Homeward Bound

Our last day in Chicago was spent doing a last bit of shopping and then sitting in the sunshine in the hotel garden.  We left for O'Hare aiprort at 2 p.m. and took our trusty hire car back to base. 

The airport had very few facilities for waiting pasengers, just a McDonalds and a Cafe Bar.  Our flight was on time and so we didn't have long to wait thankfully.  The flight to Dublin was smooth, though Julia did manage to cut her finger with a plastic knife and require assistance from the flight crew, who couldn't believe she had managed to cut herself so badly with a safety knife!

On approaching Dublin the plane decended, speed was reduced, the seatbelt sign came on and the wheels went down, nothing unusual in that.  Then just as we were about to touch down our landing was aborted and we literally zoomed back into the air.  We really did feel the power of those jet engines as we soared back up into the sky.  We circled for a while and then a second landing was attempted and apart from being a bit bumpy was a success.  We were then held on the runway for twenty minutes.  The explaination given was that the airport was very busy with more flight traffic than usual.  This didn't seem quite right and we have not been able to find out the real reason for our aborted landing yet.



So after 27 hours without much sleep we arrived in a rainy cold Dublin, headed for the nearest cafe for tea and toast and crashed out for half an hour.

Our flight from Dublin to Birmingham was rather bumpy and the landing was even more so, but being so tired we hardly noticed it. 

Thats all for this year, but we are already planning next years roadtrip......so watch this space.

Chicago - Lincoln Park

Today we went to North Lake Shore and visited Lincoln Park, Lincoln Park Zoo and the Conservatory. It was a beautiful sunny day and not too hot, only 84 degrees today.

After the Zoo and Parks we walked along the beach to Castaways bar, which looked like a boat, for a meal. Sitting watching the sun go down beside the beach was a perfect way to end the day. After our meal we sat on the beach for a while and then watched a Dodge Ball Tournament.

Travelling home to the hotel we used the sat nav and it took us across the city and through Cicero to Harlem, which are apparently gang areas. They were certainly poor areas with lots people sitting out front of the buildings and hanging about in the road. We took the sat nav off the dash and hid our bags. Julia was quite scared, it was not a good route to take and certainly not at night, but we survived!

Pontiac, Illinois

On the way up to Chicago we saw a sign for Pontiac and thought we would stop for a look. We found an amazing historic town with a Pontiac, Route 66 and a Mural advert museum. Unfortunately they were all closed but we had a wander around the town anyway. As it was still over 90 degrees we needed a drink so stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream and chocolate malts..yummy!

We then made our way back to Chicago for our last two days of this trip.

Bloomington and Normal

Yes there is a place called Normal and they did let us stay there! After breakfast we went to look around the area and got lost trying to find the historic downtown area. First we ended up un a University campus with all of the students coming out of class, then we somehow got to the Emergency Rooms of the local hospital and finally we ended up in some very dodgy neighbourhood. After that we gave up and decided to go and look at the residential mansion of David Davis a High Court Judge who helped Abraham Lincoln become President.

This seemed a bit dodgy too as the sign told us to go to the basement door, which was opened by a grumpy man who told us to come in and follow him. We then went through passageways and staircases and wondered if we would ever get out again! He ushered us into the vestibule where it was baking hot and closed the door after telling me to put my camera away as there were no photographs allowed!

Two other ladies joined us and they were marched in and barked orders at too. We all hoped our guide for the tour wouldn't be so miserable and grumpy!

A lovely lady took us around the building and told us lots of facts about it and the family who had lived there. They were all interested in our knowledge of Victorian life and buildings, as the house was supposedly fashioned on English design.

We were there for hours and the time flew by. It was very hot in the house though as there was no air conditioning. Again like the Arch Museum in St Louis this was all free.

St Louis

We drove into downtown St Louis today and strolled along the banks of the Mississippi.  There is a huge archway which is the Thomas Jefferson Western Memorial Archway.  Its taller than the tallest skyscraper in the town and you can go up to the top of it in a tiny little capsule that spins around.  We didn't go!!! suprisingly.  We did look around the museum at the bottom though which was really good. 

We then went off for a cruise down the Mississippi in a Paddle Steamer called the Tom Sawyer.  It was very hot... 98 degrees and really humid.  The cruise was great but the banks of the Mississippi were not as expected as there are many industrial plants along them.  Oh, but we did see the Budweiser plant, but didn't have time to take the tour of that as well as the boat trip.  :o(

Farmington and Fredrickstown

We stopped off in these two towns to have a look around as they had some old buildings.  We also found J & L Tack Shop!  :o)

Missouri

The contrast between Arkansas and Missouri is amazing. Where Arkansas was flat and green crossing into Missouri we started to go up into the hills and were surrounded by fir trees. We drove off onto a track at Lake Wappepello to take a break, but didn't stay long as the trees were full of what looked like giant spiders webs about two to three foot across! We didn't want to meet up with the spiders that made them! We then drove to Farmington and Fredrickstown to have a look around. We arrived at Herculaneum late in the afternoon and stopped for a meal at Crackerbarrel. Driving on we arrived at St Louis in the early evening but had not pre booked anywhere to stay, so we found a little Starbucks and had coffee whilst we searched the internet for lodgings.

We also looked up the web things and they were not made by spiders (even though they do have tarantulas, black widows and jumping biting spiders!), they are made by Fall Web Worms! The webs are full of them......imagine having those fall on you! :o{

Arkansas

We drove north today and into Arkansas over the Mississippi River, to Jonesboro. The country is very flat and green, you can see for miles and the road just stretches out in front of you almost to the horizon too. We kept travelling north and stopped at Corning, a small farming community for lunch. Then headed over the border into Missouri.

Graceland, Memphis

Graceland was not how we imagined it would be. It is in a very poor part of town and the building itself is smaller than we had thought. We enjoyed the tour but it was tinged with sadness as it ended in the meditation garden at the graves of Elvis, his mum and dad and his Gran. We saw all of Elvis's cars and the two private jets, which were amazing. We also saw lots of video footage of concerts and interviews and a collection of his clothes.

Next to Graceland was the Heart Break Hotel which is an awful concrete monstrosity. Why anyone would pay $555 a night to stay there is beyond me!

After Graceland we drove to the banks of the Mississippi River where we saw the paddle steamers and the suspension bridge. We then drove downtown to Beale Street, where we saw B B Kings Bar.

We didn't really feel safe in Memphis, so didn't wander about too much. We were glad we stayed away from the centre of town.

Olive Branch Memphis

We stayed the night here and discovered that it wasn't a great part of town to stay! We made a new friend, James, who was staying in our hotel on an access visit with his dad. He wanted to know all about England and Julia told him tales about how she had seen the Loch Ness Monster lol. We found an Ihop close by so went out for a cuppa before bed.

Tupelo - Elvis's birthplace

We went to Tupelo today to visit the place where Elvis's was born and lived until he was 13. We visited his family two room home and the little church where he first sang gospel songs. We met his cousin, a lovely lady, who told us all about Elvis's life in Tupelo and how he never forgot his roots. She reckons that Elvis's was the best white gospel singer, but did say she may be a little biased! She also told us how he never fulfilled his dream to be part of a gospel quartet. Life had other things for him. It was a quaint little place with many of his relatives still living there. So glad we found this (by accident really) before we saw Graceland.

Drove to Memphis in the afternoon. Memphis has the highest crime rate in all USA so we will be very careful and keep a close eye on our travel documents. Having said that we stopped in Oxford for lunch,after driving through a terrible thunderstorm, and that has the highest crime rate ever. We felt very unsafe in a really beaten up and grubby Pizzahut, which was the best place in town to eat!