SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Windy again today but not as pushy as the day before. It is hot in this part of the country and I’m still playing with the air conditioner, cutting it off during longer uphill climbs. There weren’t very many of those today, thankfully.
I am in the area where the storms did such terrible damage but I have seen very little evidence from the highway. There were some downed trees an hour of south of Joliet, but I saw nothing in the Joliet area. I asked a toll taker on the toll way if there were any highway problem areas due to storm damage and she told me the debris from the storm was off the highway within the same 24 hour period of the storm and that the real damage was done about four miles away from the highway.
Leaving Amarillo, I was impressed by the excellent signage the highways in that part of the country. Everything is clearly marked. The drivers were extraordinarily courteous in Texas. Even the big rig drivers seemed patient this morning. I crossed the border into Oklahoma and, following Mother’s rule that you shouldn’t say anything at all if you have nothing nice to say, I’ll say nothing.
By the time I reached Missouri, it was every man for himself and I felt as though I’d never left California.
One cool thing: The highway took me across the Sac and Fox Native American Reservation. I believe that is the nation which gave us the greatest athlete in history, Jim Thorpe. I thought about Thorpe and the idea came to me that even if time has changed some of the landscape, Thorpe saw this same land as a youngster. I was happy to see it today; it’s a pretty part of the world.
There is a Civil War battlefield a small distance from tonight’s hotel, but it is in the wrong direction for me to go see tomorrow. This is the Wilson’s Creek battlefield. I am not familiar with the battle and I have 600 miles or so to cover tomorrow with bad weather expected behind me, so I’ll have to skip it.
Okay, the stats. You’ll see that the very open country yesterday and today made for good mileage conditions.*
Mileage stats: Day 2
First stint, Flagstaff to Albuquerque: 294.1 miles, 8.5 gallons, about 34.6 mpg.
Second stint, Albuquerque to Amarillo: 263.4 miles, 7.0 gallons, about 37.6 mpg.
Stints combined: 35.9 mpg.
Total miles for the day: 557.5. Travel time: 10 hours, 30 minutes (roughly).
Mileage stats: Day 3 (first stint only)
First stint, Amarillo to Oklahoma City: 253.1 miles, 7.1 gallons, about 35.6 mpg.
Total for the trip (as of the OkC stop): 34.0 mpg
I did not buy gas when I arrived at the hotel tonight, so today’s second stint is not available yet.
Please note: The on board computer is the one in my brain. All stats subject to editorial review!
Thanks for reading!
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