Tour de Tucson is in full swing

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.

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.

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.

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 8^th 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 8^th 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)