We we passed through parts of three states today. Leaving Omaha we crossed the Missouri river and immediately turned south through southwestern Iowa. As we drove we listened and sang along to "The Music Man" sound track. After less than an hour we hit Missouri; we went south to St. Jo, turned west and drove clear across the state to Hannibal on the Mississippi river.
Carla started off driving today; she did 4 hours and I did the last 2+.
We've tried to capture the "Welcome To" signs as we enter each state; either we missed Iowa's or they don't want to welcome us. But on the first overpass, just over the river, we saw some work on four sculptures. Here is one of them
After heading south, I found we were paralleling railroad tracks; looks like we've crossed over to BNSF territory.
If you know me, you know I love to eat pork. As we were driving down the road we saw this truck and for a few minutes and couldn't figure out what the heck it was carrying; I had the camera at the ready and snapped a few pics. Most show the whole truck, but I like this one because it is the best pig picture. I've never seen anything like this driving to work.
We've been driving for days, but apparently haven't gotten far from home! Carla figures some of the early pioneers on the Oregon trail just stopped here and called it Oregon so they could write back saying they made it!
of the Mississippi (and train tracks were a bonus). We walked through the historical Mark Twain part of town seeing the museum and Mark Twain's original home:
And here is a shot of part of downtown
Sorry for the picture quality; the pictures taken with the Panasonic Lumix camera are all very blue.
Then we got on a river boat cruise where we went up and down both the Missouri and Illinois sides of the river.
After the cruise we went swimming in the hotel pool then went to Lulubelle's for dinner. It was the best dinner yet. It is a little B&B that serves dinner to all comers at night. We had a pasta dinner for 2 - boiled shrimp, a great mixed great salad with a nice vinaigrette then grilled chicken and artichokes over some pasta. For dessert I had a piece of bourbon pecan pie.
Statistics
We hit 2,000 miles today when we went through Lentner, MO. Our stats for car time at this point shape up like this
- Miles: 2,046
- Total drive time: 37:08
- Average speed: 55. This has dropped dramatically since we hit Nebraska. At the end of Wyoming our average speed was 64.
- Average miles per gallon: 31
Tomorrow
We have a 2 hour drive to Springfield on tap for tomorrow. Carla has been pouring over the guide book figuring out which Lincoln sites to see. Then Thursday we take Route 66 up to Chicago, stopping in Heyworth, IL to visit my mom's cousin Barbara May.
