5 July 2017
Mike left for work at his usual time; Janie, although she's retired, is helping out on Wednesdays: "In the morning, it's Monday, at noon Humpday, and by 4 it's Friday!"
I got a somewhat earlier start than I have been, also, out the driveway around 8:30--I've still got to work at that if I want to get serious mileage in.
Up around the east side of Tulsa on US169 with the late morning commuters and into Kansas for my first fuel stop. The weather's being nice--there'd been intimations of possible rain, but those had disappeared overnight; it was a bit muggy, but not too hot--I was pretty happy.
Just past Greely I topped a rise, and at the start of the next one, traffic was stopped by a construction worker. So I did, and waited a few minutes--finally, a line of traffic came the other way, and when that cleared we took off. I didn't see any sign of construction, or any other reason for the stop; after a mile or so there was another truck parked on the other side of the road, with the same sort of worker next to it. No idea what they were doing.
Crossed into Missouri and skirted the southeast side of Kansas City into Warrensburg, where I'd identified a gas stop. But it was on the left side of the road--on the right was a Wal*Mart station, so I pulled in there, instead--except there were no handy restrooms. Well, my need wasn't dire, so I continued on up to I-70 and a handy rest area just before my exit at Concordia.
Up SR23 then, to US24, which finally had some curves, and off that onto SR11--also curvier, and with lots of hills. Fortunately, not lots of traffic, but I was paying close attention to stay away from the center-line when cresting them.
I'd identified a Quality Inn (near a Wal*Mart) as my destination in Kirksville, but she didn't have any rooms left, nor any explanation as to why...4th of July? But it's Wednesday... When I asked, she mentioned some other possibilities, then nicely called one, and I GPSed my way back through town to the Days Inn, standing proudly alone in the middle of nowhere. I walked into the atriumed lobby with visions of dollar signs dancing through my head.
"I'm afraid you're too pricey for me...?" "$89-ish" "AAA?" "Yes, $84-ish..." In the event, I didn't want to take my chances elsewhere, so I took it. Then drove back to that Wal*Mart for groceries, because the only food available was $9 pizza from the lobby bar.
For the price, I'm disappointed--no refrigerator or microwave (raw corn isn't that bad), and I had to schlep my stuff up to the second floor.
Motel: $95.28 (after removing the safe charge)
Food: $10.62
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