Road Trip IL to CA - Day 1

On that hot Delhi afternoon, a clairvoyant said to a 14 year old pigtailed girl that one day she would become a "Doctor". I didn't believe it then and I couldn't believe it the day I became one. Although, as they say, not a "Real Doctor", just a "Doctor in Philosophy". Graduate school was my life for 6 years, but it was over and I had to move on. I had to leave the small, quiet, friendly and lovely town, where I made the best of friends, learnt from the best of teachers and matured as a human being. I did leave, but a part of me will always be there.

The route out of Urbana, Illinois to Riverside, California was through 6 different states, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Nevada (Map) . Needless to say, I couldn't have done this 2115 miles drive alone. Me and my husband, Monik, did it together :) Our first ever Road Trip!

Like every other road trip, we had our share of adventures from the very beginning. Or, wait a minute, even before the beginning. Monik came down with Chicken Pox at the tender age of 30. And you know how it goes at that age. His body was wired with tiny, but devastating, "itch bombs" that went off every other second, leaving behind ghastly scars. This, combined with an "untouchable" treatment, sucked the energy out of him. But, Monik fought courageously and came out of this horror unscathed. Our journey was delayed by merely 3 days and we learnt an invaluable lesson: Always buy insurance while booking a hotel :)

We started driving my over-stuffed car on the lovely morning (9:00AM) of May 21 (Lara's wedding anniversary, a good day, indeed :D). The weather was perfect, overcast with little to no showers. This was a blessing, as there was no way we were using up gas to run the A/C in such a loaded car. We reached St. Louis, MO around noon and headed for lunch at an Irish Pub called Tigin along I-70 W. Before we started this trip, we had set our minds on trying different cuisines along the way and so we ordered traditional Irish potato pancakes called "Boxty". I thoroughly enjoyed my savory "Veggie Boxty Quesadilla" and so did Monik his "Blackened Chicken and Shrimp Boxty". With good food and beer in our bellies, we walked to the St Louis Arch. This was Monik's first time in St. Louis and he loved it. Was it the weather or just his mood that made him feel like he was roaming the streets of Europe?

After a few touristy snaps, we were off to our destination of the day, Kansas city, MO. We made a brief pit stop for gas and coffee at Exit 148, before reaching our hotel in the evening (5:30 PM). Lucky us, out of all the floors in that 15-storey hotel, we got the lowest 2nd floor room :( Nevertheless, the room was nice. We decided to try our palates at an Ethiopian restaurant called Blue Nile Cafe in the downtown "City Market". The market was small and nice. At the restaurant, we started with some beers, Belgian ale-Delirium Nocturnal and Kenyan-Tusker, and then had the traditional fermented Dosa-like bread, Injera, with chicken (Doro Watt) and potato (Dinich Watt) curries. The curry flavors were amazing and Indian-like. We also got complementary red lentils (Misir Watt) and greens (Gomen), which were equally yummy. After the meal, we drove down to the Missouri river front and then headed back to the hotel (9:30 PM).

Day 1 went great and we were eagerly looking forward to our next day.

Our ratings:
Tigin: 4/5
Blue Nile Cafe: 4/5
Holiday Inn, Kansas City : 3/5

Odometer reading:
Zero --> 452 miles