Another Thanksgiving holiday means another road trip !

When I got married for the first time, wife #1 and I did what everyone else did for the Thanksgiving holiday - gather with family. Her family always had a gathering in the early afternoon. Since my parents did Thanksgiving at the normal dinner time, we always got to enjoy two large feasts. And since we didn't have kids, we were always doing the visiting.

Things changed slightly with wife #2. My parents still did Thanksgiving in the late afternoon. But her family lived overseas. Not having an obligation in the morning gave us the opportunity to try a few different things. We started out with a simple sightseeing drive to explore the beautiful countryside of central Pennsylvania and enjoy the quiet time. The need for food arose as those drives became longer which lead to the discovery of the "Holiday Buffet" that many restaurants host. Eventually, our plan had evolved to where looking for the great buffet became the reason to take a long drive, something we would later implement for other aspects of our lives, not just for holidays.

The plan evolved again with the introduction of the actual holiday "road trip" after wife #2 and I moved from Pennsylvania to Missouri in 2003. We would often use the long Thanksgiving weekend to make the 800-mile drive home. If that wasn't possible, we reverted back to the long-drive-to-a-holiday-buffet plan and headed to a casino, usually Harrah's in St. Louis or the Ameristar in Kansas City, for a feast the magnitude of which neither of us had encountered before, (Pennsylvania didn't have casinos in those years).

Moving to Georgia in 2009 did two things. First, it shortened the drive home by roughly 100 miles. And second, it put the nearest casino, Harrah's in Cherokee, North Carolina, about 3 hours away. But the big changes occurred in 2011 after my Mom died and I got divorced. While I still made the trip to Harrah's regularly, the reason for a long road trip had disappeared. The plan settled back into the long-drive-to-a-holiday-buffet routine with Harrah's in Cherokee remaining the primary destination.

I met my friend Heather in 2012 when she was a PhD Candidate at UGA. She had also grown up with the traditional holiday activities. The idea of driving three hours to a casino for a Thanksgiving buffet was foreign to her at the time. But she immediately approved the idea after the first trip.

Then I discovered Jekyll Island, Georgia over Christmas 2014. While not long compared to a Pennsylvania visit, around 5 hours is still needed to make that trip. But more importantly, once I discovered Jekyll Island, I was hooked. And best of all, this evolution of the original plan now featured both a long road trip AND a wonderful buffet.

Heather moved from Georgia to Colorado in 2015. She kept telling me, "You need to visit," which I did in 2016 and 2017. Heather moved to Wyoming during the summer of 2018, and once again encouraged me to visit. What follows are some of the highlights of that trip.

Since I was traveling about 6 hours north of where I had been previously, I decided to stretch the trip out to three days of driving via a somewhat direct route. Day one saw a lot of time and miles on Interstates 75, 24, and 70 on my way to familiar Missouri territory. In this context, "familiar" translates into not much in the way of picture-taking. I did, however, break out the camera on a couple of occasions today, with the first being at the northbound I-75 Tennessee Welcome Center in Chattanooga. The photo above is of the Veteran's Memorial at the entrance to the center.

Northbound I-75 Tennessee Welcome Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Unlike last year when I was traveling into much warmer weather in Louisiana and Texas, this year's route featured a good bit of clouds and cold.

The sun was doing its best to make an appearance.

But it was no use. I would have to wait a few hours before I was able to see the sun in full.

One of the attractions at this rest area is a sculpture by Jack Hastings called "An Environmental Garden."

Visitor Centers are designed to encourage travelers to get out of the car and stretch their legs. Apparently, 7 laps around the Welcome Center along the paved path equals one mile.

The marker above presented information regarding Tennessee's connection to the Civil War.

Three hours later, I stopped at the westbound I-24 Kentucky Welcome Center in Oak Grove, Kentucky.

I arrived in the middle of extensive tree trimming.

I guess the trees at the entrance to the Welcome Center were in need of some pruning, and today was the day to get that job done.

Westbound I-24 Kentucky Welcome Center, Oak Grove, Kentucky.

Like most interstate rest areas, this one featured a network of walking trails.

Nicely designed picnic areas are scattered throughout.

Believe it or not, I didn't take another photo the rest of the day after the one shown above of a nice house behind the rest area. Clouds began to take over the sky. Mother Nature spit a few raindrops at me outside of St. Louis, Missouri, which meant the roof had to go up. But that's ok.

Interstate 24 lead me to Interstates 57, 64, and 70 for the trip to Columbia, Missouri. After a slight detour to drive past my old house, I headed north on US Route 63 to my first overnight stop in Macon, Missouri.

Day number one was officially in the books having covered 802 miles. I always like to make my first day of driving the longest. So tomorrow's journey will shave about 300 miles off of that.