We Took a Trip...

Wednesday, June 1st, we left our home about 10:30am headed to St. Louis, Missouri. Our goal...to dine at Zia's on the Hill. That is it. All that drive and a night in the hotel to have a salad at Zia's. That is how good their salad and dressing are. 

While driving through Indiana, we saw something one doesn't see everyday. An eagle strapped down in the back of a truck!

We stopped once for gasoline. Sticker shock for us. The most we have ever paid for gas in the United States. We had about 1/4 of our tank full. So this was what it took for fill 3/4's of a tank of gasoline on my Buick Envision. 

Our first view of the Arch in St. Louis meant Zia's was very close.

Loving Google Maps help, we made it quickly to Zia's. 

We ordered such ordinary food for a nice place. I really wanted salad and bread. Claude wanted salad, spaghetti with marinara sauce and bread. Our server was really nice and accommodated our desires. The food was soooo good. We asked if we could still purchase bottles of the salad dressing they make in house. He said their supply chain was awful right now. This is the case everywhere. He said they will get a shipment in and it is gone within one day. They had none on hand for sale this day. We were so happy with getting this meal again.

I made us a hotel reservation at a La Quinta Inn in Collinsville, Illinois. It was about 25 minutes from downtown St. Louis. This would put us on the outside of all the rush hour traffic when we got ready to leave Thursday morning. We found our hotel quickly. 

I had received a suggestion to check-in online and only have to pick up our key when we got to the hotel. I downloaded the app while we were driving and did the online check-in. When we got to the hotel, I stopped at the front desk to pick up our room key. The young man asked for my ID and credit card. I told him I had checked in online and was a member of their point system. No matter. I still went through all the things at a front desk to check-in like one would usually do. I asked him why do the online check-in if I still had to do all this face-to-face stuff. No answer. 

He gave us a key to a room on the first floor. This is happening more often as I book us at the senior rate. We walked down the hall to the room. The door was open because the latch was placed across the opening. The bed was stripped and not made and there was a piece of cleaning equipment in the entry outside the bathroom door. I told Claude this was not acceptable and we made our way back to the front desk. I placed the keys on the counter and in a firm but kind voice assured the young man our room was not acceptable for the following reasons. He apologized. A manager overheard this and went to check the room. The young man at the desk found another room and asked if the second floor was okay. I assured him that was fine. As we rode the elevator up, I told Claude that, if we found a problem here, I was asking for a free room. Claude grinned and said okay. Fortunately, the room was in good condition and we made ourselves comfortable for the night. Claude and I had both stayed in La Quinta before and found the hotels excellent. This experience was not excellent at all. When checking out the next day, I asked the lady at the desk about the online check-in. She said their hotel was not equipped to handle that at this time. Ugh!

This day was our daughter, Andie, and son-in-law, Michael's, 25th wedding anniversary. I posted this on Facebook: "Happy 25th Anniversary!! Andie Christensen Marx and Michael Marx. WOW! What say you go for 25 more? Love ya bunches!!"

Thursday, June 2nd, 0n the road we went. We would spend our day driving from the southern end of Illinois through the top end and on to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The drive is seven hours but it takes a bit longer with stops. 

We past lots of wind turbine farms. I love these. I know others find them offensive in the landscape. But I find them simply elegant behemoths. 

We crossed over the Illinois River.

And found gas prices a little better. Our price to fill the tank was still $74.10 but the rate was much better than the last fill up. 

Another thing we found interesting in this part of the United States that we do not remember seeing anywhere else, was a small barn with a popped out roof in the center top. It was almost like a room that would have a steeple on top. Not sure why they were built that way but they were all over the place. There is one in the center of this picture to the right of a silo.

We made it to Manitowoc in great time. We wanted to eat somewhere that was a local place, not a chain restaurant. We drove to the Comfort Inn first and found a nice restaurant named Jolla a block away. We each ordered schnitzel for dinner with mashed potatoes and grilled brussel sprouts. The meal was filling and delicious.

We checked into our room at the Baymont Inn. Loved that all the trees are in bloom there. This is much further north and they are just warming up. So lots of flowering trees in full bloom. There was one outside our room window. 

Once settled in our room, we decided to go for a walk around the area. This hotel is where the Manitowoc River flows into Lake Michigan. Manitowoc Harbor is right along the back of the hotel. We would cross the Manitowoc River the next day and board the SS Badger for a car ferry ride across Lake Michigan. There are pictures of the Manitowoc River, Manitowoc Harbor and Lighthouse and Lake Michigan in the distance.

We would visit the Wisconsin Maritime Museum the next day. Before we went to our room we walked down along the Manitowoc River to the view the USS Cobia submarine. More about that later. 

