Driving to Cape Girardeau MO

Thursday 7th: We began our trip at 7:15 a.m., stopped for gas twice, ate our lunch in the truck and made it to the hotel (433 Cape West Crossings, 63703) at 9:20 p.m. (EST). We hit several traffic slowdowns: accidents, construction, and just rush hour slowdowns. 

It was late so just chatted with Bill; will see them in the morning.

Friday: We slept our typical night, Ford got up a few times (actually slid off the bed onto the floor once); texted AA at 5:00 a.m. (CST). So not much sleep. We both enjoyed the free breakfast - coffee was good, with oatmeal - Ford had an egg McMuffin style sandwich and some raisin bran. Bill picked us up and took us to their home as I mentioned we had brought gifts that needed to be refrigerated. 

Visited with Joan - she is doing so well! Hard to look at her, knowing she has another big health fight coming up. We chatted about Libby, Ben, how much help Anitra and her daughter Kilee (RN) were during Joan's recovery. We brought them two ponderosa lemons, and two "normal lemons" off Nacy Coats' tree plus Rice Crispy treats and my mini-loafs pumpkin bread.

After visiting for a couple hours, catching up on family news, Bill and Ford went off to the farm and I stayed at the hotel until Joan picked me up to take me to lunch at the Honey Baked ham shop. I ate the smoked turkey salad sandwich with a side of their broccoli slaw. I only ate half the sandwich and something didn’t agree with me during the afternoon. Ford and Bill didn’t go to lunch as planned but stayed at the farm and ate snacks, sausage, cheese, and crackers that Kaci had left for them. Bill dropped Ford off at the hotel and we had about an hour and a half to change and we tried to nap for a short time. We drove to Bill and Joan’s home and had a happy hour with a nice Washington Cabernet - wine before dinner - as Joan says, Pilot house doesn't have much of a wine selection.

We went to the Pilot House for dinner, fairly early 5 PM central time and it was crowded but service was good. Ford had the fried catfish platter with hush puppies, coleslaw, and french fries and I had the three fish fingers with hush puppies. I also got the hot bacon dressing salad, which is very good had cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, and other veggies in it. Since we had wine at their house, Ford had a Coke and I drank water. They met up with the son of a friend of Bill‘s named "Frog". Everyone was friendly, Bill and Joan knew some other people there. Bill drove us around the town of Cape, downtown seems to have a lot of bars and restaurants open and very vibrant. They also showed us the casino and the new casino hotel. It is where they held Joy's 80th birthday party reception (we did not go).

Saturday: Ford and I drove to Advance to see our new Missouri red granite headstone. Ben and their Mom, Marjorie:

We are at the end, next to the tree (that Bill wants to cut down). I didn't think to add my Order of the Rainbow for Girls symbol (I was the Worthy Advisor in 1976).

Proud parents!

Ford called Larry Roper, so stopped in and met their (Phobe) sone Colby (18 years old, Senior); they chatted and retold the UFO story. They have about ten horses and 20 cats!

The weather was cloudy then scattered showers throughout the day.

We enjoyed happy hour at Bill's home with Nikki and Chris; and we listened to Lane's basketball game - they won!

Chris and Nikki gave Ford a bottle of Justin wine; Kaci and Luke gave Ford a new SEMO hat:

Birthday brothers!

Sunday: We slept our usual, got up showered, packed up the room and met Bill for coffee. After chatting for an hour, we got on the road! We stopped in Dalton, another Fairfield Inn hotel, ate dinner at the Olvie Garden and had plenty of leftovers to put in our cooler.

One last night in a hotel and we will be home tomorrow!