Day 2383

Friday April 12th 2024

Day 4 of our trek north

Dear Journal:

This is how my morning started, sitting in my recliner, Mister Sam on my lap and this view through the windshield. Welcome to day four of our trek north, this location is a “Boondockers’ Welcome” spot. Located two miles north of Interstate I-44 near Chandler Oklahoma.

Today our route will take is into the “Show Me” State (Missouri for those who don’t know), we will remain on Interstate I-44 as we move in a northeast direction. Oklahoma is the only portion of this route that is a toll road and we will pay close to $25 in total by the time we transverse the State.

But first some morning news to see what is happening out there today, of course a cup of fresh perked coffee with a splash of Irish blessing helps with the news. It is so lovely here that we are not in a great rush to get on the road, I have a Cracker Barrel picked out for tonight’s destination at Springfield MO. and the golf coverage doesn’t start till three o’clock so no rush at all. With some extra time Miss Laurie prepares a grilled cheese omelet for breakfast and we make into a second cup of coffee territory. Have I mentioned what a great boondocking spot this is?

We are preparing to roll down the road by ten o’clock and as we hook up the towed and creep down the gravel road, this I suspect will be a stay that will stay that we will remember for some time to come. In fact the only disappointment was that we never got to meet our hosts, on of the features of the Boondockers’ Welcome program that we enjoy, as most are travelers same as us, who appreciate a safe place to stay as well. As we enter the toll road and head east toward Tulsa at least the toll road is reasonably well maintained and while busy seems to have good traffic flow. The Tulsa area is busier and the roadway is still under construction as it has been for years, but I know where the ugly spots are and drive accordingly.

The second half of the toll road dumps us at the State line, and at this point we are a little more than an hour to our destination. No fuel stop today, but we will be buying fuel in Missouri because it is the State with the best fuel prices on our whole trip. Texas and Oklahoma are similar price but Missouri wins the price war hands down, now if we were further south that would be a different story.

Well we made it to our Cracker Barrel and this is what we found. The sign is easy enough to read for those who can read “RV & BUS PARKING ONLY” and none of these vehicles seem to fit either description. So instead of parking in an RV spot we parked on the outside parking area and ended up taking up five car parking spots. But the good news is that we have saved a few people from having to walk an extra fifty feet to the restaurant.

The spot we chose was not level, but it wasn’t bad enough for us to move after watching the golf, and other than having some difficulty trying to hook up and exit the lot in the morning it is all good. As I’m laying out tomorrows route, destination, and fuel stop that I realize that unintentionally we will be staying in a different State every night. And tomorrow is a fuel day and I also realize that there is a new fuel stop with better prices than I had originally planned, it is a little closer than I had planned but it should all work out.

The night was reasonably quiet, lets face it most of the Cracker Barrels are located just yards off of the Interstate highways so some road noise is to be expected. The bonus is that they make a great breakfast, and it means that we have no dishes to cleanup before a travel day.

Day 4 Stats: 246 miles (395 kilometers) solar harvest 274 amp / hours, camping cost $0.00 ($21.00 for breakfast) No fuel purchase today.