Friday, September. 27, was the first big day of our Route 66 trip. Mother Nature did her best to make this as difficult as possible. Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida. Its path as it becomes a tropical storm will bring its remains to Kentucky and across to St. Louis. When we left our home, the wind was howling and the rain was coming down. We had serious concerns about leaving our little home with this chaos in our yard. With hope our backyard trees will withstand the winds. We put the suitcases in the Buick, paused to offer a prayer for safekeeping, then backed down our driveway to begin our Grand Adventure.
Michael and Andie would leave LaGrange at noon headed to St. Louis also. Michael gave Andie tickets to see Billy Joel and Sting at Busch Stadium. Michael had tickets for Claude and me to join them. Can you guess our concern? Hurricane Helene would cause rain storms all weekend. Schools, businesses and airports were already closing. The Marx's would drive one hour. Then the notices came on Michael's phone that the concert was moved to Sunday. The Marx's returned to LaGrange.
Claude and I pressed on to St. Louis. At times the wind was powerful and the rain lighter. Then the rain would be powerful and the winds lighter. We passed a couple of behemoth vehicles. The first had a car behind warning of an over-sized load. It literally lopped over into our lane. The second was just tall and long. Claude said they must be having a marvelous time trying to manage those vehicles in the weather.
I set Google Maps to get to Zia's on the Hill. A few wrong turns in St. Louis. But we made it to Zia's and, after a 30 minute wait, were seated and enjoyed an excellent dinner. This place has the best salad dressing ever!!
After our lovely dinner, we found the Forest Park Hotel. Our room was on the 7th floor. We settled in for a quiet, restful evening. Much needed after our drive. And much appreciated before we start the mega-drive on Route 66.
Today I am so grateful for the answer to our prayers and having a safe drive in really bad weather.
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