Our room at the Baymont Inn was on the third floor. I noticed when we went down the elevator for our walk, the boat hanging over the lobby area actually had fish and a fishing pole inside it. You don't see that unless you are on the third floor looking down. When we returned to the hotel, I made sure I got a picture of this cute feature.

In the evening we tried our second different flavor of cashews. Cashews are one of our go-to foods when driving long distances. Claude can eat them one-at-a-time to stay awake and focused. On this trip we found on our drive through Indiana tangerine vanilla cashews. They were quite tasty. On our drive through Illinois, I found dill pickle flavored cashews. Claude said their flavor became addictive. That was the end of the unusual flavors of cashews. But we'll keep our eyes peeled on other trips.

Friday, June 3rd, we started our day a little late for hotel breakfast. We got in the trusty Buick Envision and drove around the outside of Manitowoc. We both agreed this was a clean, delightful little town. Probably a great place to live except in winter! We found a gas station and got a muffin for breakfast. 

We wanted to visit the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. It was right down the street from our hotel on the Manitowoc River. During World War II they made submarines up the river in Manitowoc. The museum has the USS Cobia as part of their museum. While this submarine was not built in Manitowoc, it is the same class of submarine that was built in Manitowoc. We were hoping to get to tour this submarine.

I was able to get us tickets for their first tour at 11am. The ticket included visiting the museum. We strolled through as many exhibits as we could before our 11 am tour. One was a simulation of being inside the control room of a submarine. Claude pressed the buttons to send out torpedoes and steered the submarine. 

I loved this quote by the commanding officer. "There are only two kinds of people on a submarine, those who admit they are scared, and those who are liars." George F. Hamilton

We entered a meeting room named after the USS Cobia. It took three pictures but I got the entire submarine. In the middle picture, you will see a broom on the top stack of the submarine. Our tour guide would explain this was put up when the submarine had a clean sweep of all their torpedoes. I was very curious when I took this picture and very grateful he explained and I didn't have to ask.

There was an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) simulator that Claude tried his hand at. 

We continued to stroll through as many of the exhibits as we could. Lots of model ships and a life size replica of the building of the inside of a ship. This was a really good museum.

Soon it was 11am and time for our tour of the USS Cobia. You start on top of the submarine on teak decks. Then you enter the submarine in an entrance made for visitors. The sailors would have gone down holes in the top of the submarine. It was tight quarters but very interesting. The toilet was a 9 step process to flush!! If you didn't get the steps right and in order, bad water was in the submarine. Ugh! 9 Steps!! At one point in the engine room our guide was saying it was 120 degrees in there and very hot all the time. At about that point I had a major hot flash and was wiping sweat off my arms. I found his comment humorous in light of my suffocating hot flash in that closed space. Timing is everything. 

Once back on top of the USS Cobia, we could see the the SS Badger had docked. 

We would leave the museum and cross the Manitowoc River to enter the SS Badger loading area. I had wondered how they got all those cars loaded in a way that the ship was in balance. Also, how did they get them off and you find your car. All my questions were answered as we entered this area. First an officer with a dog came. The dog sniffed your car while the officer asked a few questions. Then a lady spoke with us and gave us a car to put in our window with our name in bold letters on it. We were told to pull forward and park behind the silver car in lane three. We were to leave our key in our car. Once we left our car, we would not be able to return to it. We were early so we sat in our car until the drivers came to drive the cars onto the Badger. 

We got out of our car and went through minor security check. I was able to take a few pictures of the SS Badger.

Then we were allowed to board the vessel. Our ID's were checked against our names before we could climb the stairs to the two levels for passengers. Once on top, we walked around the outside of the ship and took a few more pictures of the harbor from the view on top of the ship.

I noticed what I thought was a brightly colored tugboat. I have a very soft spot in my heart for tugboats. Well, this turned out to be a Coast Guard vessel. I remember looking at my cellphone at 2:10 and wondering out loud why the Badger had not left harbor yet. I really expected them to be very punctual. We waited longer and still the Badger only had engines running and the water stirred a bit around it but no movement to leave the harbor. One of the staff came by and I asked why we had not left yet. She explained that there was a report of a possible drowning in the harbor and no ships were allowed to enter or leave until the investigation was complete. They had no idea how long this would take and we all had to stay on board till the investigation was complete. Okay. We could do that. These are pictures of the Coast Guard helicopter that came to search for the body. There were also local marine police in boats and walking along the jetty. A sailboat came back from Lake Michigan and entered the harbor area on its way to the marina which was a part of the harbor area. The Coast Guard boat came alongside and told them they could not enter. They turned and returned to Lake Michigan. 

We believe that this final picture is where they found the body. The little boat was anchored on both ends. This was the only time this little boat was anchored. 

