Quiet Night In Effingham, On To Kansas City

Effingham IL, At Night

At Hone At The Lone Star Steak House

I am up too early because we are an hour behind here in Illinois, so when I am waking up at 6:00 Chautauqua Lake Time, it's really 5:00 here in Effinghham Il. I am sitting down in the breakfast room of the Delta Inn, what used to be the Hampton Inn last time we were here.  I guess the Hampton name makes a difference because we seem to be one of three cars in the parking lot though we have been assured it's the same staff, rooms, breakfast, beds, linens, etc, just cheaper.

The Not So Filled Parking Lot

We left yesterday morning, just after 7:00 and nine hours later, we arrived in Effingham,  It was a beautiful day for the ride but we could not help thinking how nice it must have been on the lake as well, not on a highway heading West.  Traffic was easy through Ohio, also in Indiana and Illinois, but lots of trucks and some one lane slowing as there was quite a bit of road work and bridge repair.  Not much to see on the way.  We just want to get there.  And once we leave the hills of Ohio, it's flat all the way to Kansas City, occasional large cities, like Indianapolis, then smaller ones, like Richmond and Effingham, in between vast farmlands, mostly corn.  We stopped once for breakfast at a McDonald's in Ohio, then had leftover cubans and rubens for lunch.

We relaxed in our Inn for a couple of  hours, reading, watching TV, surfing the Internet, then went to dinner at our favorite Lone Star Steak House, where we have gone the past four or five years.  We usually meet someone interesting at the bar, strike up a conversation, and have a fine time.  This year, however, the bar was practically empty, as was the restaurant, perhaps because it was a Tuesday, so we have no stories to tell about someone else's interesting life.  We did ask the bartender if she knew Steve, the guy we met last year and, of course, she did.  He has a new girlfriend and a cracked rib, still works at the Wings restaurant but does not stop in the steak house much anymore because of his girlfriend.  That's as far as we got we a conversation. At least our sandwiches we quite good.

Evie's Chicken Sandwich

So, we were back at the Delta Inn by 8:00, a bit bored, knowing we did not want to go to bed too early, so we stayed up watching TV and reading until, 10:00 Central Time.  We will take our time this morning, hit the road by 8:00, stopping only at Kleinschmits, my favorite Western store in Higginsville MO., then arriving at Tom and Mary's around 3:00.  Nick has a soccer game at 6:00, so we should easily make it.