"I've Gone to Look for America"

Day 35 Highlands, NC In the absence of any property shuttle or taxi service to get into town, I was more or less stranded at Half-Mile Farm once Jon left for his 11am shotgun start on the Olde Edwards Golf Course. It was an awful place to be stuck for five hours. Boo hoo for me. After a few hours of leisurely walking around the farm and getting some fresh, Highlands air on a crisp autumn day, Jon picked me up following his round so we could walk around downtown for a bit before another fabulous dinner at Madison's. It ended up being the perfect "pause button" on a trip where we were otherwise in "fast-forward" mode the entire time.

Day 34 Cave City, KY to Highlands, NC (339  miles ,  6,080 total )  It was a long, hard day of driving for Jon (and not terribly pleasant for me either given the raging headache that had continued to percolate since Saturday). When we finally pulled into Half-Mile Farm, we were exhausted and ready to crash. With no dining options available on-property, however, we had a few more miles to go. Fortunately, we were able to snag a last-of-the-night reservation at Madison's in town. A delicious meal and a spectacular wine list was just what the doctor ordered for us both.

Day 33 Hopkinsville, KY to Cave City, KY (106  miles ,  5,741 total )  We left the distillery early in the morning so we could make our tour appointment at Mammoth Caves National Park a few hours away.  Having gotten a good jump on the day, we managed to spare a few minutes to swing by the Jefferson Davis Memorial, this being his birthplace of the man lauded for his "service as President of the Confederacy," a slightly different description than that which I remember from my textbooks.  Having visited a piece of history (that may not exist for too much longer, let's be honest), we continued along the way to Mammoth to check out the world's largest cave system. Though most of the system was closed because of Covid, we were able to tour "Broadway" through the historic entrance to the caves and check out artifacts dating back several hundred years, including the tuberculosis "huts" dating back to the 19th century (because freezing your butt off in a d...

Day 32 Ridgedale, MO to Hopkinsville, KY (404  miles ,  5,635 total )  Our Wizard of Oz adventure behind us, we took off from Missouri and continued our trek eastward towards Kentucky. While most of the day was just interminable driving, a highlight was crossing the Mississippi River. Very cool for a bunch of New York City folk. After a very long seven hour day of driving, we finally pulled into our home for the night. We would be boondocking at the Casey Jones Distillery in southwestern Kentucky, pulling in just in time to take the tour and tasting. Casey Jones had been a moonshine bootlegger through Prohibition, going to prison for the endeavor twice, and now the operation is run by his grandson (a lovely guy from whom we bought much moonshine and bourbon).  A friendly group, they recommended that we check out Davos for an authentic Kentucky dinner. And Kentucky it was. Not only because of the fried bacon we got for an appetizer or the fried Oreos we almost go...

Day 31  Ridgedale, MO  We woke to bucketing rain this morning, really the best weather for 18 holes of golf.  Jon bemoaned the missed opportunity on Payne's Valley; I bemoaned that we'd organized the last two weeks of the trip around a round that would never happen. We considered a drive to Arkansas to visit their Hot Springs National Park but, given the similar forecast there, opted to stay. Ultimately, I persuaded him to call the pro shop and see about getting out at a later tee time which, through some miracle of timing, worked out. Happily, he called at 12:30pm to let me know he'd managed to race onto the course and would be squeezing in a round at last. Given the general attitude towards Covid on the property, I mentally struck most of the activities as too much of a risk (as much as I wanted a massage at their delightful spa!). Instead, I took advantage of a break in the weather to walk the 5K loop around the property and take in some of the Ozark landscape. All in ...

Day 30 Oklahoma City, OK to Ridgedale, MO (291  miles ,  5,231 total )  After another long day of driving (for Jon, for me it was just another long day of sitting), we were both eager to arrive at Big Cedar Lodge, one of the few properties we were staying at during our six week adventure across America. Much of the back-end of the trip had, in fact, been built around this stay which Jon had selected because it was a "golf destination resort" in the Ozarks. The course he coveted was a tough one to reserve, so we had organized our stops before and after around the tee time he'd been able to snag.  You can imagine, then, our dismay when it occurred to us later that this sunset was the last nice thing that happened today. As we drove through dark, winding roads, we realized that this was not so much a "lodge" as it was a small city. A small, Candyland city across which Christmas had exploded. With carols playing on speakers across the property and twinkle lights str...

Day 29 Amarillo, TX to Oklahoma City, OK (268  miles ,  5,231 total )  We were back at it mid-morning to start the four hour drive through the balance of the panhandle and into Oklahoma. Though there were certainly more miles of grass to lull us to sleep along the way, there were times where the monotony was broken up by some fascinating roadside views. As Jon had been missing the heavy Jesus influence of Santa Fe, he was thrilled to be greeted by this sight while we drove through Groom, Texas. It made him feel very  welcome. About an hour later, we took a slight detour off of the interstate to explore a stretch of historic Route 66 that ran through Shamrock, Texas. Though the town is fairly run-down today, it seems that it was abuzz in the middle decades of the 20th century.  Our first stop was the Conoco Tower Station and U-Drop Inn Café, a magnificent Art Deco building constructed in 1936 as a stopping point for motorists along the bustling Rou...