Saturday July, 30 - Closing The Loop

Today we start the last leg of this adventure.  The 5 hour drive from Indianapolis to Lyndhurst and home should feel like a short jaunt.  We even slept in this morning!!

Once we get home we'll do some calculations and see just how many miles we drove and how much we stimulated the economy! gulp!!!

8234 miles

24 days

26 states

Badge of honor. A new button for each city checkin. The wing button was given to us by Pat an executive of Mini. 

Friday July 29 - Meet Me In St Louie - Louie!

Our goal for today was to get up and make it to Indianapolis.  Cheri mentioned that she'd like to stop in St. Louis and visit the Gateway Arch so I looked in to it.  Unfortunately is seems the Arch area is under some renovation and while you can still visit the Arch you need to purchase timed tickets well in advance.  Bummer for us....

But wait...there's more.  Instead of the Arch we visited and toured that other great American landmark...The St. Louis Anheuser-Busch Brewery!!  It was worth the stop.  We enjoyed a tour, saw the Clydesdale horses, and got samples of beer.   We also had lunch in the Biergarten!  It was fun!

This is the original building.  It's cool!

These two are youngsters...but they were still big!

Our samples came in these fancy plastic cups.

It's hard to believe they kept these buildings looking like this.  The lights are from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

Lunch with free beer.  A-B makes Goose Island??  Hrumph!!

Another one down!

Holy giant cross, Batman!

An Ohio neighbor and our third state today.

We lost an hour due to the time change (our last!), and we lost some time due to roadwork/accident/traffic jam but we made it to Plainfield/Indianapolis at a bit after 7:30.  We walked over to a place called The Black Swan Brewpub and had a light dinner and a couple of beers.

Dinner In Springfield, MO

After we checked into the hotel we looked online for someplace to eat.  We discovered Pappo's in downtown Springfield.  They have 3 stores throughout the state and this one is in a cool location.  It gave us a chance to visit the downtown area....which is very nice.  We also drove past the ballpark where the minor league baseball team plays.

Pappo's makes beer...good...pizza...good...and desert...really good!!

She's a cheap date!!!

Thursday July 29

Today we say adios to the Texas panhandle and make the long trek across Oklahoma to the Show Me state of Missouri.

Some sights in Texas. 

Crossed into Oklahoma about 8:40 am central time. 

Our welcoming committee!

Some strange art in OKC!!

We exited some turnpike and drove into the town of Bristow, OK to rustle up some lunch.  What a nice small town!  We were lucky to find seats at the Boomerang.  It seems to be a favorite place for the locals to eat lunch!!

The footlong chili dog with cheese hit the spot!!

Always good advise...

So far so good....

Huh???

Look out!!

Still on the road. Just crossed our second state line and our second  time zone. We have lost two hours today. 

We are now in Central Standard time. 

Hundreds of cows. 

Once we found our hotel, which was hidden behind Outback Steakhouse, we walked to dinner. But, not at Outback!! It was what you might think to expect for a Texas restaurant. Dinner was good. 

Wednesday July 28

Let's keep it going!  On to Amarillo, Texas today...once known as the Helium Capital Of The World!

Crossed the state line at 9:30 PST.  It has been beautiful scenery. 

Stopped in the small town of Eastwood, NM for lunch. Found the restaurant on Yelp. We had to circle the building before deciding to live on the edge and try it. The was very quaint and the food was delicious. 

Tuesday July 27

This is the day we change direction and point ourselves toward the East.  Our destination for the day is Flagstaff, AZ.   We'll be a bit sad realizing that MTTS 2016 and our value added visit with Susan has come to an end....

We have landed in Flagstaff. Just over 7 hours of driving.  We had enough snacks so we did not stop for lunch. The hottest temperature the dashboard thermometer registered in the desert was 116 near Needles. I was looking for Snoopy's brother Spike. 

The lobby of the Hampton Inn. 

Feeling blue in Flagstaff. Not only am I missing my friend, we did not see one other Mini on the road all day. 

Checking out the historic Flagstaff downtown. It was a ver cool place. Flagstaff is ranked as the best place to retire. 

Found a place to eat. 

There are many breweries in Flagstaff. 

We did not have it in us to check out anymore. We were exhausted. The two we checked out had great tasting beer.

And Kurt thought he was hallucinating when he saw the giant cow!

Even cooler is the fact that when we were stopped at a traffic light in Flagstaff a Mini with an MTTS2016 decal pulled up next to us.  They are headed back to Boston!!