This entry is 3 months old. I started writing while we were in the U.S. but got sidetracked with family visits , road trips and shopping. Hence, this very late blog on our fall visit to America.

We left Davao on September 18. PAL was late.  And I panicked because we had a 12:30p.m. EVA Airways flight going to Chicago, the same day.

I am glad that our trip from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 wasn’t bad, at all. The taxi driver asked me if it’s okay for us to pay P45  expressway fee to avoid the traffic. So we said yes! Small price to pay when you are in a hurry.

I think I just relaxed when we were finally done with the Immigration process and were just waiting for the boarding time. It is always a hassle going through Manila when we travel. Hopefully, we will have direct flights from Davao in the future. And then it wouldn’t be so bad anymore.

Moving on, let me share with you my compilation of photos at the start of this trip. 🙂

While waiting , I took a picture of my coach back pack. It is big. And precisely the reason why I love it. I usually use cross body bag when traveling , but the space isn’t enough for all the “knick knacks” I carry.  So I find this perfect for what I need.

Finally, boarding time came. And we settled in our seats. A few minutes later, the flight attendants served our lunch. Okay, EVA Air’s food isn’t my favorite. But it is enough to fill an empty stomach. Thank God.

 

Here is an example of what’s offered when you fly economy class. 🙂  I like the boiled egg and there was rice. So yay! 🙂

Taipei soon. 🙂

The view before landing in Taiwan.

The Welcome Mural on the wall upon landing at Taiwan Taoyuan Airport.

The Hello Kitty waiting area. 🙂

Some photo op of course. ha ha

From here, we flew to Chicago this time. The trip is about 14 hours from Taipei. Yep, it is that long. So I just content myself with either watching a movie or sleeping. This time, I slept pretty good. We actually felt rested by the time we reached Chicago O’hare International Airport.

The line at the Immigration area was long. So it took awhile before we got stamped to get in. Yes, the common questions of “what are you doing” in the United States, etc. were asked again. Which I replied with family visit , road trip and shopping in those order.

From there , we picked up our luggage and took the shuttle bus going to the car rental place to pick up our rented vehicle. I always book through traveljigsaw.com, which I find cheaper than dealing directly with the rental agencies. The hubby just presented the prepaid voucher and voila. We got our rented car in a jiffy. We paid for a Jeep Patriot or similar. But seldom do we ever get the JEEP. What we got this time is a Nissan Rogue. We own Nissan vans back home. But this is our first time to ride in their SUV.  So far,  it hasn’t disappointed us. It’s a comfortable SUV with space for our luggage.

 

The weather was nice upon arrival. Coming from  a tropical country, 68’F (19’c) is heavenly.

My first picture that night. Coming out of the car rental office here. Proceeding to Interstate 57. Yes, we are going out of Chicago while traffic isn’t that bad yet.

Stopped next,  for Steak N’ Shake milkshakes. Don’t judge. I love them! 🙂 We haven’t had one for a year! ha ha

From here , we decided to book in a hotel about an hour away from Chicago. It is going to be a 10 hour drive to Mississippi. So we thought we will try to rest before proceeding to mommy’s place.

Check in at the hotel was a breeze. In no time at all, we rested in our room.

We woke up around 4 a.m. though . And since we could not go back to sleep, we went grocery shopping.

And drove towards Denny’s for breakfast.  The hubby’s choice was IHOP but he knew I had to eat rice, so Denny’s it was…

This is what I love about America, you can shop and eat,  24 hours a day. 🙂

I ordered Steak with Pilaf rice.  While his consisted of pancakes, bacon , egg and a hash brown.

Look at the steak above. Does it not look delicious! 🙂 It had been  hours since I ate rice. So I was hungry.

After breakfast, we prepared for check out. And started early for our road trip.

Illinois is a pretty state.

Look at the corn field below. I love its color with the red barn.

Careful driving in Illinois. If you hit a worker on the road, you get a $10,000.00 dollars fine and 14 years of jail time. Scary huh.

I love America’s interstate. It’s like a work of art. Too bad fall wasn’t visible yet when we arrived.

Missouri. The temperature went up to 90’f (30’c) by the time we reached here. It felt like we were back in Davao. ha ha

The bush below looked like a bottle. lol

Cotton fields. 🙂

Sun ray. 🙂

We stopped at a rest area, somewhere in Missouri.

The drawings on the posts refer to the seismic activities that hit them on 1811 and 1812. It supposedly affected 600,000 sq. km to 2,500,000 sq kms of land. Which caused  Sand Blows, River Bank Failures, Landslides, and Sunken Land.

That must have been scary huh!

We just reached the State of Arkansas. 🙂

This truck reminded me of the series Ozark.

From wikipedia -The Ozarks, also referred to as the Ozark Mountains and Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portion of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, extending from Interstate 40 in Arkansas to the suburbs of St. Louis.

Yay, Nashville finally. 🙂

The Mississippi River.

Memphis,  Tennessee.

Traffic in Memphis.

Glad to get out of the city.

This is before reaching our final destination. Taken at Natchez Trace, on Mississippi side.

Thank God for the safe travels.  It has been an awesome trip again. I still have so many articles to write and photos to share but I will just do it slowly since I am back at work. 🙂

Thank you once again for reading my blog.

 

 

 

Lea C. Walker

http://www.davaoproperties.com