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| Indiana |
On the road again! Sounds like a good title for a country
and western song, doesn’t it.
The Tour de Tucson began with our usual checking and double
checking to make sure we don’t forget anything we will need during our
three-month hiatus from Michigan. A few years ago we started a checklist, which
has grown almost every year and now includes 25 items. Some of the newer ones
are a notation for me not to forget my hearing aids and then chores like “pull
the plug on the well.”
Even with the checklist last year we managed to forget to
bring Joan’s set of trailer keys so each year we add new items to cover stuff
we have forgotten before.
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| Illinois (still cloudy, but snow is gone) |
As luck would have it there was a news story on the national
news last night the revived a constant discussion that Joan and I have. For
long time followers of this blog you will recall Joan, in a moment of delusion,
spotted a cow running on a freeway in Canada. I never saw this cow, but Joan
insists it was there and so every time, and I do mean every time we are on a
road trip she reminds me to look out for cows. It’s best to humor her on this
in case she ever brings it up to you.
So last night there was a story out of Phoenix (a place we
will drive through on Tuesday) about three bulls running loose in a residential
neighborhood. Plus there was video, so I couldn’t just laugh it off. So, of
course today I was reminded any time that she spotted something with four legs
to be careful.
As we passed through Missouri we did pass a couple deer
grazing along the side of the freeway outside any fences.
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| St. Louis (no clouds or snow) |
Unlike previous years, the temperature when we left today
was 35 degrees which is remarkably warm considering some of the miserable
weather we have departed in. One year the first five hours were marked by a
long string of ice freeways and spun out cars and trucks. Not today, the
weather was warm (for Michigan) and traffic was very light even through
metropolitan areas like Indianapolis and St. Louis.
The highest temperature today was a 55 as we passed through
St. Louis.
We listened to 60s on 6 all day on our XM radio and they had
a marathon presentation of the most popular instrumental hits from 1956 to
1972. One of the songs was “Rockin
Rebels” which apparently was co-written by Tommy Shannon, a former Buffalo disc
jockey that Joan listened to as a teenager. Apparently Shannon wrote lyrics to
this song that was used as his theme song on his Western New York radio
program. Unfortunately for me, Joan still remembers all the lyrics which she
sang to me.
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| Joan taming the "Beast" |
But we did have a pretty big event today as Joan volunteered
to drive for a couple hours giving me a nice rest spell, which I used to send
texts to people telling them to pray for me because Joan was driving. But she
handled the Beast quite well and I may get her to do that again so I can rest
for a couple hours during these long drive days.
Here’s a tip for you.
There’s an expression that says “I’ve driven this route so many times I
could do this with my eyes closed.” Apparently that’s just hyperbole because I
tried that literally through a part of the drive through Indianapolis and it
only works for a second or two at a time. If you do it any longer it seems to
cause other drivers to panic and honk at you.
On our way through Missouri we passed a billboard
advertising “Uranus Fudge Factory.” Which, while very funny, seems like a really
bad name for a candy business. Later we passed the business and it was in fact
a candy store. Joan reminded me that when she taught 8th grade
science that the Planet Uranus always caused loud laughter, mostly among the
boy students in her class, so we’re guessing the fudge business was named by an
8th grader. If you want us to buy you some let us know and we’ll try
and pick some up for you when we pass through next year.
We stayed in a Quality Inn in Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri and
were one of only three scheduled guests. The clerk literally took breakfast
orders from us because so few people were staying in the hotel. She did warn us
that because it was New Year’s Eve we might end up getting a few late night revelers
who decide to stay here rather than risk driving home.
After checking in we had dinner at Colton’s Steakhouse which
is just a few blocks from the hotel. I was really craving some Uranus fudge,
but Joan said no.
Amarillo tomorrow.
Time out: 6:57 a.m. (EST)
Time in: 4:42 p.m. (CST)
Mileage out: 60631
Mileage in: 61338
(That’s 707 miles, which is way more than I usually do but I have my
reasons this year)
