900 Miles of Illinois

My quarterly work-related trip around Illinois continues. I'm writing to you from Springfield; home of Lincoln and Blagojevich.

Illinois is definitely NOT the most exciting state to see. It consists pretty much of nothing but endless corn and soybean fields, all of which are brown and crispy this time of year. I have to make these trips once every quarter and stay in exciting hotels like Holiday Inns (of which I am now a priority club member -- aren't you impressed?). Also, I get to eat in delectable restaurants - - like Applebee's.

In my last post, I was sort of joking and said I'd be writing to you from various Holiday Inns and Applebee's around the state.

Yesterday: I ate at an Applebee's in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. I took a picture of it for you to see:

Frankly, I really do like the blue cheese dressing on their salad bar.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn in Mt. Vernon. I took a photo of it for you, too.

Then, I drove to Springfield but had an appointment on the Illinois side of St. Louis on the way. I would have taken a photo of the Arch in St. Louis for you, but gosh, that is so touristy. You don't want to see that.

On the way, I ate at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in some small town. See?

I've never eaten at a Cracker Barrel before, so it was a new, exciting experience for me. The thing about Cracker Barrel is that it was full of elderly white people. So many white people! It even made me a little uneasy. I swear, I was the youngest person in the dining room. Just as I was noticing all the elderly white people, a paratransit bus from Maryville Senior Center pulled up and began dispatching more of them.

The food was really good, though. True to my Southern roots, I had fried catfish, hush puppies, corn on the cob and turnip greens.

Then I drove some more and am now in Springfield at my Usual Holiday Inn. I took a photo of it for you. (The night-exposure thingie on my camera really worked well.)

I've probably stayed at this particular Holiday Inn at least ten times now. It's almost a second home.

I'm enjoying my little rental car. They gave me a brand new Kia Soul -- a kicky little thing. I've already driven about five hundred miles so it's pretty bug-strewn.

Tomorrow, I have appointments in Springfield and Peoria. Who knows what exciting things Peoria will bring! You just never know about Peoria. . . .