| Start: | Lexington, KY |
| Stop: | Mt. Vernon, IL |
| Miles: | 275 |
| States passed: | 3 (Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois) |
| Passed: | Louisville, KY |
| Visited: | nothing |
| Breakfast, Lunch: | Lexington, KY (last meals in old home) |
| Dinner: | Hotel, Mt. Vernon, IL (Papa John's pizza) |
| Hotel: | Comfort Inn, Mt. Vernon, IL. |
Two days prior, on Monday, we finished packing the stuff and sent the trailer off to its cross-country track, after which, we celebrated the younger one's b-day, and attempted to complete the cleanup.
The day before, Cema arrived, and we closed on the house.
July 25th came - time to leave Lexington for good.
The departure didn't go without a snag - the portable DVD player we bought the day before did not sit well on the carrier bag I bought for it. A trip to Best Buy - nothing suitable. Across the street to CompUSA - got one, Olga affixed it to the back of the car, and off we go... around 2pm. Our car packed up to its brim, we head out of town, stopping at the Thornton's in Versailles, KY for gas.
First hour went without a hitch, but then Kentucky decided to give us a kick on our way back. We get to Louisville, where I-64 is closed downtown, so we need to take I-264 oast airport to get on the other side of town. At the turn-off the need developed to stop for a few mins, and, upon returning to the car we discover that the air conditioner is dead. Fortunateily, Pep Boys is across the street. We stroll there, discover that they are open, have an air conditioning guy on duty and can take the car right away. They find nothing, pump freon, and we head off and cross into Indiana. It's 4:00pm by now and we are about 200 miles behind the schedule.
The hopes of picking up and speed and putting the miles quickly but quietly dissappeared. We made a few stops on our trek through Indiana, Cema took the wheel, drove for a bit more... Eventually it became clear we are not going to make it to St. Louis by the end of the day. The bright side - we get to actually do some sight-seeing in St. Louis tomorrow.
Mt. Vernon is conveniently located about an hour's drive from St. Louis. I geocached here on my first trip to St. Louis in 2005. We call a few hotels, they all have rooms, decide on Comfort Inn, get into the room, order pizza, and just try to be done with the first day.
Wasn't the best way to start the trip. Fortunately, things went smoother for the rest of the trip.
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