Day 4 – Chalk Art – Sun. Oct. 15

Oak Ridge is only about 100 miles from Flat Rock and we had planned on seeing the Oak Ridge Secret City Museum on Sunday but realized yesterday that it would be closed so now we are left with nothing to do, or so we thought.  Sat. night at this wonderful little restaurant we were discussing how we were going to kill a couple hours on Sunday.  A couple near us overheard our conversation and on their way out suggested that we go see the community Chalk Art display.   WOW!   It is an annual fund raiser and local businesses “buy a square of sidewalk” by the community college and  people young and old can sign up to draw something.  It was a perfect day and they were playing great music.  Very calm good energy all over and some of the art took your breath away.  My camera battery ran out so I did not get many photos but I am going to try to get one off the video Bob took of the lion from Narnia. 

Day 3 – Forts, Secret Cities and Mountains Sat. Oct. 14

Bob is a Daniel Boone  fan so we stopped at a re creation of the fort Daniel Boone set up right outside of Lexington.   It was a beautiful day and very few tourists.  We learned much about how the early settlers lived, the threat of indians and of course Daniel Boone.  Ask us for details if you are curious.

After that a beautiful drive through the Cumberland Gap.  We are into the Appalachian mountains now and about 2000 feet but the highway is great. 

We were planning on staying in Knoxville, Tn. but decided instead to go about 2o miles north and stay in Oak Ridge. Last year when we were here I heard Oak Ridge being one of three secret cities that was built there at the end of WWW II to develop the materials for “the bomb”, one of the other cities was what we know of as the Manhatten Project.   Beautiful town and a very interesting story!  Those of you who are interested in the war will definitely want to ask us about this.

We found a wonderful hotel and this time just snuck kitty in the back door. She thinks the bed is wonderful (and so do we).  She settles into a hotel room immediately now.

Day 2 – Pets allowed Friday, Oct. 13

An uneventful trip from Bloomington Ind. to Lexington, KY another 400 miles and 8 hours of driving through beautiful country. We decided to bypass Indianapolis, Indiana and found beautiful straight roads with very little traffic so Fay drove many miles.  A nice change from all the semi trucks we have been seeing.

This time we picked a place that did accept pets.   Ish!  Smelled horrible and I thought Tanya would go nuts but she did not care at all.  I was glad when we left!  The next two days will be much easier.

Day 1 – Breaking the rules with permission Thurs. Oct. 12

We left right on time at 8 a.m. and drove in snow flurries and 35 degree weather all the way to Rockford, Ill. about 300miles! 

We propped a big pillow up and spread a towel across it and Tanya happily stretched out on the divider between our seats.  We found out she does not like the sun in her eyes or the car fan on medium.  She meows, turns around or crawls in her little house/carring box until we fix it.  

The early part of Wisconsin is gently rolling hills and as we progressed into Indiana we saw huge flat areas of farms and beautiful fall colors.  I didn’t realize Indiana was that pretty and flat.

We stoped after about 400 miles to spend the night in Bloomington Ind.  I printed out places that said they would take pets and we stopped at one of them.  We asked the hotel check in person about pets and she told us that they did not take them.  Bob said, what if I don’t tell you I have a cat?  She politely checked us in and said that she has a Chiwawa that she travels with all the time and just puts her in the bath tub and she can’t get out.  Sure is good there are so many animal lovers.  Tanya hid under the bed for about an hour and then was just fine.  We were exhausted but happy.