Travelers

Growing up Meg and I had a lot of strange unexplained experiences and stories. As a result when we moved to TN we decided to try our hand at Paranormal Investigations. So first we went to the Crescent Hotel in Arkansas and Waverly Hills in Louisville.

Both were fantastic experiences so we added some equipment and went out to Shiloh and Vicksburg.  

Having had success and really enjoying the investigations we decided that we were going to continue and take a step up by going to a location that we could really deep dive in. So we booked a night at a house in Hartford City, Indiana which had been featured in the tv show Paranormal Lockdown. The episode had really stuck in our minds and the location was very intriguing. So we began researching the home and taking the stories we had heard and evidence we had seen from other investigators and matching them with newspapers and public/historic records. 

Afterwards we looked for local groups that might be willing to take new members but didn't have much luck.

Then we booked two tickets to a public investigation at Historic and Haunted Octagon Hall in Franklin Kentucky. There we were talking with a couple who had shirts for Paducah Paranormal. We asked about how they found and joined a group and they said they didn't they just made their own. So we took their advice and decided to make our own group. 

The name Travelers made perfect sense. We love road trips and exploring different locations. Not only that but with a Paranormal Investigation we are talking about interacting with the spirits who lived in the past. Travelers are looking for connections and experiences with the world around them with an openness and curiosity for the world.  And that is what we hope to do as we figuratively travel through place and time.

We know that we will never have a video, picture, or recording that will convince a skeptic but that isn't our goal. Our goal is to learn about the people who lived before us and the locations they visited. I want to understand how or why we are able to communicate with them and what was life like for them. 

Now that we had a name and a goal next we needed a symbol. Meg took care of that combining our Irish and Italian heritage and her love of folklore. She started with the Ash Tree, the tree of Life in Norse Mythology. Under the Ash Tree is Pulcinella a figure of duality in Italian folklore. He is holding a red pepper to ward off the evil eye in one hand and a lucky four leaf clover in the other. At his feet is a hedgehog which symbolizes good luck and a guide. Finally in the bark of the tree are a series of numbers. The numbers are from smorfia the use of number analysis in dreams to tell the future and, very commonly in Naples, play the lotto. The first number is 85 which stands for the souls in purgatory, next 48 is the dead man who speaks, and finally we wanted to put 42 as a nod to Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy but it also means coffee which really is perfect because after an all night investigation coffee is the first thing I want. 

With our name and symbol ready we started the year off by going to a Haunted Playground and Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama. 

One day we didn't have plans so we went to Historic Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Nashville to walk around and carry recorders and take some photos of the old cemetery. 

Our first big investigation this year was in Independence, Missouri when we traveled to the Vaile Mansion. Which was the first time I filled out paperwork under the group name Travelers. 

We also stopped at a small cemetery in Hopkinsville to visit the grave of Edgar Cayce.

While talking to a friend who has a podcast called Ed DIE Horror and Paranormal Podcast he pointed out that starting up social media would be easier now rather than later. So that felt like the next logical step and we did just that.

In October 0f 2024 we put out our top 31 pieces of paranormal evidence so if you want to see the best we have collected and what we are all about here is a link to that video. 

Top 31 Pieces of Paranormal Evidence

  https://www.facebook.com/TravelersParanormal/

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 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwbxQohu8OlBDMJKXS7tlNQ

And of course this blog! https://jorkeohane.blogspot.com/

So if you are interested in the paranormal and the links to my past blog posts provided you some entertainment please like, follow, and subscribe. My goal right now is to get 100 youtube subscribers so that I will be able to change the URL to something easier to remember and closer to our group name.

Currently we are doing evidence review for our return visit to Wavery Hills. We also have recordings and video from the Historic Lotz House in Franklin, TN, a return to the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and the Thomas House in Red Boiling Springs, TN. So stay tuned for more.

Travelers: Visiting the Sleeping Prophet

While looking up things to do in Hopkinsville, Kentucky I saw the number three listed spot was the gravesite of Edgar Cayce. That lead me to reading about the "sleeping prophet" and taking a quick trip to Riverside Cemetery. The cemetery is a beautiful cemetery with naturally flowing paths and various beautiful large trees. We saw graves dating back to the early 1800s. While some graves were broken or fallen over the cemetery is clearly well cared for unfortunately stones get broken due to age, storms, or other reasons.

