Back in KC with wife and dog.......

Long day on Saturday. Left Baltimore at 7:15 AM Eastern time and got into KC at midnight Central time. Pretty worn out after the long drive and was glad to get back to KC. I think the one that was most glad to be done with the ride was the dog. 17 hours is a long time to ride in a car, especially for a dog.

We took the south route home this time. We drove on I-70 out into western Maryland and then went south on I-81. This highway goes straight down the Shennendoah Valley. The road itself doesn't have many climbs, but rather goes parallel to the mountain ranges. It runs parallel to the West Virginia/Virginia state line on the Virginia side.

After 150 miles or so, we hit I-64 to go west. I-64 runs all the way back to St. Louis. We immediately turned west and began the mountain climbs through West Virginia. It was definitely easier to do with the Expedition truck as opposed to a 26' U-Haul truck. I drove through the mountains and then Mrs. Lime took over about 50 miles into Kentucky.

We drove through Lexington and Louisville. Lots of horse farms in the area. The eastern end of Kentucky is actually not very populated at all. The exits off the highway were pretty limited. Eventually, we ended up in the southern tip of Indiana, which is relatively hilly. We only drove through about 100 miles of Indiana.

Illinois is a relatively drab state. For some reason, there's no hills whatsoever in Illinois. I'm not sure how all the states surrounding the southern end of Illinois can have hills, but Illinois is as flat as a frying pan. Lots of fields with the occasional oil well is about all that is to be seen in that state. We passed by my father-in-law's home town of Centralia, Illinois, so that was at least something to be excited about.

Eventually, we saw the Gateway Arch and entered Missouri. Thankfully, there are a whole lot more trees and hills in Missouri. We drove through Missouri (passing through Columbia, home of my beloved Missouri Tigers) and eventually got back around midnight. I will put a quick promotional plug in for Red Bull energy drink. I drank 4 Red Bulls on the way through Missouri to keep myself awake (honestly, I was even probably wired at some points). You don't want to drink that stuff on a regular basis, but if you need to finish off a long drive in style, there's nothing better.

We're unpacking a few boxes and getting settled in. I took Mrs. Lime on a brief tour of the neighborhood last night, so she at least knows where the basic stores and roads are located. Casanova has already found the specific places needed to mark his territory, so everything here seems to be in good order.