Missouri = Misery

We had a long drive today & covered a lot of ground. In 12 hours, we made it through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois (but only a tiny bit through the bottom) & some of Missouri. The drive didn't seem to go as quickly as yesterday's...maybe it's b/c the excitement of the first day on the road has worn off. Or, maybe it's b/c Missouri sucks! If anyone reading this is from Missouri, I apologize, but you should really find a new state in which to live. We spent most of our time here trying to get out, but we had to stop for the night in Kansas City due to heavy rain. So tonight, we're staying at a La Quinta inn which, according to John is Spanish for 'next to Denny's'. Now, you may be saying, "Well, if you made it to Kansas City, then you made it out of Missouri.", but no! Kansas City is IN Missouri. What the hell? Who named that one?

As mentioned previously, there's not much going on in Missouri, but I did make note of 2 things today. First, there's a town called Knob Noster, which just made me laugh so much I had to write it down. I wonder if people who live in Knob Noster get laughed at when they order address labels? And, second, apparently, there's some type of problem going on with men in Missouri b/c there were numerous billboards advertising vasectomy reversals. If anyone would like the number, just give me a call.

During the rainstorm we had to drive through tonight, we found out that the windshield wipers on the truck don't work in heavy downpours. Thanks for the safe truck U-Haul! We'll be having words.

Earlier today when we made one of our pit stops for gas, which seems to keep creeping up closer to $3.00/gallon, much to our dismay (the truck has a 60-gallon tank...you do the math), we met a pretty cool guy on a motorcycle (not a'biker' kind of guy, just a laid-back dude) who was going the opposite way. He had just helped his friend move out to L.A. & was riding back to Illinois. Can you imagine making such a long trip on a bike?! I couldn't, especially in the rain. He was very nice & wished us well on the rest of our trip. Being on the road is cool that way b/c pretty much everyone is just really nice. It's fun to strike up conversations & learn about what other people are up to. Later on, I found myself wondering how far he made it today.

So far, it doesn't feel weird to have left our house in Florida in the morning & not returned the same night, as I had thought it might a few days before we left. Actually, I feel more like I'm shedding my Florida mentality with every mile. I think that's a good thing.

Later,
PortlandGirl