Judy woke me up at 6:07 as she left for work. How tired I was! I wanted to sleep until 6:30am but then AJ called, thinking that I was already on the road. That was the original plan...
Instead, I walked into the Crooked Creek Lodge and sat with Judy and later her friend Juanita joined us. Juanita knew Judy's father. She ended up buying my breakfast and thanked me for my service. And as I finally left to start my drive I could hear Judy brag to her customers "She was one of my soldiers in Baghdad!"
Oh, how I hated leaving!
I made a quick drive to the "oldest swinging bridge in Kansas (a ped bridge three blocks north of downtown) and got back on US Hwy 160, driving the low Flint Hills as I entered Missouri by 10:45am.
There was no big welcome to the Show Me State sign as I crossed the stateline. The yellow sunflower signs were gone and the roads seemed more in need of repair.
From 160 I was briefly on the "Frontier History Trail" before heading toward Nevada, MO, driving a gravel road for a few miles because I missed the Hwy54 turn-off. I stopped briefly to carry a turtle to the other side of the road and resumed my drive northeasterly on Hwy54. The first visible roadkill was an armadillo on its spine, the first armadillo I've seen on this trip.
The Ozark foothills started rollong again east of Wheatward, and so did traffic. Parts of the eastbound lane of Hwy54 were shut down for repaving and again I detoured on gravel roads.
I made it to Camdenton and Lake of the Ozarks in the early afternoon. The area didn't impress me as all I saw were messy construction sites and highrise lakefront homes overlooking the water. Cheap billboards blocked the scenery in parts. The entire resort area looked overdeveloped and congested, like Gatlinburg.
We made it to Jefferson City by 2:30pm. Sadie and I walked along the Capital, on the shaded part of the street. She seemed tired and what worried me more was her lack of appetite; she didn't touch her food. Was she car sick?
An hour later I was in Fulton where AJ lives and by 4pm we were at his country home with three acres and several horses. Sadie came nose-to-nose with a colt, snacked on horseshit and tried to induce the horses in some play. She seemed to like her temporary abode, only AJ's deaf boxer Brie seemed to make her nervous. Brie wanted to play, too but came across as too hyper for Sadie.
Because of the dogs we drove in separate cars to The Old Barn, AJ's favorite hang-out restaurant and bar. "Your money is not valid here" he said, so I ordered the cheeseburger with fries and a Wheatland Boulevard beer from KC.
My new experience tonight was playing Washers with AJ and Carey's friends. It's a yard game where you throw a washer into a PVC bucket from a distance. The bucket is three points, the box the bucket is in is one point and 21 points is a game. I had never heard of that game before!I learned how to throw a nice arc but the others were more consistent with their points. After the first game we sat back and visited. Sadie even let children play with her.
We were at the Old Barn for several hours before returning to the country home and talking about other classmates of ours, our military careers and places we've been to since graduating from high school.
It was another great night with an old friend. Even Sadie calmed down and slept next to me by the couch. Tomorrow I plan on getting up after AJ, join him for breakfast tomorrow before resuming my final stretch of the trip to Cahokia Indian Mounds east of St Louis before arriving in Crown Point, IN tomorrow night. That will end my first leg of the roadtrip and I get to clean out the van, air out the doggie smell and relax for a few days before starting my second leg of the trip.
Instead, I walked into the Crooked Creek Lodge and sat with Judy and later her friend Juanita joined us. Juanita knew Judy's father. She ended up buying my breakfast and thanked me for my service. And as I finally left to start my drive I could hear Judy brag to her customers "She was one of my soldiers in Baghdad!"
Oh, how I hated leaving!
I made a quick drive to the "oldest swinging bridge in Kansas (a ped bridge three blocks north of downtown) and got back on US Hwy 160, driving the low Flint Hills as I entered Missouri by 10:45am.
There was no big welcome to the Show Me State sign as I crossed the stateline. The yellow sunflower signs were gone and the roads seemed more in need of repair.
From 160 I was briefly on the "Frontier History Trail" before heading toward Nevada, MO, driving a gravel road for a few miles because I missed the Hwy54 turn-off. I stopped briefly to carry a turtle to the other side of the road and resumed my drive northeasterly on Hwy54. The first visible roadkill was an armadillo on its spine, the first armadillo I've seen on this trip.
The Ozark foothills started rollong again east of Wheatward, and so did traffic. Parts of the eastbound lane of Hwy54 were shut down for repaving and again I detoured on gravel roads.
I made it to Camdenton and Lake of the Ozarks in the early afternoon. The area didn't impress me as all I saw were messy construction sites and highrise lakefront homes overlooking the water. Cheap billboards blocked the scenery in parts. The entire resort area looked overdeveloped and congested, like Gatlinburg.
We made it to Jefferson City by 2:30pm. Sadie and I walked along the Capital, on the shaded part of the street. She seemed tired and what worried me more was her lack of appetite; she didn't touch her food. Was she car sick?
An hour later I was in Fulton where AJ lives and by 4pm we were at his country home with three acres and several horses. Sadie came nose-to-nose with a colt, snacked on horseshit and tried to induce the horses in some play. She seemed to like her temporary abode, only AJ's deaf boxer Brie seemed to make her nervous. Brie wanted to play, too but came across as too hyper for Sadie.
Because of the dogs we drove in separate cars to The Old Barn, AJ's favorite hang-out restaurant and bar. "Your money is not valid here" he said, so I ordered the cheeseburger with fries and a Wheatland Boulevard beer from KC.
My new experience tonight was playing Washers with AJ and Carey's friends. It's a yard game where you throw a washer into a PVC bucket from a distance. The bucket is three points, the box the bucket is in is one point and 21 points is a game. I had never heard of that game before!I learned how to throw a nice arc but the others were more consistent with their points. After the first game we sat back and visited. Sadie even let children play with her.
We were at the Old Barn for several hours before returning to the country home and talking about other classmates of ours, our military careers and places we've been to since graduating from high school.
It was another great night with an old friend. Even Sadie calmed down and slept next to me by the couch. Tomorrow I plan on getting up after AJ, join him for breakfast tomorrow before resuming my final stretch of the trip to Cahokia Indian Mounds east of St Louis before arriving in Crown Point, IN tomorrow night. That will end my first leg of the roadtrip and I get to clean out the van, air out the doggie smell and relax for a few days before starting my second leg of the trip.
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