around it. Man. This really marks the start of the Bible Belt, doesn't it?

Hi all Quite a day...got going early as possible after a long 10 hour day yesterday and harty breakfast within walking distance (so we wouldn't have to drive our rig!...gosh, we feel like truck drivers!) Anyway, got a good distance behind us and made it through Missouri okay until rush hour, 5pm downtown St. Louis and as we were ...

... date forward or backward a day really adjusted the price. I will be meeting another family from Florida in Atlanta. They are also going to pick up their son. We will be spending the 7 hour layover in the domestic Moscow airport together. So, I am going by myself, but I will not be traveling alone. I can't believe that in 11 days I will be on my way to bring my son home. YIPPEE!! I will keep you all posted as things progress. :) -Heidi

... I am going to be taking a laptop with me so I will be able to upload pictures and keep you all informed of the process. For now,I have a million and one things to do and also do my job. I need to start a list so I don't forget anything =0) I hope you all are as excited as I am and I look forward to sharing this life changing event with you all. Love, Heidi

Today we spent most of the day visiting family. However, the day started at the coffee shop. We have a tendency to be very early risers when we are on vacation, so it's a nice place to go and hang out while we wait for everyone else to wake up. We drove out to Dale's Grandfathers farm (between Matoon and Charleston) and spent some time visiting with him. We had a really nice ...

Our room is 'Dales old room', the second floor (attic) room. It is actually very nice, not the most comfortable bed, but your own bathroom. And it was the only room in the house that didn't TOTALLY reek of cigarette smoke. Heading down the steep narrow staircase in the morning I felt like a plane coming in for a landing in L.A. the smoky haze growing ever ...

... at The Legion (a private bar) and since they weren't ready to leave, asked us to meet them there. Our first thought: I want to go to bed!!! So we decided we would just have 1 drink, and then go crash. When we got there we got to meet all of their friends, take pictures, visit ...and my 1 drink was so strong I had to cut it 3 times. I don't know about Dale, but by the time we got out of there (11/2 hours) I was DRUNK...from 1 drink. I barely even remember going to bed.