A Saturday Drive, Detouring Our Way Through the Midwest
Driving until 1am the evening before meant not alot to see. I didn’t mind so much because I’ve made the drive to Nashville and through KY before. It’s pretty, but nothing new to me. Missing out on seeing what south IL looked like by day, not a problem either. I…
Driving until 1am the evening before meant not alot to see. I didn’t mind so much because I’ve made the drive to Nashville and through KY before. It’s pretty, but nothing new to me. Missing out on seeing what south IL looked like by day, not a problem either. I was most thankful to have a place to lay my head and for Lance to recharge for the long journey still ahead of us.
Aside from a little rain and several big cities worth of Saturday morning traffic, the morning ride was uneventful. Why am I still amused that Kansas City is primarily in Missouri, not Kansas? I was also amused that MO had so many wineries. I didn’t see any signs for ‘free wine-tasting’, so I wasn’t able to try any (nor did we stop to buy any). Missouri was rather ho-hum. St. Louis was unimpressive too, I guess cause I am not a fan of big cities, traffic and slumish areas. Much to my delight, we found a Cracker Barrel and had a decent meal.
We were making great time UNTIL the highway we seem to own (little or no traffic) came to an abrupt hault. While pointing out points of interest to Lance, I saw on the map a body of water called ‘Big Lake’. I was joking at how unoriginal the name was, but the lake seemed big, indeed. Lance asks, something to the effect of “should there be houses and barns IN the lake?” CRUD, the reason north I29 was so vacant was because of the upcoming DETOUR because of an early summer flood on the Missouri River.
Man what a detour; bumpy, winding, narrow 2-lane roads driven by old folks in no hurry to get anywhere. The positive in all this was seeing some of the coolest wind turbine farms (I call them farms, not sure what they call them). I meant to research what/where/why and who the heck is paying for all that. After that impressive display we were treated to the coolest looking cornfields in SE IA. While Iowa is my home state, I didn’t travel in it much. Maaan, it was absolutely gorgeous. The fields were rolling hills and the land was tiered- so the water wouldn’t just wash off the fields. It was quite pretty (and really surprising).
Riding in a truck, you have a different travel experience. Having to stop at Truck Stops was actually quite pleasant. The ladies restrooms aren’t nearly as crowded. They have great coffee, and getting in and out was alot easier. One gas station chain that amused me was Kum & Go, that’s just wrong ;-). MY biggest complaint about the truck was the seat belts. Lance fussed at the ‘governor’ only allowing him to go 55mph down hill. I fussed at the seatbelt-governor, not allowing me to move forward.
Another thing that surprised me was how many different times we crossed over the Missouri River. Very pretty, indeed. I hope I got some photos. By the end of our trip, I had my lap full: cell phone camera, regular camera and mini video camera. This whole trip was quite memorable. I feel VERY blessed to have been able to make it here safely and funnly (yeah, I know, that’s not a word, but the dictionary is not the boss of me). I’m certain there is an App on the iPhone for truckers to: a) avoid detours b) find decent truck stops c) get some good eats. Our GPS got quite annoyed with us for putting her in recalculating mode, often.
We rolled into Mitchell, SD, late. Once again, no room in the Hampton. Thankfully the Comfort Inn next door had one more room, just for us! Perfect, we’ll take it! Even got the ‘after-midnight’ discount. Thank You, Lord!
On tap for Sunday: South Dakota, Wyoming, plus dinner with JUDY & JIMMY and, finally, a glass of WINE!
