Onward: From Abe to the Arch and beyond to the barbeque

At 8:06 AM we left Chicago on this freaky Friday the 13th. Back on the road en route to Kansas City, I took note of some signs of places to go that intrigued me: 

[ Funky sirup? Yes, please ]

[ Nostalgiaville; sounds just plain wonderful ]

[ It just sounds cool]

Moreover, I took note of some fun/random/interesting/confusing license plates all in which I found in the SAME parking lot in Springfield, Illinois: 

We parked Tellulah here in this lot in Springfield, Illinois so that we could visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Musuem. The museum and surrounding areas (which Dave remarks with great detail in previous post) were extremely thorough in documenting Lincoln's life; I don't think I will look at a penny the same ever again. 

[ Lincoln family portrait ]

[ Young Abe and I ]

[ Mcclellan, Grant and Dobkin ]

[ Dave is considering being Abe for Halloween ]

[ Mario at the old state Capitol building ]

[ At the library ]

[ Look what I found in Springfield! Perfect for lunch ]

Onwards, our next stop was in St. Louis where we finally made it to the Arch, also known as the "Gateway to the West."

[ Rockin' with the Dobkin's under the Arch ]

On the final stretch of today's treck, we witnessed a lovely sunset.

[ Missouri River ]

And some crazy clouds:

And then some even crazier clouds that broke into a severe storm as we approached Kansas City:

 

Dave insisted we eat at Arthur Bryants, known as being the worlds best Barbeque (another recommendation from ROAD FOOD).

 To be honest, I have high standards for BBQ since that is my Dad's forte in the cooking scene. To be even more honest, I was stuck in the backseat with a box of fresh fudge my Uncle and cousins gave me before the road trip, as well as pretzels and peanut butter crackers; thus, my appetite was not quite up for this big BBQ meal. Lame? I'm okay with it. I did have a bite of Mike's ribs; my Dad's are SO much better. 
We got settled in Kansas City on the later side, and it has been rather stormy so we are layin low until our next drive tomorrow morning; let's face it. It won't be at 5:00 AM, but a girl can only dream...