A Festiva by any other name

May of us have nicknames for our cars and Festiva owners are no exception. Sometimes our cars are named by others, some names stick and others don't.

Here's a few of those names, and stories behind them, from friends in the Festiva community!

Ben in Kentucky:

It was my brother who named Frito. Shortly after acquiring the vehicle he was cleaning it out for me and found an empty bag of the Frito’s snacks in the interior. His brain connected that to the film “Idiocracy” in which one of the main characters names is Frito, and also features a white Festiva GL in a rather hilarious monster truck segment. I liked the name, particularly for its unique brevity, and for its similarity to the another white Festiva in the community called “Pedro”.

Frito: a very well travelled Festiva!

Gas prices in April 2020: a good news/bad news story.

The price for regular gas in Calgary is currently hovering around 60¢ per liter. It hasn't been that low since December of 2003!!!! The gas prices have been floating between $1.10 and 90¢ since June of 2019 so the drop is quite significant. That brings me to a couple good news/bad news scenarios.

It's April 12, 2020 and gas can be had for 58.9¢ per litre!!

Good news: gas is cheap. The bad news: there's nowhere to go! We are currently in a situation where provincial and national parks are closed, and we are required to stay home. One comment I've seen a couple of times asks the question "Is it just me or is anyone else getting three weeks to the gallon?"

Festiva Madness trip... day ten

Today's drive took us from Dandridge TN into Kentucky for a few miles then into Illinois before arriving at our destination just outside St Louis, Missouri.

We Canadians have something to learn about highway traffic from our neighbours to the south. This is a photo inside the rest area/welcome center at the Tennessee border...

E & I at the Tennesse Welcome center.

The Interstates are in generally good condition well marked exits and markers at every mile. Even when going through or around a town or city there seems to be good flow. The only time we experienced any real congestion was a few days ago south of Washington DC and between Williamsburg and Virginia Beach.

Interstate through Tennessee.

We decided to bypass Nashville as we were looking forward to a relaxing evening at our next stop. We went through Kentucky without any troubles passing through Paducah on our way into Illinois. If any of you have listened to Veggie Tales "Boyz in the Sink" you should recognize that name!

Next stop was Metropolis Illinois, home of the 40 foot Superman statue. Thanks to the Hills for recommending this stop! Although it was short it was a lot of fun.

E & B posing...

Clark Kent and B must have the same glasses supplier!

A super car for Superman?

The drive from Metropolis to St Louis was fairly uneventful but we did notice a few more semi's on the road along with a bit more traffic. On our way through St Louis to our hotel we crossed the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. The shots we took of the Gateway Arch didn't turn out too well as we weren't very close on our drive by.

Our hotel, the Super 8 in Troy MO turned out to be one of the top two on our trip so far! It's a fairly new building, has an indoor pool, free movies rentals, fairly quick computers and a fast internet connection. We headed over to Hardee's for supper. This was the last time that E could order off the children's menu as it was only for 12 and under!

E and his last "children's meal"!!!

After all going for a swim Sharon and I picked out a movie for B, E and I to watch and then headed out to the lobby to enjoy the complimentary coffee while I updated the blog and watched some HGTV on the lobby TV.

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 11!

Festiva Madness trip Day 5 photos

Here are a few photos from day 5 of our trip... enjoy!

Enroute to Fort Boonesborough. Love the Kentucky back roads.

Foggy arrival at the fort.

At the fort

Getting ready to head out.

The road up to Carter Caves State Park.

At the Carter Caves visitor center.

Inside the X Cave.

Another one inside!

Arriving in West Virginia.

View from the Maryland welcome center.

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 6 PHOTOS!

Festiva Madness trip Days 5, 6 & 7 overview.

Sorry for the delayed postings... haven't been able to get to a computer for a few days. This post will be short and sweet with photos to follow in the next day or two.

Day 5 was an awesome day. Started with a beautiful Kentucky backroad drive from the hotel to the Fort Boonesborough Museum. Well worth the visit.

Next stop was Carter Caves State Park. Took a tour through the X Cave. Our guide, Kenny, obviously had a passion and enthusiasm for caves and what's in them. Very informative.

The drive from the caves to Washington DC was harrowing to say the least. We had heavy rains, unfamiliar roads, poor lane markings, darkness and headlights aimed a little high due to extra loads in the car. We were eventually able to tuck in behind someone who seemed to know the road which helped a lot. Made it to our hotel safely.

