F to G: Concordia, MO to Cincinnati, OH

7.22.10

After waking up to morning rush-hour traffic, we drove one exit east to a TA Truck Stop and showered. This was our first truck stop shower, and it was surprisingly clean and pleasant. They even had a small fake flower in a vase next to the sink. Nice touch. We drove 14 miles south to meet up with US-50 again, and slowly made our way across the rest of the rolling green hills of Missouri. We tried to stop at the recommended Eat Rite Diner (slogan - "Eat Rite, or Don't Eat at All"), but the nearby Cardinals baseball game made parking impossible. We had already pushed the limits of our blood sugar so obeying the motto was out of the question. A couple of randomly chosen turns later a White Castle with a drive-thru revealed itself and saved the day. Out of the drive-thru and onto the Expressway, eating wrong, and burning daylight. And just as quickly as it came into view, that enormous arch faded into the background. We continued across Illinois to Indiana on US-50, where we stopped in Vincennes, IN. The book made mention that we were in "John - don't call me cougar - Mellancamp" country, prompting Emily to read aloud his wikipedia page and learn more than we ever wanted to know about him. In Vincennes, we walked around the marble monuments commemorating the crossing of the Wabash River and frontiersmen that looked like they belonged on the Washington Mall. We found some take out eggplant Parmesan which we took for a late diner at a fishing hole we found further along the road in the Hoosier National Forest. Buzz enjoyed the wooded walk down to the pond, offering refuge from the growing heat and humidity. We didn't get to Cincinnati until 10pm, where our friend Ginny's childhood friend Debbie was kindly still waiting up for us and had a bottle of champagne to celebrate our arrival! Her driveway was perfect for the night and we had a blast staying up to late and chatting, making us wish we had arrived earlier. We decided, like so many places along US 50 we drove through too quickly, we just need to go back to Cincinnati.

Links: Eat Rite Diner, John Mellencamp, Vincennes, IN, Hoosier National Forest