Travel Status, Salina, Kansas, 8/14/2013

Hello everyone,

I think from the schedule I am suppose to be spending the night somewhere near Kansas City, Missouri. Well I technically am but Lady Blue got wound up and overshot the landing spot and I wound up in Salina, Kansas which is considerable west of Kansas City.

I left West Chester at 4:30 this morning. It was a beautiful clear morning with clear skies full of beautiful stars. The temperature was a cool 52 degrees. I had breakfast in Terre Haute, Indiana at Bob Evans. About 9:00 A. M. I stopped at the Silver Lake Rest Area in Illinois and took a nice walk around the rest stop. This location is about 40 miles east of St Louis, MO. Across Indiana and Illinois I drove by mile after mile of beautiful, healthy and growing corn, soy beans and grain. It is amazing that in mid August to see everything so pretty and green. West of St Louis there was a accident on I-70 which had things backed up and I was delayed roughly 30 minutes. It took 4 miles of stop and then crawling stop and go traffic before the traffic started to move. I never did see where the accident was. It is interesting how this sort of thing messes up the traffic. For the next 80 or 90 miles the traffic that had been backed up was still trying to get moving at the speed limit you know the old story of everyone jocking for position and the always ever present person who wants to drive in the left lane below the speed the traffic is flowing. It has been years since I have traveled I-70 from St. Louis to Kansas City and I have never seen the traffic so terrific. Many trucks and in most places I could not come close to the speed limit. At  noon I ate lunch in Columbia, Missouri at Cracker Barrel and had a large salad. Another testimony to the traffic was the fact that the Cracker Barrel was full and I waited 5 minutes for a table. I along with several others witnessed and comical situation at a nearby table. There were two college age couples at that table and the one young lady was in full speed talking which she continued to do for at least 15 minutes without anyone else at the table getting in a single word. From my tables I could only catch a few words but she obviously had comments to make on a wide range of topic and that she was doing. Others sitting near were obvious amused because one lady said to me " isn't she ever going to shut up "? I don't know because she was still going when I left the only difference was she was talking with her mouth full of food. As I approached the Kansas City area I started to recognize places and recall events. Especially when I went by The Kansas City Royal's baseball stadium. They was a game in progress at the time. I have many many fond memories of Jan and I attending games there. We enjoyed that so much. Again the drive through downtown on the freeway all looked familiar to me. As the day wore on the temperature gradually rose and when I stopped for the night it was 84 degrees. I am sorry to say my eating plan took a hit tonight with a 2 cheese burger mean from McDonald's.

Well it has been a long day and I am starting to fade. About tomorrow I am  not going to make any prediction except to say I hope to spend the night south and west of Denver.

It is good to be back on the road again and to be able to remind you that God Loves you and so do I.

Grandpa Bill