Edgar Cayce was born in Hopkinsville on March 18, 1877 to farmers Elizabeth and Leslie Cayce. His abilities first manifested when he was a child. Reportedly he saw his deceased Grandfather as a translucent figure. He also saw the winged image of an angel. He also had an ability to recall to memory entire pages from books after sleeping with his head on them. He is considered by many to be one of the founders of New Age thought. The majority of his fame and success came when he would have visions while sleeping. With little information about a person he would fall asleep and wake with answers to medical concerns or other questions. 

We left  a recorder at Edgar's grave while we explored the cemetery.

 

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Travelers: Mt. Olivet Cemetery

 Last Friday we stopped for a couple of hours at Mt. Olivet one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in Nashville, TN for a brief paranormal investigation. We had planned to be there longer but because of different events during the day we arrived very late. We thought about skipping it and just going back another day but then decided we could use this time to get some basic photos and familiarize ourselves a little and then plan a return. 

The cemetery was founded by two Tennessee businessmen, Adrian Van Sinderen Lindsley and John Buddeke, in 1856. A little less than thirty years later Lindsley passed away and was buried at Mt. Olivet. The architecture of the cemetery is Gothic Revival and at one point there was a chapel in that style built by Hugh Cathcart Thompson, the architect of the famous Rhyman Auditorium. 

For this investigation we each carried a recorder, Meghan had her Canon rebel DSL camera, I had an infrared camera, the S-Box, and a body camera. 

We started the investigation by just pulling over and then splitting up and walking around looking at the different graves. Because it was late I did not try and find some of the more notable burials in the cemetery like Thomas Rhyman, Edward Barnard, and Anne Dallas Dudley. While reading the names on the graves we recognized many of the family names from counties and streets of Tennessee. As we got out of the car we split up with Meghan going to graves to the right of the car and me walking forward further into the cemetery. As I have done in past investigations I pulled out a few of the best captures and also uploaded to youtube a full video of all the EVPs and the S-Box session. 

The first EVP that I separated out in to its own clip was what we believe to be a residual haunting of someone saying a prayer.

I also pulled out a clip to compare an EVP that was recorded on both Meg and my recorder. 

And the final clip I separated was our favorite and one that made us certain we needed to return. I had parked across from a tall monument for the Weaver- Cole- Cheatham family.  Meg had gone there to investigate while I wandered away to some of the larger tombs. 

Meg began reading the writing on the graves out load one by one beginning with Dempsey Weaver, 1815-1880. Dempsey was one of the founders of Third National Bank in Nashville and at one time was Treasurer of Vanderbilt University. 

After Dempsey Meg moved on to his son, Thomas Weaver's family. Thomas was born in 1850 and passed away suddenly in 1911 in Florida. He had followed his father's footsteps working in banking and serving as trustee for Vanderbilt University. He married Mattie Cheatham in 1872. Her maiden name was one of the names we recognized as the county next to us is Cheatham county. From there Meg moved on to the grave of their son Richard Cheatham Weaver, 1895-1913. He was only 18 when he died of an accidental gun shot wound to the abdomen. 

Next she moved to the grave of his oldest brother Thomas Shadrack Weaver Jr, 1873-1918. Thomas 

It was at these last two graves where Meg recorded an EVP  that convinced us we have to go back. As Meg moved to Richard's grave a voice says "Hey read me". When we first listened we questioned whether in 1913 "Hey" would have been used in that way because we think of it as a more modern usage. Meg check out the etymological use of the word and indeed it dates back to the 15th century. And to further confirm the voice was Richard when she moved on to Thomas Jr we hear the same voice say "now come back." 

As we were listening to the recordings we read about the family history. The Weaver family owned a home called Seven Oaks which burned down but would have been near the Nashville Airport, and there are Seven Oaks apartments and Seven Oaks Park still in the area. Not only was Weaver a well known name but they had connections to the Cheatham family as mentioned above and also the Cole family who owned Colemere which is now a restaurant and event space called Monelle's at the Manor. We definitely had fun learning about some of the history of these families in Nashville and look forward to returning not just to revisit Richard but to see what else we can learn about Nashville and the people who once lived here.

Here is the full video including several other EVPs and our S-Box session.

Thank you for watching we have some big plans ahead in the next few months and look forward to sharing the results.

