Home

Whenever we get to the end of our trip, we are always anxious to "get the show on the road" and get home.  This morning we were up early to eat breakfast and "get the show on the road."   Our final motel breakfast was good.  I was able to get honey for my biscuit.  None of the other breakfasts had honey.  Anyway, we were on the road by 8:00 a.m.    It would be a short day beause we figured it was less than 350 miles to home and we had no stops scheduled.  That should get us home by 2:00 p.m.

We drove I-44 to St. Louis.  A lot of I-44 follows the old, famous Route 66.  We stopped at a rest area Welcome Center as we crossed into Missouri and found this sign.  It pointed out the facilities by using a old motel sign like you would have seen on Route 66.

This picture is my iconic way to show that we are entering Illinois.  At this point we were on I-255 North.

Nothing says St. Louis like the Arch.  I don't know if I have ever posted the fact that in 1965-66 I lived in The Evangeline which was a place operated by the Salvation Army. It's purpose was to rent rooms for single young women.  I attended a business college in downtown St. Louis and the Evangeline was where they roomed the young ladies attending their college.  My room was on the 14th floor and the window in my room looked directly at the Arch.  In 1963-65, the Arch was being constructed.  I was able to watch the the final section of the Arch be put into place in Octobe, 1965.  It was a great experience.

We ate a late lunch at Pizza Ranch in Springfield.  We love to eat there.  It was the less expensive meal we had on this trip.  The Pizza Ranch has four food bars:  salad; hot food like fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, pasta etc.; pizza bar; and dessert bar.  The food is very good.  Carol says the chicken is the best.  They offer free meals to veterans on Veterans Day and dads on Father's Day so we always eat here on those days.

This trip was planned to celebrate our 59th annivesary which was September 4.  It was also an introduction to a new way for us to take trips.  We plan to take the motorhome to Turkey Run in October but put it on the market next Spring.  From now on, our trips will be by car and shorter in length.  We missed sitting outside and enjoying God's world but life is filled with changes and this is just another change for us.  We don't plan to stop traveling but change the way we travel.  In fact, I am already thinking about where we can go next fall.  In January, I will begin the planning that I usually do for our trips.  It will be closer to home and with the car.  We have been traveling on trips two to nine weeks long since 1973 when we bought our first tent and went to the Ozarks and Vicksberg National Battlefield.  The travel bug bit us on that trip and with the exception of a year or two, we have taken a trip every year.  There is so much to see in this country.  We have seen a lot of it but there is still more to see.

Oklahoma to Missouri

 I guess we were anxious to get on the road because we were in the car driving out of the parking lot at 7:15 a.m.  Traffic was light so we settled in driving east on I-40.  Actually, it was new territory for us as we have never been on this part of I-40.

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We could see trees through the rainy mist.

When I took this picture, I though the rain would clear up.

We turned off I-40 onto Highway 69.  It was four-laned but because it is not an interstate, we went through towns.  We didn't mind that.  It was interesting seeing the businesses.  One town had at least five antique stores.  Another had Rocklahoma.  For about five miles before we saw road signs that said through traffic should stay in the left lane and allow event traffic use the right lane.  From where we were, it didn't look like there was an event of any kind.  Then we saw traffic coming from this area and saw the sign "Rocklahoma."  I was able to find out about it from the internet.  It is a three-day rock festival.  Listed on the line-up were Shinedown, Marilyn Manson, Alice Cooper, and 10-15 other groups I had never heard of.  Apparently, people bring their campers and camp the three days listening to the groups perform.  

We drove through a lot of rain but we finally got to Missouri.  

We have motel reservations in Springfield because we didn't want to drive late tonight to get home from here.  Tomorrow will be an easy driving day.  We decided that we would eat at Lambert's 
Cafe.  It has been awhile since we have eaten here.  We didn't expect the crowd waiting to get in.  It was one o'clock and we couldn't check into the motel we decided we would wait.  We were told it would be a one-hour wait and it was but it was worth it.  The food is always good and plentiful.  Carol had gizzards and I had chicken strips.  We both brought food back to the motel.

A new Buc-ees has opened on I-44 near the highway that goes to Branson.  We decided to check it out.  It was packed.  

I saw this dirty car in the parking lot at Buc-ees.

  

We had no plans for today other than to stay in Springfield and eat at Lambert's.  We did enjoy the drive across I-40.  Oklahoma is called the Indian Nation State" and as we traveled along the interstate, it was easy to see why.  Signs let us know when we left one Indian Reservation and entered another.  We saw signs for the Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee, Citizen Potawatomi, Sac, Fox, and Seminole just to name a few.  I looked up info on some of the tribes and found that most of them were forced to leave their homeland and relocate to the Oklahoma territory.  The Cherokee's "Trail of Tears" is the most famous but several of the others endured similar situations.  

We think we are only 300 miles from Decatur so it will be an easy drive.