Author: The Buchanans Rolling Down The Road

What can be said, about a crusty old curmudgeon, with no fixed address … not much I guess.

Travel day eight

Monday April 6th 2020

The mighty Mississippi

Well we crossed the mighty Mississippi this morning and are headed for Indianapolis Indiana, it is our hope to get a good day under our belt today as we close in on the border. We started today with another breakfast from Cracker Barrel as a thank you for another nights accommodation, there was only one other RV in the lot last night but we had seen lots on the road yesterday. Both Illinois and Indiana are under stay at home orders, well people from Illinois may have got the message but obviously people in Indiana did not get that message, or they didn’t understand the order, or possibly just don’t give a shyt about anyone else.

So guess where we are tonight, if you guessed a Cracker Barrel you would be right. We made up a few miles today clicking off 284 miles (457 kilometres) and that distance has us in Fisher Indiana on I-69 north of Indianapolis. So a quick check of Google Maps shows we are now 358 miles (619 kilometres) from the border, we have crossed another time line and are finally back in Eastern Day Light Saving Time, and I don’t mind telling you that is one of those things that does effect everybody’s sleep patterns.

So we finally got off of I-44 today as we bypassed St. Louis and hooked up with I-70 after a little detour for road construction and after bypassing Indianapolis to catch I-69 which will take us within a couple miles of the Blue Water Bridge. We had originally thought about heading up toward Chicago but decided to take the more eastern route toward Port Huron partiality because we remember how terrible Illinois roads were around Chicago, from previous trips, you now with all the extra road tax Illinois and Indiana charge on the price of fuel, maybe they could use some of it for road repairs, they are really the two worst states for road conditions of our trip north so far … just saying

Remember, be smart and stay healthy and well!

Mississippi here we come

Sunday April 5th 2020

Ok let me say this right off the top … we did not get a cross the Mississippi River today as we had planned, oh we could have but we decided, supporting one of our favourite restaurants in a time of need was more important, not to mention we had been thinking about this dinner since we first threw the idea out. So we are tucked into another Cracker Barrel, I know but it’s been so quiet in their lots right now compared to truck or rest stops … plus I love their breakfast.

So let’s talk about where we have came from and where we are heading for, today marked our seventh day in a row of travel. With today’s 193 miles (310 kilometres) added in our total is 1512 miles (2433 kilometres) leaving us around 700 miles (1127 kilometres) to go, so we are averaging just over 200 miles (320 kilometres) per day which is our normal speed. So that is where we came from, now to as where we are heading after we cross the Ole Mississippi River tomorrow morning we are heading toward Chicago as we continue north to the bottom of Lake Michigan, from there we will head easterly toward Port Huron Michigan and the Blue Water Bridge And back into Canada. We were planing on staying a little further south to catch up with the Ward family but we know with the pandemic, avoiding any unnecessary contact is the right thing to do, it just means a little longer visit in the fall. So all indications have us at or near the border on Wednesday afternoon, at that point we will do our final supply run before our mandatory fourteen quarantine after crossing the border, I would like to cross on Wednesday afternoon as it just starts our 14 days one day earlier so it’s done on a Thursday morning instead of a Friday but not a big deal one way or another.

So I discovered today some of the worst and stupidest drivers in a while, passenger vehicle traffic was higher today, I thought Missouri was on a shelter in place order but I must have mistaken, and the ones on the road today all seemed to be on cell phones, infact one particularly dumb driver was driving along at 50 in a 60 zone while texting on the steering wheel and sucking on a cigarette, all at once, obviously not one of Missouri’s finer specimens. What makes it stand out even more is the fact that while the traffic is lighter than usual, you can notice the dumber ones even easier.

Sauce on the side

The Strike Zone

Mozzarella, Sliced Apple Brats, Bacon, Giardiniera & Pepper Mix and Havarti Cheese . Served with Queso on the side.

This was my choice for dinner, Miss Laurie ordered the 5-0, with? Yes you guessed it has pineapple.

We first encountered this little restaurant, while visiting St. Louis for one of Laurie’s Scentsy conventions, we needed to find lunch each day, we tripped on this fond and have visited it every time back through the area. Sauce on the Side is a fast, casual restaurant specializing in gourmet calzones and fresh salads. The three owners/operators have been friends for decades, all sharing the same dream – to feed the community and provide you with the best service possible. Now expanding throughout the Midwest, they hope to find others who would like to share the same dream by making their own into a reality. When we first visited a number of years ago it was a little hole in the wall in downtown, when we visited three years ago it was redone at a new downtown location, today we are visiting a franchise location but hoping for the same quality, and we have not been disappointed … mmmm mmmm good … just saying