Our Tenth and Final State

Any day that starts with the car with a flashing green light on top next to you waving and giving you a thumbs up and then rolling down the window and telling you Happy St. Patrick's Day has got to be a good one. People in Illinois take their Irish holidays very seriously.

Illinois was okay. They need to do some road work and they have the craziest McDonalds ever just as you head south on 57 from 64E. That place is a madhouse. So many people, no playplace and the bathroom is right in the middle instead of the side so the lines for food get crossed with the lines for the potty. Not a happy place!

Kentucky is beautiful. The green almost looks fake it is so bright. The fields go on and on and when I saw the first one I thought it was a St. Patrick's Day prank you know everybody colors their 1,000 acres green. The whole time I thought of the song Run For The Roses. My friend Christy would appreciate the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. We stopped for lunch at an Inn on Lake Kentucky. No one else was there luckily. The kids were in rare form. Dane was hiding under the table next to us when the waitress tried to talk to him and asked if he was hiding. I told her that I paid him to hide sometimes and she about fell over laughing. She went in the back and told some other people what I said and they cracked up and had to come and meet the crazy family from Oregon. My accent is coming back already. I even have a new nickname for Dane - Scooter. How about Bubba for Kale? Isn't this fun?

Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and finally Tennessee. We met Erron in Nashville this afternoon, too late to visit the Tennessee State Museum. Coming into Nashville from the West is one of the most dramatic entrances to a city I have ever seen. The trees are so thick and the fog was dense. It reminded me of a Civil War movie. We have been swimming and eating dinner and mom is maybe going to go to sleep soon. Our stuff gets to Knoxville early Tuesday morning and we should be able to sleep in the house that night. I will take pictures of the house tomorrow and post them.

My first southern recipe.

Sawdust Pie
7 egg whites, unbeaten
1.5 cups granulated sugar
1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
1.5 cups pecan
1.5 cups coconut
9-inch unbaked pie shell

Mix all ingredients together and stir by hand. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake in preheated 325* oven until glossy and set (about 25-30 minutes).

DO NOT OVERBAKE! Serve warm with sliced bananas and whipped cream. Serves 8