How Pav Tamed the West

By jamming out in the Escape to Lady Gaga and Katy Perry and Kei$ha clearly. These mid westerns must love me as I am blaring music while driving (zooming) west on I-70. Anywho's I have to dominate the radio since my fellow driving companion is a musician and when he choses the radio / cd selection it's going to be some crazy French singing lady or a jam band that no of us have ever heard of but of course will be the next big thing. I should lay off because in his defense he has been very nice about me picking the music for the majority of the ride.

Okay so where have I gone today... Well yesterday we hit Nashville ... slept in Pudach, Ky - yah that is a happening town...oh wait not at all. Thank God I bring my own sheets with me to these dive hotels. Love it how I will stay at such gross establishments but its okay because I bring my own sheets, towels, and shower shoes. Like that's really going to prevent me from catching some disease or rash or bug. hmm.

We set off for St Louis ... went down to the water front and checked out the riverboats. It was fabulous - great music was playing it made you feel like you should build a raft and go all Tom Sawyer on the Mississippi. We went up in the Arch - which was really awesome. You can see out for miles - plus the shuttle/pod/tram thing you ride in is really fun. And the people who were in my pod were from Hickory, NC. Yah fellow North Carolinas - they said I was from the fancy establishment when I told them I was from Raleigh. Fancy establishment? Well it is the capital kids...but I mean it's not like Raleigh is NYC.

Next stop - Kansas City, KS for BBQ. Now I spent all morning googling my fingers off trying to find the perfect place for BBQ Ribs. And did I ever. We stopped at WoodYard BBQ and it was DELICIOUS. Talk about hole in the wall fabulous. It is an old house - no AC, wood floors, paper towel rolls on the table, and PBR to drink. I was in heaven. I had the special - the Triple P ... Pulled pork, smoked ham, smoked bacon, with a slice of provolone cheese on a bun, baked beens, creamed corn with dill sauce, and oh well of course 4 ribs with their hot sauce. This place was featured on Food Networks Dives, Diners, and Drive- Ins. See pictures below.

Next we went to Cabelas because I was in some need of some long pants for hiking - for some reason I missed the memo of packing my hiking pants on Sunday morning. I am sure it had nothing to do with my Saturday night activities. This cabelas was HUGE and oh so amazing. I had to restrain myself when it came to purchasing stuff because I was about to go nuts.



After our little detours we finally got back on the road and are now in somewhere in Nebraska ... staying at the lovely Rodeway Inn. Thanks to Kathy who hooked me up with a great deal by giving me a coupon - sweet. Still paying $60. This place is a step up from the dump I stayed in last night. I mean my neighbors are all workers getting the town ready for the State Fair and some of them are working on some train track. Kathy said it's a big ol mess but they should get everything up and running by the end of August - thank goodness!!


Oh one more thing ... I was doing some light reading about Yellowstone - this is our next destination as we are going to be doing 3 nights of camping here. Okay so doing some research and apparently female hikers on the menstrual cycle need to wrap feminine products in two ziplock bags to prevent the bears from attacking. Wow aren't I glad that's not going to be a problem ... oh wait Mother Nature is just such a hoot and holler because guess who started their period - that would be me. Sweet - Im going to get attacked by a bear.


PICTURES!