Day 3

This morning started quite slowly, waking up on our own at 9 rather than by alarm at 5 am. After breakfast with my aunt, uncle, and their 6 or 7 cats (they're fostered until they can be adopted out, I promise, she's not a CCL,) Caitlin and I decided to venture outside into the ridiculous cold and snow in order to stretch our legs a bit before hitting the road. A quick snowball fight (read: snow shovel propelled mountains of snow) and we were off for a walk to the nearby pond. Anxious to determine whether the pond was frozen over, Joe ventured down carefully clearing the snow while checking the surface integrity one step at a time. Delighted to find that it was fairly well frozen, he called for Caitlin to join. Without hesitation, Caitlin came bounding down onto the ice with no apparent concern for safety and proudly stomped past Joe to prove her bravery. The painfully cold, but obligatory snow angels came next, during which Caitlin managed to slip and fall on her "left butt", and we were ready to head home.

We knew we wanted to have a leisurely departure but did not intend to be totally lazy and lounge around until almost 1. Here's a group shot of (from left to right) Sasha (the dog), Evelyn, Joe, Caitlin, Steve as we were finally heading out.


Before we got on the highway we enjoyed this wonderfully subtle political statement.


The Kentucky welcome sign...


Joe found this mildly entertaining.. Who knew Sparta and Warsaw were in Kentucky?


The first real flash of excitement was when we spotted the roadside billboards for Marengo Caves in God-knows-where Indiana. To our delight the caverns proved to be open for the winter season, and we happily traversed the ten miles off the highway to check out the National wonder that is Marengo caves. We began our detour by checking out the spacious gift shop, which boasted name-flashing keychains, shiny over-polished rocks, "I Heart Bats" bumper stickers and other such tacky wonders. As we were the only visitors to the park, we were treated to a private tour of the caves, by a delightfully enthusiastic Southern chap whose name I can't quite remember. Anywhere between the ages of 16 and 26, he was quite a character, the third generation in his family to be lead adventures into the local caving system.

To be honest we didn't expect much of the caves, but we were very pleasantly surprised. After descending a very steep, narrow staircase ("26 steps!", our guide exclaimed) we walked down a rather unimpressive, dimly lit walkway towards utter darkness. After pausing for dramatic effect, our guide hit the lights and the full splendor of the cave became apparent. The tour as a whole was fantastic, it even included a video interlude projected against a far wall of the cavern, showcasing the discovery of the cave. All and all, it was a delightful interlude from our six hours in the car.






We never saw a sign for Indiana, but here's the welcome to Illinois sign.

We arrived in St. Louis at around 8, and were treated to a delightful view of the famous arch. Our host, Paul, was not due off work until around 10, so we managed to navigate our way towards the downtown-ish area and into a local brewery for dinner. Once again Joe was seated under a massive, looming, rather sorrowful dead animal. This time the unfortunate creature was an American bison, donning a rather grim Santa Clause hat. The place was dead and the food was thoroughly mediocre, so we headed to a next door bar known as the Big Bang, which boasted the intriguing "Dueling Pianos." The Big Bang turned out to be an excellent establishment, with piano maestros who mastered everything from Elton John to Prince to Sir Mix-A-Lot, complete with full audience participation. It also featured Steroids McMuscle Man, a delightfully juiced up man with no hair and a reckless abandon for poorly choreographed bar dancing. His enthusiasm is truly inspiring.

The terrible angle only lasts for a few seconds before I realized that you can't simply 'rotate' videos like images.


It's 3:30 am here, but 4:30 for us, so needless to say we're a bit whipped. We're going to bed, and will update tomorrow with a full recap of our adventures with new friends, who include our gracious host Paul, his roomie Adam, and a fellow pair of Latin couch surfers from El Paso, TX in town for the Lady GaGa show. Cue overwhelming jealousy.

Good night.