Summer Trip Part 5: St. Louis to Naples - June 30-July 3, 2013

From St. Louis, we made a swing south and west before heading back east and down into Florida. Pictures from this part of the trip are linked below.

June 30 - Webster Groves, Missouri, to Leawood, Kansas

We were on our way from Webster Groves by late morning, and headed right for lunch at the Raising Cane's in the Chesterfield Mall. Excellent chicken as always. We realized that we had forgotten a stroller back in Webster Groves, and John, Elizabeth, and the kids were nice enough to bring it out to us at the mall to save us having to double back. The rest of the ride was just out I-64 to I-70 across Missouri, then I-470 and I-435 into Kansas. We delivered Mark's antique desk that had been in the back of the car for a week and enjoyed a nice dinner and visit [8 Pictures]. [19 Roads/Signs Pictures]

July 1 - Leawood, Kansas, to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

We left Leawood by around 9, and started by searching for some breakfast, which we found at a Dunkin' Donuts nearby [Picture]. Our route for the day was almost entirely I-35 South, and included a lunch stop at a BK in Wichita and a stop for some ice cream at a Braum's around Guthrie. When we arrived in Oklahoma City, we checked into our hotel [2 Pictures]. Once we were settled in, I drove back into the city for baseball. I walked around the Bricktown area and the outside of the ballpark for a while [16 Pictures] before going in to watch the Albuquerque Isotopes defeat the Oklahoma City Redhawks [29 Pictures]. [64 Roads/Signs Pictures]

July 2 - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Citronelle, Alabama

With all of our destinations for the first part of the trip having been visited, our task was to get to Naples before July 4. The most reasonable way to accomplish this was to drive straight through. We got on the road from Oklahoma City around 9:30 CDT and headed east. After a quick stop along the Indian Nation Turnpike, we found lunch at a Whataburger in Paris, Texas. From there, we worked our way southeastward across northeastern Texas to I-20, which we would take all the way across Louisiana and most of Mississippi. Stops were for gas in Shreveport and dinner at Chick-fil-A in Vicksburg. We left I-20 for US 45 South at Meridian, and drove that desolate route with just a gas stop in Buckatunna, Mississippi. Just before midnight we crossed into Alabama, and around Citronelle,... [120 Roads/Signs Pictures]

July 3 - Citronelle, Alabama, to Naples, Florida

it became July 3. We quickly arrived in Mobile, where we picked up I-10 for the next several hours. Then I-75. It's a long way through Florida to Naples when entering anywhere, but it's incredibly long when you enter on I-10. We made a few minor stops, then worked our way into Fort Myers to get Firehouse Subs takeout to bring back to Naples, where we arrived around 1 PM. We covered 1504 miles in about 26 1/2 hours. 2786 total miles covered since we left home on June 22. [2 Roads/Signs Pictures]


terescoj+pics@teresco.org - Sat Jul 6 14:40:17 EDT 2013