Sunday, December 21, 2014

December 19-21, 2014, Nacogdoches, Texas to Chicago, Illinois

After driving a week to get the bus to a spot warm enough that it won’t freeze we left it in Nacogdoches and drove to Chicago to spend Christmas with John’s family.

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Gas just kept getting cheaper. Too bad we didn’t have the bus to fill up here. The cheap gas is in a town on the Texas border that is surrounded by clay soil. It is a huge pottery producing area, most of the terra cotta pots for plants that are produced in the US are made here. Welcome to Arkansas.  In Arkansas we discovered that most of the leisure wear has a camo pattern.

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Vista of Arkansas. Trees as far as you can see. In Newport, Arkansas where we spent the first night one of the Christmas lights displays on the lake included a sea serpent!

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Welcome to Missouri. In Pocohontas, Missouri there is a 4 foot meteor in front of the court house.

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Vista of Missouri. Lots of hardwood trees. The home of Anheuser-Busch in St Louis Missouri.

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The Gateway arch in St Louis. The state line between Illinois and Missouri is in the middle of the Mississippi river, so the sign is on the middle of the bridge. We spent the second night in Litchfield, Illinois. It is on the old historic route 66. The museum was closed tonight and tomorrow so we could not see it. We did have dinner at an old route 66 attraction diner, the Ariston Cafe.

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John wearing his napkin in the Ariston Cafe. We were very brain dead after so much driving. An Illinois vista. Lots and lots of farms.

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When we arrived at Dean and Bridgett (John sister) Timson’s house we went for a long walk in the Brookfield zoo. It was so nice to not sit in the car. . . Ursula this giant walrus was a long time resident of the zoo. When she passed away they built this statue of her, and it is dressed for Christmas. John, Me and Dean with the polar bears.

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John, this cute little girl who wanted to be in our photo, Bridgett and Dean with a loon at the zoo. Patrick (John’s nephew) and his wife Kristen Timson came over for dinner and brought their new baby Samantha Rose-all dressed for Christmas.

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Bridgett feeding Samantha Rose while the rest of us have a yummy pasta and meatball dinner. Kristen, John, Dean and Patrick.

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