I don't know what you want to "Show Me..."

Rolla, MO

400 miles into the trip, 6 hours 20 minutes total travel time


The Regal waits while the traveller hits the road.

I can't honestly believe the amount of hesitation I felt before getting in the truck. I was scared. But. "Get in the damn truck!" I transferred my stuff into the truck, and tried to take a picture- only to find out I had no juice in the batteries. Figures :)

Onward! The first part of the trip took seemingly a very long time as it got dark almost immediately after the start, the first mental waypoint was Bloomington, IL. I breezed by and saw a traffic jam not unlike one in Chicago- at least 10 miles long, all lanes full, people being rude. I was fortunate that wasn't in my direction.

After that, Jenny called and that helped speed up the trip quite a bit. Before I knew it, I was past Springfield, and I was on to St. Louis. I could see the arch about 6 miles away, then -BLAM- I was past St. Louis in the suburbs.

I noticed Missouri liked to cut in the sides of mountains to put roads through the 'pristine' countryside. Granted, it's dark, but egads there's a lot of hills in eastern MO. Had to stop for gas, and did so in Eureka, MO. Yikes- I took a wrong turn.

Now. Imagine. I'm in a moving truck. I turn on the wrong street, then I'm in a residential neighborhood, in the dark, and there's big hills, then I don't know where to turn and nowhere to turn around, and... a big sign that says NO TRUCKS but still nowhere to turn around. The road is now a ledge, 1 1/2 lanes wide. Guard rail, dark drop to tree-impailing death. And if that isn't enough... a one lane bridge, and a sign that says- you guessed it- NO TRUCKS!!! Eventually, I turned left and Eureka!! found the gas stations and was all okay. The town is aptly named.

The hills grew in intensity, and the truck strained to handle them for some time. But eventually, I roll on into Rolla. It's a low key place, the motels line the road like a beach community. I think it was a stop along Route 66. In fact, I think I am following the spirit of old Route 66 nearly the entire way. Guess I should read The Grapes of Wrath again.

No internet access, so I'm writing this at night and will post... tomorrow night? Hold on a minute or so, I need to plan the route.

The logical end to the route is a town called Tucumcari, NM... but I'd like to stop somewhere with more than 1,000 people. So Amarillo it is.