Past Investigations:

Children's Playground Huntsville, Alabama

Octagon Hall

Mysterious House of Hartford City

Shilo, Vicksburg, and Cedar Grove

Waverly Hills

The Crescent Hotel

Spontaneity for the Win

 Last week Meg and I left my Mom's condo around 6pm and began driving home like normal. However on the way I began telling Meghan about a cemetery I had been looking up in Aberdeen, MS and Meghan said, this is paraphrasing but close enough, "we should go there, want to?" And I said "yeah, do you mean now?" And she said "yeah" and I said "yeah" and so we changed direction and highway and began driving south. It was about 7pm on Friday and we had work at 5am on Sunday so this had to be a quick trip. Also we had nothing with us. Meg called a hotel in Tupelo to get a room and I went inside a Walmart to get toothbrushes, tooth paste, and a few other essentials. When I came back out I called my Mom, who was waiting for us to call her when we got home, so she would know not to expect the call for awhile.  

Funny thing is when I made the Natchez Trace trip I purposely made sure we wouldn't be driving it at night because it is very dark and there are a lot of deer and I know my luck... So guess what road the GPS decided we should take between 9-11pm. Yup. Guess what we saw: a lot of deer and one super adorable fox. We also made it just fine with only one or two real serious brake checks. The room was nice but there was one problem... we were right across from the elevator and Gypsy Rover was determined to keep us safe from the dinging of the elevator bell with all her might.  So we turned up the air and put the tv on to try and block the sound of the elevator and that worked pretty well. 

Having had such good success with Hunt's Donuts in Branson I searched for best coffee in Tupelo and Strange Brew popped up, even better it was five minutes away. 

I got their signature drink the Albino Squirrel with white chocolate and hazelnut while I got Meg a Darth Mocha or as it described it: "the latte you are looking for." And we each got a parfait. 

Then we began driving the rest of the way to Aberdeen and the Old Aberdeen Cemetery to look for two specific graves. However I did not realize there were two cemeteries and we ended up spending some time in the Odd Fellows Cemetery before finding the one we really wanted. In the Odd Fellows cemetery we saw two graves that grabbed our attention they were from the same family, Terrell. One had a weeping angel lying over a grave the other had a woman with her fist held high.

 

Then the grave of James Ronnie Warren, cobbler, which featured a shoe flower pot with beautiful flowers in it. I also stopped by the intricately designed grave of Karen Rye who died young at the age of 55. 

 Having not found either of the two graves I had come to find we began trying to find a more specific location and that was when we learned we were in the wrong cemetery. Across the street was the Old Aberdeen Cemetery which I had just assumed was also another name for the Odd Fellows. In the old Aberdeen Cemetery the oldest grave is from 1838 when Abel Pierson was buried on the property. The first record of this being a public cemetery was in 1845 when graves were being sold by the city for $5. In 1979 the cemetery was certified as a historically significant abandoned cemetery. In the 1920s the Cemetery Care Organization used the Aberdeen Examiner to publicize the name of the people who helped and donated to the care of the cemetery. Today it is definitely being maintained in fact the ground crew was there and doing an excellent job. 

The first grave we were looking for was Alice, wife of Needham Whitfeld. Urban legend says that Alice loved her rocking chair and knitting and that she died while knitting. Also legend goes that she is buried in her favorite chair. The second grave we were looking for was Mary Points who was killed in a  fire in 1852. On the grave her image looks as those it is on fire. Her stone is toppled over and has a crack in it but can still be seen.

On our way to our next stop, because now we were looking for things on our route back home, we passed a cute small town square in Houston, MS which a memorial stone explained was named by Joel Pinson in honor of his friend Sam Houston. Joel donated the 80 acres that the town was started on.

And then we reached Vardaman, Mississippi the Sweet Potato capital of the world. They have a festival in November so we can go back sometime for the festival. But for today we got a sweet potato cheesecake and some pies and sweet potato sausage balls. 

A fun roadside gimmick that I have seen listed in several places is the hot and cold water towers. You know when you have water towers dotting your landscape why not have a little fun? Bad angle but one says hot and one says cold Ruleville, MS.

Now it was getting late because we had spent way more time at the cemetery than I planned so we started toward TN and Memphis to catch I-40 and go home. On the way as we were driving along a small country highway we looked to our right and saw what we could only describe as a baby tornado. We now know it was a dust devil caused by the warm earth and an updraft of air. 

 

We made our last stop in Nesbit, MS to see snowball throwing polar bears outside an ice cream stand. And we were going to get ice cream but they had a really high fee for using credit cards and we opted not to pay it.

