Westward Ho...To Effingham, IL., That Is

6:25

Sunset From Viking Club at 6:35

Jerusalem Artichoke

We are both up at 5:45 and getting ready for a nine hour drive today to Effinghham, as we are on our way to visit our son Tommy's family in Lees Summit, MO, just outside of Kansas City.  We are in no great hurry this morning, as we gain an hour, so we should get to our Inn around 4:00.  It's pitch black at the moment, so I had to wait a half hour to get some color in the sunrise photograph.

Yesterday was a real fall day, late fall in fact, as the temperature never reached the 50's, though its supposed to warm up later in the week.  Neither one of us had much energy, so the only venture out was to the post office.  Other than that, we hunkered down in the house, got things ready for our trip, then packed.  I did lots of reading as did Evie, and we had the fire place going, and I even made some Turkish tea, my routine on cold winter days, not that its cold or winter yet.  Still, it was nice and cosy in the house, the tea comforting and along with a good book, I was happy to stay inside.

Hydrangeas And Eight Foot Tall Jerusalem Artichoke flowers

Around 6:00, we headed over to the Viking Club, to meet the Mc Clure's, what we hoped were the newest members of the Viking Club, for Monday night's specials, Rubens or Cubans. Unfortunately, this was an unusual year for new members, so they were put on the waiting list, alas.  As usual, there were not many people in attendance, nothing like the Rod and Gun, but that's why we like it.  We can always find a seat in the bar, and the sandwiches are good and huge, enough for lunch the next day. We had our usual pitchers of beer, with popcorn, as we waited for our sandwiches and caught up with the McClures, who have been gone a week.  They are pretty excited because they fly off to Italy and Germany for two weeks, not returning to the lake until October 7th. Our sandwiches were great, with pickles and chips, so Evie was really happy, nothing like chips.  We stayed until about 7:30, when we said our farewell, as we both are traveling in the next few days.

Enjoying The Viking Club

When we got home, we watched the newest episode of The Good Wife, from yesterdays, and went to bed early because of our trip today.