Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Missouri Trip - Part 2

We closed out the long weekend with an extended scenic route home. B drove my car home on Saturday night as she had to work early Sunday morning. After breakfast the next morning D and I climbed on the Harley for our ride home. We had a "support" vehicle with B and P following us for the first half of the ride. Some of the areas to the south of St. Louis were still feeling the affects of the Mississippi floods. In fact we had a detour for a portion of the way to Paducah which probably added about 40-50 miles to the trip. Sometimes the back roads can be a little boring and there were a few stretches that qualified for that. But there were a couple of cute little towns, still with their 4th of July flags flying and lots of corn fields even if the corn seemed to be a little behind in its development. In some spots, the water was still pretty close to the road.



We stopped for a late lunch at Cape Girardeau, MO. On a Sunday afternoon there weren't many people around in this historic downtown area. There were several interesting shops that I took note of, for future reference!
D's step mom, P is a quilter (and a stitcher, see her website here) also and had never been to Paducah. So first thing after breakfast at Bob Evans, we headed to Hancock's of Paducah. We were quite impressed and almost overwhelmed by the selections of fabric.

The guys waited patiently while we made a few purchases. It is so nice of the store to put the benches out for bored husbands. I could have spent more time fondling fabric but I did control myself! After a stop at the American Quilt Museum and Eleanor Burns Quilt in A Day Shop, B and P headed back to Arkansas and D and I sought out the nearby Harley dealership.Four Rivers Harley-Davidson is located a few miles outside of town in a beautiful new building. They've got two floors to display all the bikes, clothing and accessories and lots of outdoor space which I'm sure is great when some of the big rides come through. We sat outside with our map and cold drinks to plan our trip home.

We decided to take more back roads and headed back up into Illinois to follow the Ohio River back to Evansville. Along the way we stopped in Elizabethtown, IL where we found this great little floating restaurant. They catch river catfish, clean and fillet right there and fry up into great fish sandwiches. Their homemade potato salad, beans and cole slaw were good too. It's always fun to find these little out of the way places - especially if food is involved! We had a safe but uneventful trip the rest of the way home. I'm not aware of any extended trips in the near future but I'm sure there will be short ride of some type this weekend. Now that the big arrival date is fast approaching, our next trip might be back to MO!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of the week!

6 comments:

Feeling Simply Quilty said...

what a great blog. I think you are where we'd like to be after we get through my daughter's illness.

I'm thinking we might try to rent a motorcycle before we buy one and then I'm wondering if I'll want my own or if riding on the back is the way to go.

Janet said...

We love our times on the Harley. I could never ride my own, too much stress for me! But everyone has their own idea of fun.
Thanks for stopping by to visit!

Cheryl said...

What a wonderful trip and great photos! Pretty soon some grandma photos!

Anonymous said...

Janet, Great photos from the baby shower. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. What a lucky little boy to have such "cool" Harley riding grandparents! I think I caught a glimpse of your chicken salad on the food table. Hope the recipe turned out good.

See you soon.
Pat C.

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

We're on the same countdown path... your trip home was just the perfect icing on the cake.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it great driving thru small towns -- I especially love the old buildings - street lights, etc. And that's so cool you got to stop at Paducahs -- Looks like I could spend all day in there. lol.

Great trip report Janet - enjoy the rest of the summer.