Days Inn Louisville East

Headed off from Nasville this morning after piking out last night. We went to grab some dinner at an Applebee's Bar & Grill before heading to a bar with live music near the motel, After a steak and shrimp with mashed potatos and a couple of Mango flavoured cocktails, I was all done in and could barely waddle my way back to the motel. Only drinking water and eating fruit for the rest of the trip. I ...

... frazzeled nerves but othewise safely.

Taylorsville State Park is lovely. The park is very quiet and peaceful. There is not much to do there other than walk trails but the park itself is very pretty. They have 30amp service and water but no sewers. The lots are nicely spaced and it was not crowded. The bathrooms were immaculate and the staff was very friendly and courteous.

We stayed until Tuesday and next stop is Bowling Green, KY.

... Not sure how I'm going to fill the rest of my time. I guess I'll find something to do.

Fly out of the Azores on Thursday night (9/17), have an overnight in Lisbon, and get home Friday night.

I hope to post some updates and pics every night. Should be posted no later than 7 pm EST every night unless I'm out to the wee hours of the am.

A short walk from the hotel lead us to the Louisville Convention Center and my first Kentucky Starbucks. I made it a mocha since it doubled as my breakfast. I asked the barista if they carried city mugs and he replied with a slight southern tang, "Nope. Small market."

Right.

Well, Louisville was supposed to be a brief stop over to prevent us from driving 10 consecutive hours, but let's be honest: Louisville is an awesome town. We got a super deal on Priceline and stayed at the four star Galt House Hotel and Suites in the downtown district. This is the fourth installment of the Galt House; the original was the residence of Dr. Galt in the early ...

... as that's all i plan on taking aside from my laptop/electronic backpack...Chad in general is anxious and nervous...kind of endearing...he's never been out of the country (not even Mexico and Canada, which in my book don't count anyway)...watching his eyes open to the world...the varying languages, cultures, real European food and the history or art is what I think will be most entertaining this time around....though ...

... we were driving through in WV were the Alleghany and the Shenandoah. The beauty is stunning. I am familiar with driving through the Smokey Mts around Chattanooga, TN but this was something altogether different. These mountain ranges that go up the east seaboard of the US are, I believe, the oldest mountain range in the world. Because they are so old they are not as tall as the Rockies so they don't have the bare rock and snow at the top ...

Oh the wonders of nature and nature-stream restoration projects I volunteer on. Bernheim offers an abundance of programs for schools and families that educate and allow you to help conserve some nature!

Also, this park has many, many hiking trails. Yay hiking! We all know how much I love that. :)

... The ride going west through VA, TN, AK, OK, TX, NM, and AR was much more interesting than the route we have taken back from SD. Where does all this corn go? Not a whole lot to see until we got to Springfield, IL.

Springfield, IL is the Land of Lincoln. Lincoln spent his adult years here, practiced law, married, bought a home, and raised his family here. What an excellent job the city has done in ...

... headed back out. 2:20 arrive at check in, thank driver and give big tip. 2:30 realize that we're on a code share and are in the wrong terminal. 2:40 run to the right terminal. 2:50 cut two lines of 100 people each and fly through security. 2:55 arrive at airplane as they call our names for the last time over the PA system. The rest of the day is much better. My sister came in from the airport with an Iraqi ...