As I left the Golden Manor Inn this morning, I know that last night was the best nights sleep/rest I've had in awhile! I can't say why, I slept SO hard. I hop on US60, which is also 31W/Dixie Hwy. And there it is.....a shoulder. It's early, traffic is light, and I move down the road. I do stop at one point, to get coffee, in the first town. The clerk says, "It's on her". I thanked her, and thought that was very sweet. I drink it, and keep moving. Yum! As the sun rises, I stop to use the bathroom, I mean, the side of the road. I look down at my legs and wondered if I was hurt? Blood, thick ooey grossness. No, I'm not hurt. Oh, I know, I ran over a ketchup packet? Yeah, that's it. No, it's not. I'm trying to make myself feel better. There's roadkill everywhere. I get my wipes out, and clean up the crime scene on my legs and shoes. What can you do? Sure hope my hotel tonight has laundry facilities.
I make my way down this lovely Kentucky shoulder. How did I get so fortunate?! The weather is perfect (clouds, but no rain). Before I know it, I'm in a town called West Point. I'm fascinated with the businesses here. They are, in this order by most types: 1) Girls,Girls, Girls Establishments. The Sin Den, the Red Door Lounge, the Green Light, etc. You get the idea. And it's early in the morning, and there are cars at all of these places! And they are open. Wow. 2) Liquor Stores. Lots of them. 3) Gun Stores. I'm not sure that all these things are good. All I know for sure is that the church across from one of the "Girls XXX" places is For Sale. The church. For sale. I guess they didn't stand a chance in this town.
Moving on, I still have a shoulder. I'm moving into the outskirts of Louisville. There are real places like a Target. A Walmart. A Kroger. I'm in heaven!!! And any fast food place you want. This is going to be good. I stop at the Walmart, and get lots of fruit, and other supplies for the next few days. I got a shopping cart and felt like a real person again. This day gets better all the time.
Now, it's time to get across Louisville. I have found a route, using my "maps" on my phone, asking for a "walking" route with sidewalks. And my phone delivered - big time. I had many turns, went through a number of bad, bad areas of town, but I was safe from cars on the sidewalk. I did not look anyone in the eye, I kept my head down, and kept hustling through the bad areas of town. Finally, it changed. It was like day and night. I find that I slowed my pace as I got into the nicer areas of town. I went through the Southern Baptist Theological School area, and what a beautiful campus!! The neighborhoods I went through were fabulous, just gorgeous. I really enjoyed that part. And, there were regular shopping places, malls, and all kinds of food options that I recognize. I'm loving this day. Even if I pass them by, just seeing it all, comforts me. It's been at least a month (or more!) since I've seen a real city. I'm used to motels, conv stores.....and maybe a Walmart (only on occasion). I've eaten sandwiches from conv stores more than you'll ever know. Not today!
I make it through Louisville, and continue out US60 to get out of town a bit. I go through St Matthew, and head toward the Wildwood suburb. I get to the intersection where my Residence Inn is located. It looks like a apartment complex. I didn't remember that marriott hotel being like that, but I'm game. I turn to get there......and there it is......a Qdoba! A quesadilla will be dinner. I can't wait. I check in the hotel (apartment), and sure enough, it's a little apartment. I have a living area, desk, separate bathroom area, a real kitchen. I had no idea. And.....it's less money than most of the hotels I've stayed at (as few as they were). I'm usually a motel kind-of-girl. I unload my cart, and want to go eat. But I'll shower first.
Hygiene Report:
I did indeed shower, I put a load of laundry in (yay, you know that makes me happy). My socks and shorts needed it - from the roadkill splatter. I think a car ran over something, and it got on me, while it was still dark. I have a healthy coat of lotion on, and ready to go eat.
I walk to the Qboda, got my food, and decide to eat it there. I relaxed and enjoyed my dinner. It's a hour later here, so it was technically dinner time for me. I even got one of their brownies for dessert.
Back to the hotel to get my laundry. I hang it all up, as it will be dry by morning. Speaking of morning, I will head out early for two reasons 1) avoid this crazy traffic in this area (and the shoulder is about 2 ft, around here), and 2) rain comes later in the day.....according to the news. I'm going to be heading down US60 to Frankfort. An interesting thing to note is that from here on out (for quite awhile), US60 parallels I64. And most motels/hotels will be off the Interstate 64. So we will be going off route 1/2-1 mile to get to them. I will tell you that whenever there is rain in the forecast, it's a good idea to go 5, 10 or more miles (walking) in the rain - rather than camp in the rain. Nobody likes to camp out in the rain. So both John and I do what we can to make sure we have a place to stay. As best as we can, anyway.
I've had the kind of day I remember fondly. Nice, pretty easy, access to food, and a nice place to stay. This makes running across America so enjoyable!! I love these type of days.
Hope your Friday was a good one. It's the weekend. Whoop Whoop!
Cyndi
No comments:
Post a Comment