Hump Day

Day three of this journey traversed three states—from starting out in St. Louis, Illinois, to continuing across the entire state of Missouri, and ending up in Oklahoma City. Today’s car to truck ratio on the road was about 50/50, more balanced than yesterday, but the gruesome deer carnage on I-44 approached that of I-70, a gory truth I refrained from mentioning before.

In Joplin, Missouri we visited Grand Falls, a somewhat less than grand dam with an unusual and stunning stone shore, all conveniently located only a couple miles from the Interstate.

Dense cloud formations billowed above Missouri and Oklahoma, causing the long straight highway before me to shimmer for hours in the low and muted sun. Strong winds buffeted my car, also for hours. You know that song about Oklahoma? They weren’t kidding. To be honest, I found it quite tiring, being buffeted around all day. Fortunately, it was a short one, with only 7 1/2 hours or so of drive time.

The big windy sky was still blue at 4:30 when we arrived the hotel, but soon it grew luminous gold and pink. Which is how I wound up not at the love truck stop enterance at sunset.

PS I have decided to add another day to the trip, in order to keep my daily driving time at 7.5 hours max. I need to stop more often than anticipated, for the pets and to ground and refresh myself between 2-3 hour stints hauling ass on the highway. So, instead of being hump day, today is actually a halfway point. Three days down three to go. See you in New Mexico next! 🌵OBC🦉