This morning, I woke up in Chattanooga, TN after a wonderful night’s sleep in a Travelodge. I’ll admit that I was pleasantly surprised. I booked the room through Expedia’s new deals feature where you see the price and the star level, but don’t see the hotel until after you book it. I was having buyer’s regret once I started reading the reviews of the Travelodge.
Fortunately, the staff was very friendly, the room was clean and the bed was quite comfortable. That’s all I ask for $44.
After leaving Chattanooga, we headed to music city where we drove right through without stopping. We took a brief look to our left as we passed downtown, toward the finish of the Tennessee Ragnar Relay, though we couldn’t actually see the park because it was behind a bunch of buildings. Cut us some slack, we’ll be taking this route on foot come November. Speaking of which, if you’d like to join our Ragnar Relay team for the run through the beautiful fall foliage from Chattanooga to Nashville, you can do so here. The price goes up on July 15th. If you’ve never done a Ragnar Relay before, it’s totally fun. We’re not ultra competitive. We just like everyone to do their best on their own legs and have a whole lot of fun getting from point A to point B in the moving party that is an overnight cross country running relay.
But I digress. After blowing a fuse and losing our radio, then replacing said fuse in Kentucky and regaining our radio, we ultimately arrived in the town where I spent the first 22 years of my life: St. Louis, MO. Although I feel very much like St. Petersburg is my hometown now, there’s always a good bit of nostalgia that creeps in as I cross the Mississippi river and drive past my old stomping grounds: St. Louis University, St. Louis University High School, Forest Park, the Science Center, the Galleria and just the stretch of Interstate 64 where I spent so much time in traffic during my high school years. Lots of things have changed, but so many things are still the same.
One thing’s for sure: it’s as hot and humid here as it is in Florida. Alice and I are going to get up early for a 6 mile run before Raffi and I head up to Chicago tomorrow.