After this, there was a freight barge that was allowed to leave the harbor. This would be our indication that the investigation was at a point where ships could move.

The the SS Badger was allowed to leave Manitowoc Harbor and enter Lake Michigan.

The cruise across Lake Michigan to Ludington, Michigan is 60 miles and take four hours. We were three hours late departing. We had seven hours aboard the Badger, three in Manitowoc Harbor and four on Lake Michigan. The Lake was calm and we enjoyed our cruise. The Badger was no where near full. It was early in their season. This was extra nice for us. You could fine places to sit and not be on top of other people all over the ship. We tried several places and enjoyed several views. We had things to eat and drink and just relaxed for four hours. 

As the day wore on, we approached sunset. I took these pictures as the sun was lowering and then setting on Lake Michigan. Love a sunrise or sunset on water.

Soon we got our first glimpse of land as we approached Ludington. 

These pictures are entering Ludington Harbor and docking the Badger.

It was 10pm EST when we docked. We had get off the ship, find our car and then the one-hour drive to Holton. They drive the cars off the boat and line them up facing where we walked to. When you find your car, you get in it and drive away. It is really the most efficient way to handle that situation. We had a good drive to Holton and didn't hit any deer. We are calling it a Win-Win!!

Saturday, June 4th, would be our day to visit with our grand and great grandmonsters. First we had breakfast with Paul and Rachel at Bob Evans. 

Then we went to McDonald's and got lunch for the Roper family. Joel's first birthday would actually be Monday, June 6th, but we would celebrate with the family this Saturday. 

Joel would have two cakes and some cupcakes. The smaller cake was the 'smash cake' and would be given to Joel when Drew's family came in the evening.

Joel was given a cupcake to demolish while we were there. He heartily enjoyed his cupcake.

Time to open presents. At this point Drew's brother, Brian, and his wife and daughter were there. Also Claude and me, Nissa and Todd, Mai, and the Roper family. Raelyn is always eager to help her siblings with opening presents. Emelia enjoys that but she really likes to try out the new toys. 

We left about 2:30pm to meet Aubrey and Tay at Burger King on the way to Holton. They are in the middle of a move and enjoyed a break and a burger. 

Back to the Tyler home we went around 4:30pm. Nissa and Todd would drive us back to Russ's where we all had a nice dinner together. The trick with this day is to not over eat. We did really well. We ate breakfast with Paul and Rachel. We did not get a cupcake at Katelyn's but Claude did eat a burger from McDonald's. At Burger King we had a soda. Then we enjoyed a nice dinner at Russ's. Ended up going back to the Tyler's and were not stuffed at all. Whew!!

Sunday, June 5th, was a rainy day. This made going out not a good idea. So we embraced the lazy weather and had a lazy day with the Tyler's. Todd smoked us a meatloaf and new potatoes. Nissa made a really good veggie salad. It was another delicious meal by Todd and his pellit grill. 

Monday, June 6th, I awoke to say goodbye to Nissa when she left. I love this daughter so much. She gives the best hugs. Nissa was off to drive with Katelyn and Mai to Chicago O'Hare Airport. Time for Mai to return to Japan. Claude and I would sleep a bit later, then shower and head in the direction of home. However, when we went to load our car, the rear driver side tire was down to 19 lbs. of air. Claude thinks the valve was leaking. We have a tire pump in the car that plugs into the cigarette lighter. We were able to fill it up. There was a veritable flock of large mosquitos around the car. We were surprised they were out in such force with it was raining. Then we were off to Chelsea. 

Claude had intended to take I-96 to Hwy 131 south. Alas, the exit from I-96 was closed at 131. Rather than take the long detour for 131 south, we opted to stay on I-96 till we got to Hwy 129 and take it south to Jackson. Interestingly, almost all the exit ramps along I-96 were closed due to construction. It is true what they say about Michigan. They have two seasons, winter and construction. 

We made it to Chelsea and met up with Jake. It was nice to have lunch with him at the Mexican restaurant. He looked good.

Then we drove on home. It rained a lot on us from Holton all the way home. We would have period of no rain which we reveled in. Then it would come a downpour that you couldn't hardly see the road in front of you. All the vehicles would put on their emergency flashers and drive very slowly. We were safe but it had the potential to be very, very bad. 

We experienced a momentous occasion as we neared the Sadieville exit. My little car turned over the odometer to 100,000 miles. Yike!! My goal with this car was 10 years of life. It turned 5 years in February of this year. So, I guess that means I get another 100,000 miles of driving!

This was an excellent little trip. We accomplished dinner at Zia's, a ride on the SS Badger (bucket list item complete), seeing all our Michigan family except Nelson. Now, we need to plan our next trip!!