We are driving.  Driving far. Headed to South Dakota to see the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills and more. And that is just the beginning of our latest road trip.

A trip like this means some serious time behind the wheel and hats off to my husband for doing all the driving.  I navigate and try to keep things interesting and entertaining.  One tool I keep in my travel bag is the app for RoadsideAmerica.com.  It is loaded with quirky, oddball, funny and just plain strange sights and points of interest along the highways and byways of the USA.

Bean Station. The Cherokees, Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett once fought, lived and traveled through this valley.

After leaving North Carolina just before 8 AM, we hit Tennessee for some $2 gas and a Waffle House breakfast.  We were all set for a beautiful scenic drive on Highway 25E past Cherokee Lake, through the tunnel at Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky.

For the “Justified” fans out there, this is Raylan country, rural and a stone’s throw from the real life town of Harlan portrayed on the series. We breezed through without any problems from the Dixie Mafia or backwoods crime bosses.

Like the sign says, “Birth of a Legend.”

Next stop, Corbin, Kentucky, home of the original KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken for the uninitiated). We visited the small museum located in a reproduction of the first store (and on the National Register of Historic Places), as well as the new statue of the Colonel now gracing the center of town.  No, we did not eat chicken (but we could have). I won’t give away any of the Colonel’s secrets for those anticipating a visit of their own.

Even when you don’t have time to make the crazy stops on the RoadsideAmerica app, it’s so much fun to read about them. I loved the story about America’s first train robbers who are buried in Seymour, Indiana, the largest sausage (in Kentucky and not real), and the history behind the Civil War-era Pigeon Roost Massacre site.

Four hundred sixty miles later, we reached our destination – Bloomington, Indiana.

Indiana University.

The birthplace of my Father and the campus of Indiana University, where Dad got his undergrad degree. I had never been here and it was nice to find the home he lived in from 1927 – 1931, still survives.

Phi Mu house; landscaping in progress.

The pretty campus was nice and quiet this time of year, and I was amazed at the size and quantity of sorority and fraternity houses; IU must hold some sort of a Greek-life record.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s adventures.

At the end of the road: Great food and Guinness at the Irish Lion in downtown Bloomington. Open since 1982, in a building from 1882.