Homeward Bound
When we woke up in Sioux Falls (after a day spent in Badlands National Park), we checked the weather for our path, knowing that recent tornadoes had left a wake of devastation in the Omaha area. It appeared that the entire route that separated us from Kentucky was at risk for tornadoes late that evening, meaning we would either need to stay put in South Dakota for the foreseeable future or go ahead and make the drive home.
After some deliberation, it appeared that tornadoes in the midwest would ultimately alter our plans for the end of our westward adventure, just like they had altered our plans at the beginning of this trip. We made some calls and were able to stay with our dear friends in the western part of the state, shortening our drive to 12 hours instead of 14.5.
(Plus if we are honest, they had been keeping Phil’s sourdough starter (& prized possession) alive. The starter’s name is Napoleon because it has conquered many kitchens when Phil has given away sourdough discard. Do we get our we-were-millenials-in-the-pandemic ID cards now?)
We were determined to make the most of our drive and decided to stop for coffee and breakfast in Omaha. Neither of us had ever visited Nebraska before and we wanted to enjoy the early morning in our 42nd state before finishing out our journey. We enjoyed delicious Peanut Butter Nutella au laits from Hardy Coffee Co. and an incredible biscuit breakfast sandwich from Archetype Coffee. Our trip to Omaha may have been cut short, but the food sure was tasty.
While we knew our stoppage time (shoutout to my fellow soccer fans!) was limited, there was one place that we HAD to stop for the sake of the health of our marriage…
We were getting T-Ravs in St. Louis.
Phil grew up in St. Louis until he was in 3rd grade and as any 3rd grader (& anybody with taste!) would enjoy, he loved toasted ravioli. It is simply not an option in our household to drive through St. Louis and not get toasted ravioli.
Since we were making this trek home on a Sunday, most of the restaurants on The Hill (iykyk) were closed and we were already hungry, we ended up grabbing toasted raviolis from Fratelli’s in St. Charles. Marriage pro-tip: If toasted ravioli means as much to you as it does to Phil, 1 order is not enough. You need two.
We happily ate our individual portions of toasted ravioli and were on our way.
Most of the drive home was uneventful, save for the 30 minutes where we thought we were trapped in a horror movie flanked with tiny fires in the woods on BOTH sides of the road. After a little Googling (& much panic), we realized these were oil drums and not ritualistic fires on both sides of the Indiana/Illinois border.
We made it back to Bowling Green just before midnight & settled in after a long road trip.
Just in time to rest up & head out on our next adventure. Only this time…we are headed North!
