08-20-2020 Lake Ahquabi State Park to Paducah
Alas and alack, it’s time to live Bonnie and the RV life. We have Jaarsma Bakery coffee cake, pack up our “old kit bags” and head out. There are hot air balloons passing over head as a final salute!
On our way again. We’re heading to Iowa City to have lunch with Ginger’s friend, Steve, and along the way we see some of the devastation from the Derecho. It is eerie to see row after row of corn lying in the fields with just a few hearty stalks still standing proud. Some of the trees have been stripped of their leaves, too. The radio has told us that there were 140 mile an hour winds that lasted for forty minutes!
We meet Steve at the Red Pepper at his suggestion, except that it’s called the Pizza Wedge and it’s closed anyway! We had looked on Trip Adisor before he got there and suggest the Blue Bird Diner, so he follows us there. When we park it doesn’t look like we can eat outside and we wander over a block and find several restaurants that all seem to have a common outdoor seating area. Some people have interesting-looking sandwiches and we ask where they are from. The point to Brix Cheese Shop and Wine Bar across the way and that’s where we go.
They have a clever set up, with a button to push when you’re ready to order. The wait person takes your order on his tablet and when it is ready he calls your name and puts your food on the little table outside the window.
We all get the red pepper tomato soup and Ginger and I order two sandwiches so we can try them both – the pastrami with bok choy apple slaw, house mustard, gruyere cheese on marbled rye bread and the roasted turkey breast with sun-dried tomato pesto, goat cheese and arugula. They are both great! Steve has the pastrami, too, and treats us to lunch! We have a lively conversation, much of which is political and it is a good thing we all share the same views!
Too soon it is time to get back on the road. We’re going to cross the Mississippi again, of course, and this time we get off the interstate to see if we can actually get closer than just seeing it from the bridge. It’s a funny thing, but people who own property on the river aren’t thrilled about allowing public access! Go figure! We finally give up and get back on our way.
We notice almost immediately that Illinois is much flatter than Iowa and has fewer trees! Iowa has lovely rolling hills and just enough elevation change to keep things interesting. And the barns and silos aren’t quite so industrial looking.
And there are windmills everywhere. At one point I could see about fifty of them at one time!
As time wears on we realize that we can probably catch All Things Considered and we change NPR around the dial as we leave one station’s service area and must find another. We’ve decided to spend the night in Paducah again, and that means dinner at the Freight House!! But they close at nine and we’re not going to quite make it, so we decide to call and order take out. The first couple of times we try, it doesn’t work, but perseverance will out and we’re finally successful. YAY! We arrive around 9:15 (there’s a bit of confusion regarding the time zone thing) and we call to say we’re here for our dinner. It’s all bagged up and ready to go and we head for the Drury Hotel.
We’ve got plastic ware in the car and Ginger finds us a couple of plates, so we’re set to feast in our room and catch Joe Biden’s speech to close out the Democratic Convention. I blog and Ginger is on her phone and then it’s time for bed!
PS. Here are a couple of picture of me playing with the baby goats!
Love, love, LOVE the photos of you. You look relaxed, happy, and healthy. Pictures and photos once again transport me into a normal world I know is slowly returning.
ReplyDeleteThanks!! It was the highlight of the day!! I'm not sure how long it will be before things are "normal" or even what normal will mean in the future!
DeleteGood to see proof that you are in farm territory. Are there many single farm houses there?
ReplyDelete