You have to love a place where cats roam around the restaurant and gift shop. I am just north of Chattanooga Tennessee at Jim Olivers Smokehouse Restaurant Trading Post and Hotel. This place is just classic.
I am pretty wiped out from the last two days of driving. Yesterday was 600 miles, all in the rain, the last 90 miles in a torrential downpour from what turned out to be a cold front. Today was almost 700 miles, all in the rain except for the last 100 miles. Getting through Nashville at rush hour was a nightmare, taking over an hour. I almost missed my turn in St Louis to get on I-64 East. The directions said that the right two lanes exited to I-64, but at the last second, I saw that only the right lane was part of the exit. Trapped in the next lane over, I jerked the steering wheel to the right, making a sudden sharp hard turn, crossing the white lines separating the exit from the main road, and narrowly missing a concrete barrier with less than a second to spare.
Reminds me of an old joke. A man ends up in the hospital for several weeks, and a pretty nurse takes a liking to him, and they become good friends. The other nurses tease the nurse who befriended the man because “Shorty” is tattooed on his penis. The nurse smiles at the other nurses and says, “Yes, but when he gets excited, the tattoo says, Shorty’s Bar and Grill, Chattanooga Tennessee.”