Driving Cross Country

The Mississippi River as we drove into St.Louis last week.

This bridge, which carries Interstate 270 between Missouri and Illinois,
is the site of quite a big construction project. This view is looking north.

Just past the bridge.

On the way home, we again crossed the Mississippi River,
driving from Missouri into Illinois. This view is looking south.

We drove across Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio on the way to and from St.Louis last week. Our habit is to look for state-maintained rest stops along the road, which are convenient, clean, and quick -- and sometimes even offer a free paper map! Unfortunately, on our way back to Michigan the logical rest stops in Illinois and Indiana were all closed. So we did the next-best thing: we stopped at two McDonalds along the way. Maybe surprisingly, another very good place to stop if there's one at the freeway exit is a Walgreens! They always have a clean restroom, and sell snack food if we need it. And there seems to be no pressure to make a purchase if you don't want to. A Walgreen's was our third stop.

The two McD's where we stopped were interestingly decorated.

The entryway at the McDonald's in Casey, Illinois,
had birds painted on the wall.

This looks like a brick wall with a leaning bicycle, but it's a mural.

More birds on the wall.

Another stop, in Indiana -- the McDonald's decor was quite different.
The hamburger and fries, by the way, were exactly as expected. 

Eating at McDonalds or another burger chain for us is limited to the times when we are driving long distances — we virtually never eat there otherwise. An article in the New York Times just this morning points out how we are quite unusual: most Americans eat fast food much more often than we do. The article is inspired by the 20th anniversary of the film “Supersize Me” by Morgan Spurlock, who ate nothing but McDonald’s for one month, and ate every item on the menu at least once. It wasn’t good for his health!

“Supersize Me” was wildly popular but had no effect on fast food sales at all. The article explains:

“… two decades later, not only is McDonald’s bigger than ever, with nearly 42,000 global locations, but fast food in general has boomed. There are now some 40 chains with more than 500 locations in the United States. Fast food is the second-largest private employment sector in the country, after hospitals, and 36 percent of Americans — about 84 million people — eat fast food on any given day. The three major appeals of fast food remain intact: It’s cheap, it’s convenient and people like the way it tastes.”

 

Other than McDonalds… 

Because today is the day to share murals with Sami at the blog ColorfulWorld -- here's one more.
We found this mural in St.Louis while driving towards the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

On almost every trip to St.Louis we drive by the house where I grew up.
It was built in 1912 by an architect who lived there, and I think of it as a work of art.
I took this photo last week, but it looks exactly the way I remember it.

Blog post and all photos © 2024 mae sander