As we come up on the Thanksgiving holiday, I thought this would be an appropriate time to post these notes that I recently found. They were from six years ago this November as I made my trek to my new home in California.
I rolled out of Oak Park about 4pm on Saturday. Quick stop for dinner at McDonald’s and brief encounter with John Mahoney. Nice guy. Traffic was fine most of the way but the weather turned crappy as I got below Joliet. It rained steadily until Springfield and I decided to call it a night about 9:30. Checked into a nice Motel 6 (yes, the remodeled ones are pretty nice).
Got back on the highway about 9:50 Sunday morning to try to beat the weather. Forecast for extreme winds, which I could deal with. Tornadoes, not so much.
Crossed Mississippi at 11 am. Dry so far, but I can see clouds forming to the south and west. Drive faster.
Coming up on Eureka, MO about 30 miles west of St. Louis and the skies opened up. I freaked out. It was a total white out with the extreme rain and 40 mph winds. Fortunately, I was less than a half mile from the exit so I pull off and ducked into a shopping center parking lot. While trying to snag a wifi connection outside of Panera Bread, I began hearing sirens and saw the employees come running out of the store to secure everything that wasn’t tied down. Evidently there was a tornado waring in the immediate area. Within minutes the skies broke and I hopped back on I-44.
Gassed up in Pacific, MO about noon. I should have known better than try to use gas pump 13. It wouldn’t work right so I move to a different pump. This one did work, but the winds moved the huge heavy trash can into my car. Not once, but twice. Thank goodness I was there when it moved the second time, because otherwise it would have crushed the attendant who was changing the bag on the can at the next set of pumps.
Grabbed some lunch at 2 pm near Ft. Leonard Wood. Not a cloud in the sky, but wickedly windy.
Made Oklahoma about 5 pm and gassed up again about 6 pm. Didn’t think about the fact that the tollway has some unattended gates. No change so I ran the gate. Will pay it later if I get a notice in the mail. Next stop Tulsa…
Arrived Tulsa about 7:30. Found a nice Best Western near the airport. Clean, comfortable and very reasonably priced. Too bad I felt like crap. Went to bed about 8:30.
Had a nice chat with Dan Potter this morning, unfortunately he was unavailable for breakfast or lunch so I headed out about 10 am. Cruised through downtown Tulsa, while its clean and sort of interesting it was a ghost town. Given that it was 11 am in the heart of the city and there was almost no one on the street. It was odd.
Headed west again on I-44. Next stop Oklahoma City. Had a really nice talk with Ed Myers while driving between Tulsa and OKC. Great to hear from him again.
Having lunch right now just outside of Oklahoma City. I love Cracker Barrel. It was a great change of pace from my steady stream of McDonald’s. Bit sure if there were fewer calories, but definitely more relaxed and better tasting food. It was also nice to not be eating while driving. Had meatloaf with a side of dumplings and hash-brown casserole. Southern comfort food. Yum.
Made Texas line about 5pm. Gassed up in Groom. Should have stopped in Oklahoma where it was less than $3, but I needed it so I made it work. In western Oklahoma and eastern Texas I made several detours off the interstate to travel through the towns that made up the old Route 66. Its really, really sad to see places like Shamrock, McClean and Groom. Most are nothing more than shells.
Texas speed limit at 75 rocks. Next stop Amarillo…
I really really need an iPhone so that I can do this stuff easily when I travel. MIssed a spectacular sunset tonight because I didn’t have camera handy and I was wailing along at about 80 mph. Did I mention how much I love the 75 mph speed limit on I-40.
Made it to the Red Roof Inn about 7pm and have been working on updates to Facebook. Catch y’all tomorrow with more updates as I can.