Kansas City through St. Louis, Louisville, and in to Cincinnati

When we get home on the evening of September 20, we will have been on the road 64 days and stayed overnight 63 times away from our house.  Fifty of those nights have been in hotels or motels or a rental log cabin.  We stayed  6 nights at Evey's house, and we are about to stay 2 nights in Boardman, Ohio with our friends Saul and Phyllis and then five nights in the Baltimore area with my sister Cindy.  Fifty nights in hotels, and tonight is number 49.  Only one to go!

All these hotels are starting to run together in my mind.  Most were pretty good, but some had a few issues.  I think tonight's Comfort Inn and Suites in Batavia, OH, a suburb of Cincinnati, seems to be very good so far.  Then our last one is the Sleep Inn in Florence, SC, which we have stayed in many times before.

This fabulous trip is almost over!  It's so hard to believe.

Yesterday in Illinois, on Shabbat, we spent four hours at the indoor pool.  Since I had finished the book about Mark Twain at Lake Tahoe Friday evening, I started my mystery novel, Death Fall, about a murder at Lake Tahoe, at the pool.  It was such a fast read that I finished it by the end of the day!  I have rarely read a 250 page novel in one day.  That was fun.

Tonight's dinner was Cincinnati Chili Five Ways.  Mark first had Cincinnati Chili many years ago when he came here for work.  In those days he still ate meat in restaurants, so he had meat chili and left off the cheese.  Tonight we went to Gold Star Chili, a local chain of over 80 restaurants, because we saw they had vegetarian chili.  It was spectacular and also CHEAP!  I had the regular sized plate, which seemed huge, for only 4.99.  The five ways are this: chili by itself in a bowl, or on top of spaghetti, with added onions, added beans, and covered in cheese. We had all five ways, and it was spectacular.  Cincinnati chili is made with cinnamon and chocolate spices in it, very unlike a spicy chili from Texas or other southwestern states.  It's definitely worth having when in the Cincinnati area.

We didn't take the time to go in to St. Louis proper, but we saw the arch.  We went up the arch years ago when we stayed in St. Louis for a convention.

Pretty bridge over the river into Illinois.

Welcome to Ohio!