Day 2-The Longest Day

Determined to leave ourselves a modest drive by comparison tomorrow, we were on the road by 7:03 after getting roughly 4 hours sleep. We set a goal of 15 hours on the road and we felt good and eager to press on. This ended up an unexciting day of travel which is ok. Weather was great. Not much traffic except a small back up due to a really bad tractor trailer accident near Springfield Missouri.. No mishaps for us to report. 

Some may find the flat farmland of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois in to the rolling hills of Missouri and cattle ranches of Oklahoma boring but I find the heartland beautiful and full of interesting things to see. Driving through Indiana reminds me of the John Mellencamp song Pink Houses and the lyric." He's got an interstate running through his front yard you know he thinks he's got it so good ". There are homes  built literally right on Rte 70. You would think there would be some kind of natural barrier like trees or a wall of some kind but there isn't. I can't imaging getting up in the morning and going out to the front porch and you are 15 feet from cars whizzing by at 75 mph. Or the sound of truckers all night that must be non stop because this is a major interstate. But if they are happy who am I, and who is John Melllencsmp to judge. 

We followed the old Rte 66 route ( " if your goin to St Louis, Joplin Miissouri, Oklahoma City is mighty pretty")! and there are still the strange Americana sites like "the worlds largest golf tee" and we will be driving by the Cadillac Ranch tomorrow. But a large candy store in central Missouri really made us do a double take. It was called "Uranus Fudge Factory".  Let me say that again. Uranus....Fudge....Factory. I am just happy we live in a free country where a person can give their business a ridiculous and disgusting name and nobody can stop them.Go USA!  They do get points for name recognition I guess. 

As the day went on , we both agreed a hotel and a hot shower would do us good. We will be doing our share of roughing it by camping 9 days straight so I think we can indulge ourselves. A soft bed and a couple beers sounds good after a long day of driving.