Thanks again to the Hills for the use of the Tom Tom! Highly recommended for finding your way around in unfamiliar places.

Day 6 started out a bit rainy. Debated taking umbrellas and jackets for our day in DC but decided to leave them behind which turned out to be the right choice. Managed to make it to four museums... I'll regale you with details in a future post. Our hotel was literally a fifteen minute walk from the Air and Space Museum. Went to see Oklahoma, the musical, in the evening. Very well done... a little different than the movie. Sharon's ankle had really swollen up by the end of the day so we adjusted the plans for Day 7.

Day 7 started with driving Sharon, B, E, and I to the Library of Congress and then parking the car at Union Station. I walked back to meet them and went through the strictest security experienced during our stay in DC. Had to empty my pockets and even take off my belt! After a stop at Union Station for lunch we were able to walk to the Building Museum. This is the building in which the Presidential Inaugural Ball in held. We left DC around three-thirty which means rush hour! Thanks to Tom Tom and HOV lanes we were able to avoid the bulk of the congestion... probably saved at least half an hour so five in a Festiva paid off big time! Made it to Williamsburg in good time. Our hotel was,shall we say, disappointing but we essentially got what we paid for. If it had a redeeming feature it was only a five minute drive to our morning's destination.

Well I have to get off the lobby computer. I'll update again in a couple of days when we get to St. Louis.

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 5 PHOTOS!

Festiva Madness trip: Day 4

Another great day! Only a couple of hours in the car.
Spent most of the day touring the Creation Museum in Petersburg KY. The closest major center is Cincinnati and if you are anywhere close to there I would highly recommend a visit. We spent almost six hours at the museum and could probably have spent longer. Lots to see and the overall quality matches or exceeds the Royal Tyrell in Drumheller AB.

After our time there we drove down to Paris, the one in Kentucky not France! Drove about 20 miles off the interstate and it was worth it just for the drive! Beautiful two lane road with gorgeous homes and ranches on either side. We were expecting lots of white fence but most were either black or dark brown. Several older low stone fences too.

Bought gas for the lowest price so far on the trip... $3.229 a gallon ( 85.4 cents per litre!).

Fossil of a hungry fish.

Get ready to run!

Calgary Stampede here I come!

The men on a floating bridge.

This fossil is called the Burning Tree Mastodon... no not the guy on the right... the skeleton.

Sharon and me.... still smiling!

That is a banana tree... growing outside.. in Kentucky!

The camera timer works.

Ready for the next leg of the journey.

Rush hour traffic... just like Calgary's Deerfoot Trail except that it moves!

Beautiful Kentucky from the Interstate.

Even more beautiful Kentucky back road.

Welcome to Paris KY.

Doing the dishes.... hotel style.

Thank you to Gran and Grandad for the ice cream money! We hope it's OK that some of it didn't buy ice cream! Tomorrow brings a fort, a cave, three states, a district and another 800km (500 miles).

CLICK HERE FOR THE NEXT UPDATE.

Festiva Madness trip Day 3

Arrived safely in Erlanger, Kentucky just after 5:00 pm local time today. We left Madison WI at about 7:30 this morning, local time, which means we were on the road eight and a half hours. It felt as though we were driving down hill for most of the day!

The day started out pretty wet but cleared up as we went along. Nice, sunny and warm here in northern Kentucky.

Some "trip so far" stats for you:

- traveled just over 3300km / just under 2000 miles
- total travel time so far is about 32 hours
- traveled through two provinces and six states, four of those today
- cheapest gas so far has been $3.299 per gallon in Speedway Indiana. That works out to only 87.3 cents per liter

Looking forward to tomorrow as we'll only be driving for a couple of hours... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Here are a few photos from today's leg...

Heavy rain with the wipers going full speed!

Welcome to Illinois

Our first toll booth... cost us a dollar.

Entering Indiana

At the Indiana welcome center.

You can't go through Indianapolis and not stop at THE speedway!

Corn and soy... we saw an awful lot of corn.

For the environmentally conscious.. lots of windmills along the way

Across the mighty Ohio River

Almost missed the sign...

Heading for a dip in the  pool now. Tomorrow brings a day at the museum and only 2 hours of driving. Forgot to mention last night a big thank you to the Hills for the use of their TomTom GPS... wouldn't have found last night's hotel without it!

I hope you're enjoying the blog!

 Click here for day 4.