St. Louis to . . .

Wow, yesterday was a LONG day.
Sorry for not blogging last night, but J could not possible transcribe while driving, and driving she did.

The morning started like others on the journey.  We got to play with Willow, Ruby, Apple, Penelope, & Denati (sp) the Whippet.  Barb spoiled us with raw chicken while J tried to convince us to eat our kibble.  NOT.

I thought we would never get out of the St. Louis metropolitan area: windy rural roads, then state highways, then interstate by-passes through endless suburbia.  This prompted unscheduled stops at a Starbucks (coffee, snacks) in a Barnes & Noble (a gruesome mystery on CD) & a Pet Smart for some needed supplies.
From there it was endless boring highway.  Barb was driver extraordinaire until Ivanetta gave some ridiculous route instructions in Indianapolis - off I-70 on some by-pass for about 1/4 mile then right back on.  Seriously!  I tried to tell them just to stay on I-70, but they listened to the GPS bitch instead.  Ivanetta toys with them.
After that Barb had had enough; we stopped to change drivers (to Lydia).  This inspired an unscheduled delay at a fast food restaurant as well as at CVS (for supplies that were needed due to days of fast food eating by the humans).
We also had to make an unscheduled stop at a truck stop for some DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid) for Ivan.  None of the humans had ever heard of this stuff before so it took some scouring of Ivan's manuals to figure out what the warning indicator meant, what they needed to get, & how to fill the reservoir.  A couple random passers-by offered help as well.

Around 9:30PM the decision was made.  J took the wheel & got amped up on "Monster" energy drink.
The only stop was for gas.  5 1/2 hours later we arrived at the Eisenhower Inn.  We stopped briefly at a Gettysburg campground, but at almost 3am they wanted more than $50 for us to park in a camp site & sleep in the van for a few hours.  That seemed steep; so the people decided to continue to the Inn.  Had they not had a room we could have slept those few hours in the van for free.  Sleeping was tight on 2 double beds for 3 people & 5 dogs, but it was better than having the people try & share our dog beds in the van.

Now we have a whole day in Gettysburg for sightseeing by sighthounds. : )