Day One: Tennessee to Houston

There's three dogs in here. 

I decided to take a road trip from the farm in Tennessee to Houston. I figured I could take all three dogs and spend a couple weeks with Joseph before I implement my research project for my dissertation. After my project starts I won’t be able to leave for more than five days in a row and I am eager to explore the land between Tennessee and Houston. I decided to take the high road to get to Houston and the more Southern route to get home. This would enable me to stop in Missouri and Oklahoma to visit friends. In addition to blogging about the experience I thought I’d do a little Instagramming as well. I posted a picture of my car and added the hashtag #southernroadtrip. I plugged my Missouri destination into Google maps and set off. My first state was Kentucky which is to be expected given it’s proximity to my house. I was caught a little off guard when I entered and remained in Illinois for some time. Some Southern road trip this was turning out to be!

State number two

State number 3-surprise!

I added the Missouri leg at the last minute and didn't look to carefully at the route

Cupping while driving-why not?

A very fine rest stop in Illinois.

I decided to bring Lord Siva for protection

An added benefit of stopping to see my friend in Missouri is that I was able to check out Saint Louis.

State number three- Missouri and a very dirty windshield.

The Saint Louis Arch

This building in Saint Louis has "end eminent domain" written on it. 

Saint Louis was an interesting city. There were lots of old abandoned buildings and I was surprised at how historic the place felt. It seemed like all the houses were miniature brick row homes. If I had to compare Saint Louis to other cities I would say it felt like a combination of Pittsburgh, Louisville, and Queens.

This is what my drive in Illinois and Missouri looked like-flat. Now I understand why I hear about so many tornadoes in Illinois

My friend and her cute baby making a very excited face

My friend's awesome tree

The original plan was to stay at my friend's house. However she has two rowdy hound dogs and Bill Scrapps was acting a fool. I also feared for my little weiners safety and decided I could splurge on a hotel in Crocker, Missouri. The rates were quite cheap.

Bill Scrapps hiding from the shower though I was not intending to wash him

Tomorrow morning I meet friend and baby for coffee then head onwards to Tulsa. I looked at the map this time and notice that I'll just barely graze Kansas. Since I will be so close I'm going to work a short Kansas detour into my trip so that I can get a little taste.