M(text entries)
12:07 pm – “Elvis has left the building” (My vacation starts, albeit 7 minutes late.)
12:20 pm – After setting up the van, I roll down I-88, I-355, and I-55 southwest bound for Springfield, Illinois and points west. Starting odometer reading: 60964 miles.
1:20 pm– Dwight, Illinois – along Interstate 55 south at Illinois 17, exit 217. Off to my west, I see clouds, probably a building cumulus field. I’m cruising along at 75 miles an hour, but there are enough people who want to go 85 miles an hour that I’m feeling a little crowded. Off to my east, dual rotor copter (perhaps military?) Is slowly moving northward, paralleling the interstate.
1:57 pm – Passing Chenoa, Illinois, roughly halfway between Chicago and spring. Starting to hear rumbles of dissatisfaction from my tummy. Even though the van’s tank is still above half full. I think my stomach is much less than half full. *insert gurgling noise*
2:45pm – Stopped at pilot fuel center in Bloomington Illinois. Main odometer reads 61089. Trip odometer 525.4 miles (probably the distance since two fillups ago). About 125 miles into my trip now.
A fFew minutes down the road I had to make a sudden stop and laptop, Wi-Fi hotspot, console for the Vantage you always flying. Boy, was I pissed off!! No damage, except my nervous system. My current laptop has its center of gravity in a very different place than . than it’s predecessor, so I will have to adjust how are secure it to keep it from flying around.
3:17 PM – I’m south of Bloomington, Illinois. In a construction zone. Almost sent all my gear flying again. It seems people here either drive 85 miles an hour or 5 miles an hour and nothing in between. Yoga thing that’s 85 is the temperature inside the van. The sun is really beating down now, in the dark dashboard in the pool three are really heating thing up. Turned on air conditioning in the car for my first time this year. If he is terrific. To add to the confusion we had a left-wing close for about 10 feet, and now we have a right lane closed just after the left lane is open. I have no idea with the road crews are trying to do, but traffic is moving along at 10 miles an hour. Thank you, road gang! *snerk*
3:30 PM – I finally emerged from the construction zone around exit 133 (Wink). For about 12 miles I was in a construction zone in a white dust storm at the same time.
4:22 PM – I just passed 90th Meridian sign, a quarter of the way around the world from my buddy, Owen. I hardly ever think about how big out planet is. I look at the sky at night and think about how small our world is.
4:37 PM – The western sky is now getting shades of purple in it. I have entered the eastern third of the severe thunderstorm watch that extends southwest to eastern Kansas. Missouri(I have noticed that the voice recognition is doing very poorly now, due to environmental noise in the van.) One moment your every word perfectly, another moment it will record my words gibberish. I also have noticed that my GPS unit is not recognized by three, so I cannot see my physician on the GR level III great artist radar display. I will have to park for compatible software to decode the form for proprietary GPS strings.
4: 57 PM – The temperature in the van is down to about 76°F, thanks to alittle air-conditioning and abundant cloud cover. Above the cliffs on each side of the roadway, there are hawks (with a 2 foot wingspan each) hunting for dinner. Speaking of dinner, it must be around suppertime, as I have the road pretty much to myself. Taking a look the radar, it’s like most of the really juicy storms are over in North East Kansas, too far away for me to catch before dark. With a little walk, I might get a good lightning show the storms over Northeast Missouri, which I’m approaching now. I should cross the Mrs. Mississippi River within the next half hour
5:12 PM – About to cross the Mississippi River. The last sign said it was 9 miles to Hannibal, and I just reached by I-72/US-36 split. It also just started raining sky is a deeper will color to my Northwest, But nothing severe is imminent.
??:?? PM – I grab a few shots of the fading storms to my northwest.
??:?? PM – I think God is looking for me! I see his flashlight shining down on the road ahead of me!
??:?? PM: Stopped in Macon, Missouri, selecting The Apple Basket [Restaurant] for dinner. I chatted with the local folks. The main topic was The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry, as the walls of the place has Mayberry posters all over the walls. I order the steak, which comes with the well-prepared 10-item salad bar, I side of veggies (I chose the pickled beets — I love ’em!), and a beverage (water for me).
The steak is a thin-cut steak, but thoroughly enjoyable. YUM!
11:01 PM – Arrived in Kearney, MO, after using the Orbitz hotel site to find the best price on a room. Gotta rack up those Orbucks! (LOL). Once I’m in bed, I run through the evening buzz list. While moving the bags to the room earlier, I realized that the metal plate that I stick the antennas to (when they’re inside) the van is missing. The last place I remember seeing it was at work. It is conceivable I left it on the ground i.e. in the parking lot at work. I will have to send an email to the operation center to see if someone can go out there and look. How embarrassing!
I will have to find some kind of substitute at Home Depot nearby. My first Saturday morning errand for tomorrow, perhaps.
Day’s receipts (except gasoline):
Miscellaneous photos:
Missouri, the “Show Me (Cheap Gasoline)” State:
_summary_
(I’ll add the day’s summary later)