Shortly after that we crossed back in to TN near Memphis to catch  I-40 home but first we needed to stop for dinner. Meg found a brewery called Meddlesome Brewing which conveniently had a food truck, Flying Sobie's Hen House, out back. So we had half a cornish hen with Memphis Gold barbecue sauce and a flight of house beer. Delicous. 

Now with most sports cancelled because of Covid 19 a lot of channels have begun showing classic games. well we found a radio station playing a classic radio broadcast of Game 1 on the 1967 World Series. There we were in the seventh inning with Bob Gibson pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals and Harry Caray and Pee Wee Reese were announcing. So many names were familiar like Lou Brock who went 4 for 4 with two runs scored. Roger Maris one of my baseball heroes, Tim McCarver, and the versatile Carl Yastrzemski. Gibson was well on his way to a complete game and ten strike out game. Sadly we lost the station early in the ninth inning and returned to music. 

A couple days later at home we had the cheesecake and a crowler of Meddlesome's Under Pressure. 

Next trip is a drive north to Ohio. Not a new state because technically we already stood in Ohio but this way we really get to see the state. 

A road trip to Perryville, MO.

In six years, on April 8th, 2024, I will hopefully witness my second Total Solar Eclipse from the Texas Hill country. But today as I relax at home I realized I hadn't written a blog post about a road trip that I took specifically to attend a talk in Perryville, MO and meet Eclipse expert and psychologist Dr. Kate Russo. So in honor of the six year mark till the next eclipse here is the final chapter of my first eclipse.

In my research to prepare for the eclipse party I had come across Dr. Russo's paper on Solar Eclipses and Community Planning.  Well, I started following her blog (Being In the Shadow) and Facebook page. And here is the amazing thing about social media. In the past I would have just read her paper and her books and that would have been it. But now the world is so much smaller and I was actually able to start up a correspondence with her. Whether it was through email or on her Facebook page she made herself so accessible to people who, like me, were learning about the solar eclipse and what to expect. It certainly greatly benefitted my own preparation and my ability to do outreach. After the eclipse she began a tour along the path of Totality. The closest she was coming to me was about 45 minutes to an hour away at Hopkinsville, Kentucky- the town with the longest duration of Totality. However, I had to work and had no shot of getting there that day. Two days later I was off work and she was going to be speaking and meeting with people in Perryville, MO. It was a no-brainer and Meg and I knew it was time for a road trip.

Taking the drive straight wouldn't be bad since it is only 3.5 hours but of course I couldn't just drive straight. This was a chance to get the car out on the road and see new places.

Years ago when we had just finished undergraduate degrees Meg and I dreamed about driving the 48 contiguous states and taking photos along the way to make a travel book of our trip. We had gone so far as planning out different routes and trying to come up with sponsor ideas. Back then we were dreaming of doing this in Onk, our 99 Ford Taurus  One Good Car. It never would have made it. Anyway we toyed with the idea of selling advertising space on the car so we could put logos or just writing to companies that would be helpful like hotels and gas stations and Canon camera (Meg's camera of choice) to see if they would help us. It never got very far because laying out the money for that kind of a trip seemed impossible. If we space it out by using vacations to do smaller trips eventually we may get there. But that can be a larger goal right now I just want to see as much as I can with each trip we take.

I looked up roadside attractions in the states that we were going to be driving through (TN, KY, IL for a second, and MO). I didn't really find much that way. No world's largest ball of string (it's in Kansas) or anything of that type. So I looked at the towns and cities along the way and started researching things to do nearby. At one point while we were driving I commented to Meghan that I spent a lot of time in college and graduate school learning how to research and I now use those skills to plan road trips. :-)

Anyway that proved helpful. As I looked for a pattern to the trip I realized that it was seeing new bodies of water. First we were passing through the Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky and the Tennessee River. Then as we continued along we would meet up with the Ohio River and the Mighty Mississippi river. So that became my focus. Looking at the waterways that helped form our country, states' boundaries, and bring industry and trade along their shores.

One slight restriction we had was that we are babysitting my Mom's dog, Domino, which meant she was going to experience her first real car trip whether she liked it or not.

It also meant we wouldn't be stopping any place that we would have to go inside where a dog may not be appreciated.

