Alaska - 2007

Charlotte, NC -
Minneapolis, MN

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 First Stage: Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3

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Day 1 - June 27: Charlotte - Jeffersonville, Indiana (near Louisville, Kentucky)

Today's Mileage: 501  Total Mileage: 501  Start: 8:30 am Stop: 6 pm

Weather: Sunny & hot (95+); heavy rains for 15 min. just before getting into Kentucky

Hotel: Comfort Suites: nice hotel, about 7 months old

Via: NC - I-475W; I-85S to Gastonia; US-321N to Hickory; I-40W to Tennessee
       TN - I-40 to I-81; I-81S to Knoxville; I-75N to Kentucky
       KY - I-75N to Lexington; I-64W to Louisville; I-65N to Indiana
       IN - I-65N to Jeffersonville

Breakfast: At Home Lunch: Wendy's Dinner: Texas Roadhouse

Comments: Left at 8:30 to Johnny Horton's "North to Alaska". First stop - get coffee at Starbucks. Lunch in Knoxville. Heavy rains just as were leaving Tennessee on I-75, otherwise it was a nice sunny day.

Stopped at the Kentucky Artisan Center near Berea on I-75. They have some nice 'stuff' there, but to be honest, it was mainly a pit stop for us. Nice restrooms!

Rush hour traffic in Louisville, but we finally made it over the Ohio River into Indiana. Hotel is right near the exit, and we found the very first Texas Roadhouse restaurant (1993) a couple of miles from the hotel. Danielle and Kaci (trainee) took very good care of us.

The Mets are on TV tonight in the hotel - and they won. Everybody is happy!

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Home for the
next 6 weeks		 Lots more stuff
in the back seat		 The 4 Travelers - - - - - - - -  Kentucky Artisan Center  - - - - - - - -
           
   
Comfort Suites The "First" Great Dinner Danielle & Kaci    

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Day 2 - June 28: Jeffersonville, IN - DeForest, Wisconsin (near Madison, WI)

Today's Mileage: 498  Total Mileage: 999  Start: 8:05 am Stop: 4:30 pm

Weather: Cloudy at first, then hours of rain; cleared up in the afternoon - about 75 degrees - a lot cooler than yesterday.

Hotel: Comfort Inns & Suites: another nice hotel, about a year old. TV in bathroom - can you ask for anything more!

Via: IN - I-65N to Indianapolis; I-74W to Illinois
       IL - I-74W to Bloomington; I-39N to Wisconsin
       WI - I-39N to DeForest

Breakfast: At Hotel Lunch: Cracker Barrel Dinner: Burger King

Comments: Gained an hour today and lost a windshield wiper. When it stopped working we found a Chevy Dealer within 2 miles, so we got off I-74 and paid them a visit. They had it fixed just about the time everybody got out of the van - it was just a loose nut. We were on our way within 10 minutes - nice service, didn't even charge us.

Stopped at the Cheese Chalet near the hotel for some real Wisconsin cheese and other goodies.

Mets are rained out tonight.

These first few days they are basically driving days - otherwise we would never get to Alaska, although tomorrow we have a short day so we can 'shop' at the Mall of America in Minneapolis.

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Comfort Inn - - - - - - - - - -  Cheese Chalet & Sissy the Cow  - - - - - - - - - -

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Day 3 - June 29: DeForest, WI  - Minneapolis, Minnesota

Today's Mileage: 276  Total Mileage: 1,275  Start: 8:10 am Stop: 2:40 pm

Weather: Beautiful day, sunny, in the mid-70's

Via: WI - I-94W to Minnesota
       MN - I-94W to I-494; I-494W to Bloomington (suburb of Minneapolis, near the Airport)

Hotel: Residence Inn (Mall of America) - we have a 2-bedroom suite; as always, these are really good hotels by Marriott, but the TV's are very old. Not quite up to the Marriott standards.

Breakfast: At Hotel          Lunch: Altoona Family Restaurant      Dinner: At Hotel

Comments: In Wisconsin we took a side trip to the Amish Wood Shed in Augusta. Nice stuff, we even bought some things, but we didn't have room for any of the great furniture they have. No pictures allowed inside.

At the Wood Shed they suggested a stop at Weaver's, a bulk food Mennonite store which was about 10 miles down the road in the right direction for us. Very interesting store, we bought some more stuff.

By the time we got to Altoona, another 10 miles or so down the road, we were ready for lunch, which we had at the Altoona Family Restaurant. Good food and plenty of it. We almost drowned in coffee, they wouldn't stop serving it. So I took one to go!

The first day on the road we decided that Rose & Jeanne would be responsible for our food - in other words they would pick the restaurants, etc. So far we have no complaints.

Once we got the Residence Inn it was time for the Mall of America. It's only about a mile away and the hotel runs a shuttle, so it was convenient. Obviously the largest mall (520 stores) I have ever been in, but somehow I expected more. I'm not complaining and we didn't even got to see it all. Maybe the layout is too good, everything seemed to be easy to get to. Well, we'll see the Edmonton Mall next week, which is even larger (800 stores) - so I'll see how that one goes.

The Mets won twice today. We listened to one game in the van, most of the other game we caught on the Internet in the hotel.

Tomorrow we leave the country for 10 days.

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- - - - - - -  Augusta - - - - - - - "Lunch"        
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Weaver's - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
 
- - - - Residence Inn - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mall of America - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
     
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  Lego at Mall of America - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -      

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