4 States, A Mountain Range, and Connections
In Texas we crossed the Chisholm Trail before we landed in Claremore, Oklahoma last night. Day 4 had us traveling through four states: Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois and we’ve landed in Indiana.
The Chisholm Trail saw my Texas ranching relations driving cattle up to Kansas City, while Claremore is where my Grandmother’s family settled and some moved forward to California. We passed through Joplin, where Rowdy has relations who experienced first hand the destructive tornado a few years back – literally having their roof and more blown away.
Looking up at the scenery is rewarding and humbling. Route 66 continues to entertain and illicit my raised-eyebrow curiosity with the mega-sized juxtapositions of church presence and adult stores. Then there’s the many billboards that lead up to, maybe you guessed, THE Uranus Fudge Factory And General Store.
The Ozark crossing was more than I expected in the range of climbs and traffic. Some nail-biter moments with much faster traffic bearing down on us, and holding the rig and trailer in line on the curves.
Some have asked how Tara is doing. She’s having a blast! Sure she’s excited and a bit anxious about where we are going. She knows which truck I’m in and Rowdy says she gets upset when they aren’t following me – like at rest stop parking areas. Inside the car, it looks a bit like this…
I was certain I chose a route around St. Louis, but I think the map pulled an executive decision and took us through city’s old highway interchanges. We caught glimpses of the arch (cool) but the traffic situation is no joke.
We pulled off at the first rest area past the city to regroup. And thanks to a very thoughtful call from Mom, we decided to scale back today’s goal of reaching Indianapolis and changed plans for the night to Terra Haute.
Here’s a snap of the wall-to-wall trucks in the side mirror behind me. Keep in mind the trailer I’m pulling and Rowdy and Tara behind that. You can’t see them, but they are back there. Zoom in on the mirror if you can.
We notice throughout the entire drive, the amount of trucks is astounding. I don’t remember it like this. It leaves the native creatures no chance in what is their world. The massacre has me thinking that we must do better and that there has to be a better way. It’s not at all sustainable. While I cringed and missed a little turtle stretching to be tall and look out as it walked toward traffic, I knew it had only a moment left in this world.
Near Joplin, we passed storm chaser vehicles parked in a roadside parking lot. I hoped they’d stay put!
A new favorite stop on this trip…
Key Learnings:
The truth is now, not what was. We have got to find a way to do better for the world around us, and very quickly.
