US Roadtrip - part 2: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois

[beelikej]

After all the hassle of me getting to the USA, finally starting our roadtrip was extra awesome. We got in the car a little after 2 pm on Wednesday August 5 with tmn1966 behind the wheel. I had originally planned to try and drive, but with the loss of our chill-day to practice and the intimidating traffic with very different rules from the Netherlands, I soon decided that was not going to happen. I'm so very happy T didn't mind; she's a great driver and even allowed me to pick the music! <3 Are you ready to join us? Hop in!


Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Americans are probably used to them, but those big ass trucks are really HUUUUUGE o_O (more than twice the size of European trucks, seriously). Flags. So many flags. (and yellow ribbons, I know the song)


First fangirl meet up, YAY! We had lunch with quickreaver at the CheeseCake Factory; that's a Mac & Cheese burger with sweet potatoe fries for me (like the trucks, the portions are much bigger than I'm used to as well *grins*). There was much talk about fandomchallenges and of course J2 :-D


Obviously we had to have cheesecake for desert: caramel/salt for T, s'mores for Q and lemon/meringue for me. After that it was sadly goodby to quickreaver and also Ohio. *waves*


HELLO INDIANA! Our first of many motels, we totally felt like Sam & Dean \o/ (We also learned why they usually park the Impala with the booth towards the door...)

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Breakfast, including a very American version of creamcheese, I like it:) We had nothing but rain in Indiana; good thing we didn't have any stops. We cruised along Interstate 70 right to the other side.
(FYI: rain is one reason to park the car with its butt to the door; that way you can pack your booth without getting too wet;)


HELLO ILLINOIS! State with many funky sights: first stop: Casey, home of the biggest everything...


Not on the official list, but first thing we saw was that big piece of corn. The town itself is tiny, only one set of crossroads and traffic lights:) But they sure have ambitions...


Behind the car, with an enticing sign Soon to come: world's largest rocking chair (ehm, just wait until we get to Missouri). The sight we came for: the world's biggest windchime! It towers over the Whitling Whimsy Cafe (and the car!)


Of course we had to pull the cord to hear the Chime sound! And then we walked around town (haha) to check out this huge pencil...


... and the largest crochet hook and knitting needles (confirmed by the Guinness World Records Book;) and the very disappointing largest golf tee (wtf?)

Let's hope our next stop is more exciting than that;)


Cumberland County Covered Bridge - Old U.S. Route 40, Greenup, IL. Cool, yes? We sure thought it was, especially driving through, woohoo!


Time for another fangirl meet up! Thanks to zubeneschamali we also found the middle of nowhere, haha! But eventually we found the semi-roadhouse and had an awesome meal: pulled pork sandwich + potato casserole, omnomonom. Even better in combination with fangirling, squeeeeee.


For desert we went to the place that was awarded for the best frozen custard in Illinois, I had the week's special: red raspberry flavor, mmm. After that we waved goodbye to zubeneschamali and got back on the road for our final destination of the day. (Not the church with the big ass cross, no)


Tadaaaah, we found it: the Kaskaskia Dragon in Vandalia, IL \o/ He's fighting a knight who's protecting a key (not in this photo) I love it so; look at that classy top hat!


You can also make it spit fire, but we thought it was already impressive enough;)
After a long, long day of sightseeing and fangirling we were very happy to find a motel.

To be continued! --> part 3: Missouri, Route 66

part 1: Amsterdam to Ohio

Comments

[sillie]

The Kaskaskia Dragon is so fabulous, I can't.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

That dragon is the coolest:)

part 3: Missouri, Route 66

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

I've looked through both part 1 and 2 now - and OMG so much awesomeness! I'm so glad you got to do this! So much fun and so much fangirling - and it just showes me AGAIN how awesome fandom is. To think that you can go from the Netherlands and meet up with friend all over the USA, and that I can sit here in Norway and know who they are and be totally jealous btw that you have met up with them!

Looking forward to more (many more) posts! (I tried to write posts 4 times before I got it right - think that's a sign that I should go to bed! 'night!)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

It was such FUN to meet up with everyone, you know how awesome it is to be able to squee in person, they did not disappoint;)

Going through the photos I can't believe how much tmn1966 drove and how much we saw. WE DID ALL THE THINGS \o/

MORE? part 3: Missouri, Route 66

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

Aww, this is very nice to read. All those LJ userheads being real people who can have food and meetups. Not to mention your motel roadtrip lifestyle, which is so perfectly SPN I can't quite believe it's real.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

We did not make them up, they are REAL! It is the awesomest to fangirl in person:) I definitely felt more like a traveling Winchester with every new motel we stayed in *grins*

part 3: Missouri, Route 66

[tmn1966.livejournal.com]

It was a lot of fun discovering all the little treasures on Route 66. One of my favorites was the covered bridge. It was amazing and I loved driving through it. And will you just look at those clouds with the Dragon... wow, that's an amazing shot. Really, you are a great photographer! Such a great chronicle to our trip!!!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

That bridge had such a long history; I loved the little look out point they build for our ussie;) Driving through was cool, definitely one of my favorite photos.

So. Many. Photos. But I have no regrets:)