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.