We turned on to Interstate 24 heading north to Kentucky and the Land Between the Lakes. Originally the plan was to drive around the Lakes but as we were approaching we saw a turn off to drive through the park and we took it. This took us over the Cumberland river and Lake Barkley. Then north through the park until we exited past Kentucky Lake and the Tennessee River. The park was a beautiful scenic drive to start the trip and we stopped at a pull off to allow Meg to get some pictures.

Now since I had a specific time I needed to be in Perryville and since we had Domino the plan was to make most of the trip a driving trip and keep stopping and getting out at a minimum. So originally I planned on just driving past our next point but we couldn't help ourselves and we got out.

The Kentucky Dam is a hydroelectric dam and was built in the 30s and 40s as part of Roosevelt's New Deal to improve infrastructure. First we drove by it on highway 62 and then we turned and drove over it. There is also a walking path for people to walk on it and numerous folks were enjoying the beautiful day and fishing. We were amazed by the difference in water depth between the two sides. Also side note the Kentucky Dam is located in McKracken county Kentucky which maybe the best name for a county ever.

From there we took Highway 62 straight to Paducah. At first we were going to get out and walk along the flood walls that line the Confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers and tell the history of the town. However, and I did not know this until right before the trip, but Paducah is apparently "Quilt City" they have a museum and everything and are very proud of this. Well, I knew we wouldn't go to the museum because we had Domino and also that would be something my Mom would like so I'll save it for a road trip when she is with us. Well as "Quilt City" apparently they were in the midst of a large festival for arts and the festival was right down town at the Flood Walls. So since I didn't have time to justify paying event price for parking we had to skip the Flood Walls. It's ok because we will be back. And it allowed us to spend more time in our next Paducah location: Oak Grove Cemetery.

Buried in Oak Grove Cemetery is John Scopes, the science teacher charged with violating the Butler Act on May 5th, 1925, just three months after the Act was passed. The Butler Act made it illegal for evolution to be taught in TN universities and public schools. The trial was held in Dayton, TN and attracted lots of attention, partly for the history and impact of it and partly for the entertainment of it. William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow acted as members of the Prosecution and Defense teams respectively which helped to bring further attention from the press to this trial. And while Scopes actually lost the trial it did have a lasting effect on American education.

 

It was a good thing we had some extra time to spend in the cemetery because first we had a really hard time navigating the small cemetery. And once we found Scopes we turned our attention to several other 'notable' graves as well as just enjoying the beauty of some of the different head stones. For example one thing we learned was that Paducah had a strong and talented wood working population as we came across several ornate graves honoring members of various woodworking associations.

My search of well known graves on Oak Grove lead me to the grave of Fate Marable which fit nicely into our trip following the waterways that shaped early American industry because for almost 40 years Fate Marable was a pianist and band director on the steamboats of The Mississippi.

As we drove and walked up and down the lanes of the old section of the cemetery these two graves also stuck out for their beauty and design.



The one on the left is the detailed grave of a child who died at ten. At the base it says "Budded on earth to bloom in heaven." The one on the right had a stone anchor with rope on top of it sitting on rocks in the water.





We had two more graves to find in the old section. The first was for Dollie the Mule, she was a mule who pulled  the hose carriage for the Fire Department. When they no longer needed to pull the carriage she moved to Oak Grove to pull carts in the cemetery. However whenever Dollie would hear the sound of the fire alarm she would begin to run up and down the cemetery lanes in excitement. Her faithful service to the city got her an allowance to be buried in Oak Grove. Also buried in Oak Grove is a second mule named Tom, however I never found out what earned him the allowance.

Finally we went to the new section of the cemetery to see one last grave. It is a sad and kind of heartwarming story. Apparently in 1991 a young man's body fell from a plane where he was hitching a ride either at the wheels or another compartment. Not knowing anything about him a tombstone was erected for John Doe and the people of Paducah 'adopted' the unknown young man. Somebody would bring flowers to his grave and the search continued to find his identity. It took eight years but he was eventually identified and his family was contacted. A new grave stone was made with his name and birthdate. His grave was left in Oak Grove where the city and people who adopted him have continued to care for his grave. As you see in the picture there was a fresh bouquet at the grave when we stopped by.

Before we left Paducah we had one more stop to make at a wood carved statues called the Wacinton Statue. A sign near the statue explained that it had been carved from a 56,000 pound Red Oak in honor of the Chickasaw Indians who lived in the area.

