Kansas City, Here We Come

Night Sky in Effingham

Having A Brew at the Lone Star

Yep, Effingham

Evie's  Favorite Inn

Well, it's early morning in Effingham, IL, that's right, Effingham, after a ten hour drive yesterday from the lake. It's still dark out side, no view then, but Morning Joe is on the Tube, we both have our coffees, so some things don't change.

Fortunately, it was a pleasant drive for the lake, decent weather, not much traffic, especially when we traveled through the two big cities, Columbus and Indianapolis.  The ride is quite boring, mostly flat once you get into Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. lots of farmlands though.  It's amazing to look out over these vast fields, into the horizon, miles away.   We got to our Hampton about 4:00, earlier than we like, but because of the time change.  We relaxed in our room, surfed the net, watched a few scenes from Fargo, a Coen Brothers flick we love, then went to the Lone Star for dinner.  We usually meet someone interesting at the bar but it was empty this Monday night.  Perhaps it's too close to Thanksgiving.  We did have a couple of nice drafts, two really good sandwiches with fries, and ended up talking to the bar tenders for awhile before heading back to our room, about 7:30.  We went back to our room, snarfed some free chocolate chip cookies, watched TV, read, surfed the Web, played Words With Friends and went to bed.  I am reading my first Ian Fleming James Bond since college and it's quite enjoyable.  This one, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, is mostly fun because it's set in the early 1950's.  It is set mostly in New York City; Bond has just taken a BOAC plane, a sleeper across the Atlantic.  He's about to go off to Saratoga for a fixed horse race.