Day 4: Danville IL

Who set the alarm? I mean really...we are on vacation! At 6:06 am, the alarm went off. For those of you not familiar...we are in Central Time Zone, making it actually 5:06 am for my body's clock! I woke up and reached over in the dark banging on every button and it kept going off and going off....
Finally, I found the button.
Mike thinks we need to go ahead and set the clock for a 4 am alarm for the next folks staying here...I guess he thought it was funny and would make a nice practical joke.
It was three minutes later and honkers were flying over. Who needs roosters when you have geese???
Hmmm, this is panning out to be a very interesting day already!!!
Up and ready to go down for our continental breakfast, unsure of what this meal will be like. It was actually very pleasantly nice.
I had a cup of green tea and nothing else. Nothing looked too appealing. I decided on a granola bar in the room. But the tea was great!
We then got ready and headed over to Grandpa's house for a short visit this morning.
While we were there, storms began to blow in. I saw some hail on the porch and thought we should move up under the big oak tree to protect the car a bit. It rained some but never got worse. As we were leaving we were going to tour Danville a bit. Only to run smack dab into a torrential downpour with gusting winds in excess of 65 mph.
I am from Florida, we have Hurricanes. But this...this....this scared the pants off me! Limbs were falling, garbage cans were spewed across the streets and there were even garbage bags being blown(must be garbage day in Danville)out into the streets. I kept my panicky thoughts to myself...but I sure was glad to be back in the hotel!
Later, after the worst of it had passed we decided to ride down to Eugene, IN to have lunch at the Covered Bridge Restaurant. We followed the GPS on a back road that gave me that "off the beaten path" feel for sure. As a matter of fact, it made me wonder if perhaps we should have stayed ON the path! hahaha
Unfortunately, we arrived to see the cutest covered bridge and an adorable little restaurant with a sign that said...Sorry, closed no power.
Hmmm, bummer. Michael and I took a little tour of some back roads around the area looking for farms of his relatives now deceased. We found acres and acres and miles and miles of cornfields! But never the elusive farm.
Heading into Covington, IN, Michael's hometown. I could not have ever been any other place that reminded me of my hometown. Loved every bit of it. Felt so sorry for Mike as he looked down his street, which once boasted majestic trees up one end and down the other, with horror. The state has come in and cut them all down as part of a widening project on a road that does not need widened. The town is in an uproar over this!!!
Come to find out, Aunt Kim works at a school with a teacher who now lives in Michael's childhood home! Neat! I loved the tour of the town!
We debated having lunch in Covington at the Maple Street Diner or The BeefHouse. The beefhouse won out. Jay was a very good boy and ate sunflower seeds, raisins, red jello, and a famed beefhouse roll with some strawberry jam on it. He was not interested in the meal. Michael and I both got the special. Ribs, two sides, and a trip to the salad bar. It was some of the very best ribs I have ever had! Delicious!!!
It was raining the entire outing, and has since cleared up a bit to show the sun. However, as I type this at 5:49 Central Time, wink wink, it appears to be ready to rain again.
Jay fell asleep about a half hour ago after an afternoon of swimming with Michael. His body tells him it is almost 630 so that worked out fine and he should sleep through the night!
This works out fabulously as Michael is heading over to Gpa's to watch the cardinals play tonight. I opted out to stay back with the baby so Mike can have some good visit time with charlie and grandpa.
Watching the news a bit ago, I see where all the rain caused a flash flood in Louisville! Cars were floating away and people were maneuvering around in boats. They even shut down the Highway I-65. We were right there yesterday!!!!!!
I knew waking up this morning it was going to be an odd day and it has been interesting to say the least!
Tomorrow looks like another pass at the Covered Bridge as I want to get some pictures without the rain, taking a picture of Jay standing by the corn along the roadside that has to be at least 7-8 feet tall, then perhaps to play at the playground in Covington where Mike grew up.