MANTRIP 2010 DAY TWO LOG

4-24-10...11:24 PM

It's been a looooooooong day of driving. We woke up early this morning and after a good homemade breakfast, we got on the road shortly after 8:00 AM.

We encountered quite a bit of rain today. There were times it was tough to see the road around St. Louis. We came upon a semi-truck that must have had some issues too as his truck and trailer were jack-knifed on the road. That caused us to experience a bit of a delay. It looked like the driver of the truck was safe and sound.

We stopped in Concordia, Missouri for lunch at a place called Biffles Smoke House Bar-B-Que. I had the combination plate that consisted of 2 pork ribs, smoked ham, smoked pork, and smoked brisket. I chose fries and baked beans for my sides. It was way too much food and sat heavy for the next couple hours of riding in the car. It was very tasty though and I would recommend the place. The sauce they used seemed to taste like more of a Texas-based sauce....or at least what I always thing of Texas-based sauce to be. :)

We continued to boring drive across Illinois, a bit of Indiana and finally into Kentucky. Before hitting Mark's brother's house we stopped at Zaxby's, a fast-food chicken finger joint. We got there at 9:42 PM before they closed at 10:00. The help was not happy to see us and I'm sure they probably spit in our food. Zaxby's is nothing special and it is not something I will crave or seek to go to again.

Overall, it was a good day of travel and conversation. The entire journey today has seen lush, green, tree-covered, rolling hills. It's been beautiful.

Some things we listened today in the car included NPR Podcasts and "It's Tricky" from Run DMC!

MANTRIP 2010 Day One Log

The first 120 miles have been pleasant. it rained much of the way. The hills along Hwy 26 are coming to life with a beautiful Spring rain.

Sticking with the only rule of MANTRIP 2010 (When eating out, you must eat local and not chain.) I've sat down to lunch at Front Street, an old-western themed tourist schtick in Ogallala, NE. I've ordered a water and the 6 ounce New York steak lunch special, medium-rare of course. It was cooked perfectly and brought to the table hot. It should've been since I was the only person there at the time. The special came with a side salad, coconut cake cup and slice of Texas toast. I got it all for the special low price of $7.76. The service was great and the place was slow, which I expected for 2:00 PM.

I hopped back on the road and headed east on I-80 for Lincoln...

I arrived at Mark and SheriLynne's around 7:30 PM. The Hansen children were their usual funny seles and were excited to have an audience. We ate in and Mark and SheriLynne cooked up an amazing meal of chicken marsala with orzo.

Mark had purchased some special beer to celebrate the beginning of MANTRIP 2010 and to celebrate the fact that he didn't have to go back to his job ever again. I don't remember the name of the brew...Duvelt or something along that line. It was OK. It was a little more bright and fruity than I prefer.

The rest of the evening was spent in conversation with friends and making last minute plans for us to head out in the morning.

It's midnight and I need to get to sleep. We have an early start to Louisville in the morning!