Day 14

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

0615 Wake up.

0635 Wake the kids up. They are very sleepy and don’t want to get up. I remind them that they can sleep in the car. Unfortunately, I cannot.

0650 All our bags have been loaded into the car. We go back inside for a quick breakfast.

0710 Leave the hotel. It is very foggy this morning.

0715 Stop for gas. $2.25/gallon. Find the post office on the GPS.

0735 We are on the turnpike now. We couldn’t find the post office or the historic marker for Route 66 in town. Oh well. Now there is a sign that says “Do not drive into smoke.” Okay… does that apply to fog also because it is very foggy out here today!

0740 We can see our hotel. Guess we just went in a big circle!

0741 Speed limit 75?!? Alrighty then – let’s get going!

0743 There is a commercial on the radio for dental services. $35 for a tooth extraction. $350 for dentures. $1,800 for an implant. Those prices sound low to me. I wonder what Grandma Duffield would think.

0752 We just passed the third sign telling us not to drive into smoke. Which makes me wonder… smoke must be common out here or else there wouldn’t be posted signs warning us. What would be the cause? Forest fires? Or maybe ranchers burning the fields.

0756 I’m really hung up on this smoke thing. What am I supposed to do if there is smoke? Stop on the highway and wait for it to clear? Drive in reverse to the last exit? Will there be police or firefighters out directing traffic?

0759 The signs advertising the attactions of each town are listed in a bullet list format. I just realized that each item is marked with a small outline of Oklahoma. And Oklahoma looks like a hand with a pointing finger. I wonder if that is intentional.

0802 Are those spiderwebs? Or some sort of grass? There is some sort of plant all along the roadway and it looks like the top of the grass has a dew-covered spiderweb on it. On all of the grasses. There are so many that I’m thinking they couldn’t possibly be spiderwebs. Could they? They really look like webs. Hmm.

0813 Missouri

0906 Call Grandma with our ETA. She has already started dinner preps.

0913 Wow those cows are really close to the highway. I don’t see a fence. Oh wait – those aren’t cows. Those are round bales of hay. Oops! Maybe I should get more sleep before driving – I’m seeing things!

0922 Traffic jam. Just two miles before my exit. Why couldn’t the traffic jam up after my exit instead? Once we get through, I still have no idea what caused it.

0940 Small Town USA vs. big cities - Are the people outside of the major cities more American than those living in cities? They certainly seem to have a greater sense of community. This is a big question and I don’t know the answer.

1034 I have been listening to the local news on the radio for the last half hour. And now it’s the Trading Post show. It’s like Craig’s List meets the Classified Ads over the phone broadcast on the radio. People call in with what they have to sell or what they want to buy and give their phone number. One after another.

1039 – Screech! Hold on kids! There’s a post office so we can mail our postcards!

1040 – Sonic for lunch.

1102 – Checking the map. Leaving Sonic.

1118 – Crossing the Lake of the Ozarks again. It’s a big lake and it seems to have lots of inlets with lots of water/beach access. It reminds me of going to the beach and Long Beach Island. Definitely a vacation getaway spot. And the main drag is very busy for a Tuesday morning. I can’t imagine what it would be like on the weekends.

12:02 p.m. Jefferson City, MO. Crossing the Missouri River and we can see the top of the Capitol Building. I don’t think I would have been able to remember Jefferson City as the capital of Missouri if you had asked me before.

12:10 p.m. Current stock prices are on the radio. I’m not sure if I understand it correctly but I think they are saying that a cow is approximately $100 and a pig is $25.

12:43 p.m. Stop in Mexico, MO for gas. $2.35/gallon.

1:03 p.m. Passing Darby’s Gym.

1:07 p.m. We are now on a two-lane highway with cornfields on each side. We are in the Midwest now!

1:44 p.m. See a park with a playground so decide to pull over and let the kids play for a few minutes. We are in Center, MO.

2:31 p.m. Crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois.

2:59 p.m. Fairgrounds with a carnival. I think we saw the same fairgrounds with a carnival last year too.

3:44 p.m. Am I lost? Or is the GPS lost? I’m on a new-looking 4 lane divided highway and didn’t see any signs telling me to turn. The GPS shows me driving off-road. So I’m going to just keep going and see what happens.

3:48 p.m. Ah, there we are. Back on the road. Guess that means the GPS was lost!

4:03 p.m. Arrive at Grandma’s house.

We enjoyed a delicious beef and noodle dinner then the kids wanted to go to the park to play on the see-saw. And finally, bed time. I’m tired and hopefully can sleep in tomorrow.