After that we left Paducah but we will have to go back to see the Flood Walls, Quilt Museum and the railroad museum.

Then we cut across Kentucky, rather then follow the bending Ohio River, to the Kentucky/Missouri/Illinois state lines and the Confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. We crossed over both rivers and stopped at Fort Defiance for a little walk about.

I love this picture that Meghan took of a fallen branch at the confluence. To the left is the Mississippi and the right is the Ohio river and you can see the difference in the water of the two rivers.

Along the way we also found several historical markers and information placards about Lewis and Clark as they travelled and helped form the United States.

Next we continued our northern turn towards what was listed as a historic tunnel in Cairo, Illinois, which was used to help move the railway cars that traversed the country.  As we drove through Cairo, with the Ohio river to or right we could see paintings down the street on flood walls. We turned down one of the roads to get a better look at the murals.

My phone is being difficult so the pictures are blurry, I think because I emailed them to myself instead of transferring them directly to my computer.

The area in front of the walls are uncared for and over grown with weeds. Cairo, I'm sure was at one time a bustling and busy place especially with its spot along the river and the multiple train lines that would have run through. Now however it is mostly boarded up buildings along the main road we took.

Then we went further north to the Illinois/Missouri border again to cross over the Mississippi and land at Cape Rock Park in Cape Girardeau Missouri. Now a Cape, geographically, is a piece of land extending into a body of water generally the ocean. In this case however we have an inland cape sticking out into the Mighty Mississippi river. The cape got it's name for a Frenchman Jean Baptiste Girardeau who established a trading post sometime around 1733. The Cape has since lost its shape because of tilling that was done to make way for the Missouri Pacific Railway lines and Frisco line that ran from Cairo to St. Louis.

And with that we were less then an hour away from Perryville and strangely enough ahead of schedule. As a result we were able to stop at a St. Mary of the Barrens National Shrine. Unfortunately we didn't stop long because the church was under construction and everything was closed up. Though the woman at the gift shop did tell me I could probably get inside and look around before one of the priests would call me out. 

We left and went over to the community center where Dr. Russo would be speaking. After a full day of road tripping we had finally reached the main reason for the trip. Meghan and I had both gained so much knowledge and preparation advice from Dr. Russo. I was excited to meet her and hear her speak and have a chance to speak with her about my personal experience. As we had been driving I had been trying to think of how best to put into words the experience. Obviously I have already put two past blog post here about it trying to capture every detail. My opinion today months later is still basically the same. I cannot put into words everything about that day because words cannot describe it. I mean it truly was an existential experience. Like open to the true nature of the Other and it's existence whether that be nature, wander, awe, and the others around us. There was dialogue between nature and myself and a connection in those moments that have lasted even through to today. Last year was a tough year for me but for that day everything was ok. Still the best way I have found to describe it is that I never truly understood what "awe inspiring" meant until that day. It was nice to sit there with Dr. Russo and several others like me who had recently experienced the eclipse and think back on it and how it was and how it changed us and affected us. 

After the meeting it was time to get something to eat before heading home for the ride. We stopped at two places owned by one couple who are, by the way, two of the coolest people I have ever met. They own The Jackson Street BrewCo and at the other side of the block Mary Jane Burgers. We couldn't go to the Jackson Street BrewCo because we had Domino. Mary Jane's Burgers had outdoor seating. They allowed us to sit at the outdoor seating with the dog and I just walked over to the BrewCo to get our flights and food. 

Zaza was our order holder and there were a variety of other famous entertainers to choose from. We got a pretzel appetizer and artisan pizza for a main course. Everything was delicious. I think we tried almost every beer and brought home a growler to enjoy later. 

And then we were basically retracing our drive as we went home. We did sleep for a few hours overnight because the day had started early and while it was only 8 hours of driving it was a lot longer in actuality. 

Slight note: I'm not sure which road we took through Land between the lakes so it is not reflected here.  

Also an interesting note: in this trip we crossed the Mississippi four times from Illinois to Missouri, back to Illinois, and then back to Missouri, and then back to Illinois. In the last trip we crossed the Mississippi twice from Tennessee to Arkansas and then from Missouri to Kentucky. Next trip may have us crossing the Mississippi again only further south by Baton Rouge Louisiana. We'll see.

Anyway I'm thinking about buying a map of the US  with as many highways as possible and I'll start drawing the road trips on to it. Eventually I'll have it pretty covered I hope.