How do I get almost all the state lines? Whatever, I'm over it.
Distance: 179 km
The RLPT left Carbondale in high spirits, mostly due to the marvelous hospitality we received there--thanks again Nicole! After rolling out of the home of the SIU Salukis, we followed 13 east toward the state line and passed Marion along the way. Until this point, I found that for better or worse, most of the towns, villes, burgs, and opolises we'd seen were fairly unique in some manner. Some were clearly meant for tourism like Cody or Osage Beach. Others were progressive college towns with their own particular flavors like Bellingham and Missoula. Others like Norris or Rock River were unique in their sheer almost non-existence. However, Marion was the kind of place I've seen a gazillion times, fast food and gas stations lining the main drag spreading out from under the interstate. Not that I don't appreciate the convenience of such a selection of services (especially after the vast nowheres in the west), it's just interesting to see a very different approach to the aid of the traveler...this is the east.
Back in Realityville, Aaron and I continued moving toward Kentucky and stopped for lunch just short of the state line in Shawneetown (home of Arthur J. Frondflinger*, the King of the Hobos). We hit a Dollar General and had a super healthy meal of:
Sam- Half gallon of OJ, block of cheese, pack o' trail mix.
Aaron- Full gallon of sweet tea, PB w/ bagel and beef jerky, but mostly that dang tea.
So as you can imagine, we felt RAD starting up again. Good thing the state line was only three miles away!
Not that you would have known it. We crossed another huge bridge, this time over the Ohio River which makes IL/KY border, but there was no state sign. There was a county sign, a mileage marker (which by the way, Kentucky does by county, not by road. You could easily see 'Mile 13' a dozen times on the same road. I could make a joke here but I will refrain from saying anything hurtful regarding Kentuckians inability to count over the number 20), but no state sign. We weren't 100% sure we were there yet until we saw a lottery sign. Come on Kentucky, get your act together!
But seriously, Kentucky has been good to us--mostly. We moved on through Sullivan toward Providence (our original destination) and hit up a CVS where I found the shining dragon once again. Aaron and I spent at least an hour perusing the "Love" section of the greeting cards and decided on purchasing enough so our girlfriends can get at least four love letters from us every day for the rest of the summer. Haha yep.
Having been fueled with the dragon once more, we went to Madisonville, a good-sized town with a Subway! This is important because the rents bequeathed a ton of Subway dollars to us, and so we ate our faces clean off. Thanks M & D! So that was just jolly! Before we left we stood outside the restaurant discussing our plans for sleeping when some rather sour-looking folks of the, ahem, non-University of Virginia variety began giving us the stink eye. It doesn't take too much imagination to figure out how the average redneck feels about two young males clad in tight colorful garments that show off our talent and personalities, so we decided to just book it and figure it out later.
Fortunately, we found a YMCA across the street and inquired about staying there. The kind fellow at the front desk told us that this particular YMCA couldn't do that, but he did give us soap and shampoo to take showers and let us hang out in the game room until we went to sleep right beside an outdoor shelter on the property. Props to him, I regret not remembering his name.
Anyhoo, twas a solid day, and we're finally caught up on our posting. Have a HARDCORE DAY!!!
*not his real name because I don't want the railroad bulls finding him out but mostly because I forgot it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment