Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Heart of America: Day 1 and Day 2

There was a lot of driving on the first two days of my trip through the Heart of America. On day 1 my goal was to drive as far as possible to leave me somewhat rested for attending the Astros game on day 2. I hit patches of rain in Fort Wayne, IN, southern Illinois, and Northeastern Arkansas. I finally called it a day in Little Rock where the hotels were rather cheap and near the highway. The only two stops of note on the day 1 drive were Cairo, IL and at a barbeque place west of Memphis, TN. Cairo, IL appeared to be an old river town right on the Mississippi river but many of the buildings are shut down and roads are closed off. I had a tough time finding a gas station and the gas was very expensive. I only put in a couple dollars worth of gas and managed to find a much better gas station across the Missouri line. I had a brisket sandwich and a couple of sides at the barbeque place outside of Memphis. It was good and definitely hit the spot.

Day 2 started off with a southern staple: breakfast at a Waffle House. There are no Waffle Houses in Michigan but they are everywhere in the south! I then drove through Texarkana on my way into Texas. My GPS had me take some back highways to get to my hotel I booked the night before outside of Houston. This back highways were pretty comparable to the state highways in Michigan but the speed limit is 70 MPH, in some places 75 MPH. I had lunch a local chain called Whataburger. The burger was good for a fast food place and I liked that it was freshly made but I don't see a big difference between Whataburger and McDonald's. I checked-in at my hotel on the north side of Houston, bought a ticket last minute on Stubhub, and got it printed a Staples a block away. I then headed down to downtown Houston for the ball game for my first game in over 2 weeks! It was nice to get back into the swing of things and my experience at Minute Maid Park has already been published.

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