Tag: adventure

Day 2769

The (Show Me) State

So, why is Missouri called the “Show Me” State?

Well I asked Chat GPT and this is what it found: Missouri is known as the “Show-Me State,” a nickname that reflects the state’s reputation for skepticism and a demand for evidence before belief. While the exact origin of the phrase is uncertain but more research points to a number of possibilities but the one I liked the best and was the most widely recognized story attributes the phrase to U.S. Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver. In 1899, during a naval banquet in Philadelphia, Vandiver is reported to have said: “I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.”

Happy Saturday morning. Way back in Texas we topped off Thunder’s fuel tank at the Buc-ee’s in Amarillo, and I thought I would try and make it all the way to the Buc-ee’s in Springfield Missouri some 550 miles (885 kilometers) away. And this morning we are only 80 miles (129 kilometers) away from finishing that challenge as the fuel gauge is reading just under the 1/2 mark, but I have had a change of plan because when I checked the fuel price on Gas Buddy at the Springfield Buc-ee’s it is $2.99 per gallon and with my Open Roads plan I can purchase fuel for $2.77 a gallon so I will not be buying my diesel at Buc-ee’s this time.

5:20 am was wakeup time this morning, and Mister Sam was much happier to see me this morning, so after his treats I was allowed the best part of a hour of lap time then he went to bed and I perked some coffee, breakfast was sausage patties and fried eggs with a slice of sour dough toast and some salsa on the side, and yes my coffee had a wee blessing of the Irish. Our departure time today is 9 am at the lates, as today will be our longest day yet with hopefully a break in the middle plus we need to fuel up today as well.

Today’s destination is a Cracker Barrel in Arnold Missouri, we have never been to this destination before as it is a few miles away from our normal route, but is very close to a very dear friend that we are going to catch up with. The only issue is that it will be more than four hours of drive time, it is the weekend at a restaurant so we need to arrive after lunch but before dinner to get an overnight spot. The climate has changed drastically, we both felt the change in humidity while travelling yesterday and the amount of standing water is such a change from the desert. Our overnight at the Missouri welcome center was reasonably quiet, this is a newer rest area where the RV parking is separated from the trucks making it quieter being away from refrigerated trucks that run all night long.

On the road before nine and we are going to stop for fuel in about 80 miles (128 kilometers) and it doesn’t take long to see why we normally try to avoid travel on the weekends, traffic seem heavy and the cars are either speeding or holding traffic up, we make it to Springfield MO and pull into the Buc-ee’s to top off Ruby’s fuel tank and for Miss Laurie to grab some supplies, its just after 10 am and the place is jammed but we sneak out the back and roll down the road to a TA truck stop where I top off Thunders fuel tank it took 69.747 Gallons (264 liters) the pump price was $3.329 for a total before discount of $232.19. Between the two stops we lost 45 minuets, so our ETA is now 1:54 pm, if all goes well we should have time for a lunch break.

At 12:30 we pull into a rest area for a bit of a break and some lunch, Miss Laurie made a wrap with some cold cuts and peppers, not enough to make us sleepy but enough of a break for Mister Sam as well as us before the last two hour push. We had a couple of sprinkles on the windshield before lunch and a check of the weather map shows we could hit some rain near our destination. And we did hit some rain, in fact some very heavy rain for the last fifteen minuets, if there had been a suitable spot we would have stopped and waited it out, but there wasn’t and we couldn’t so we continued on. At our destination there were no other RV’s but of course there was a couple of vehicles parked in the RV/Bus spots, who knows why, just ignorance or stupidity I guess, but I got to detach Ruby in the rain as we are too long all hooked up. I’m sure this will be a tough spot to get out of tomorrow (Sunday) morning, but that my friends is an issue for tomorrow.

Today’s numbers: 286.4 miles (460.9 kilometers), 5.02 hours of run time, consumed 36.2 gallons (137 liters), averaged 56 mph (90 km/hr), and fuel mileage of 7.9 mpg (27.77 liters / 100 km) the solar will not be one of our better days but we our batteries were at 96% capacity when we stopped at 3:00 pm.

It has been a cold wet evening, the rain is suppose to stop overnight, and we have a breakfast get together scheduled for eight o’clock tomorrow morning with someone very special, luckily it here at the Cracker Barrel.

Day 2767

May 1st & still eastward bound

Good morning; it’s 5:45 CDST and I’m wide awake and we had a quiet night for a rest stop location, but we have always enjoyed this location and have had good luck at finding a spot near the back of the site. I have to admit this is our worst planned trip as I’m just making it up as we roll along and I’m scouring “ALLSTAYS” for an overnight spot approximately 200 miles ahead of us and I also have to check the weather reports because we are entering the area prone to high winds and heavy storms with hail and the like, plus we start passing through older poorly laid our cities, that are notorious for having terrible roads and huge rush hours.

After some research I have picked another Walmart at El Reno OK approximately 220 miles east on I-40 which means that we should be able to get todays driving day under four hours which is easier on the driver as well as Mister Sam who is not a good traveler. The spot in El Reno should have us just outside of Oklahoma City which is a rough road city with lots of idiot drivers and too far to try to get past today. The coach is facing east and at nearly 7 am it is light outside but no sign of the sun yet, and for the first time in five months there are no mountains in site, just the rolling hills of grazing land, and while it is great to see green grass after months in the desert it won’t be till later today or tomorrow before we get back to real trees with height and hopefully leaves.

Our overnight temperature was 47ºF (8ºC) and the forecast high for Amarillo is 73ºF (23ºC) we are travelling between storms as we move east with similar temperatures expected in the Oklahoma City area, there could be some rain on Friday but we can hope to avoid it. Todays drive with be rolling farmland with no great elevation changes, Texas has a large quantity of wind turbines that dot the horizon which a nice to view it also means it is a wind prone area, we will pass through Weatherford OK today the area of the windshield incident last fall. As the sun peaks above the horizon the solar controllers are coming to life but we are likely an hour away from adding any power to the batteries.

A week from today we will be back in Ontario as I look at Google Maps and break this trek out into 200 mile chunks with good roads and no issues we will cross the Mississippi River this weekend and then we are just a hop, skip and a jump away. We are planning some visits with friends as we continue along our trek home. This morning we watched some Canadian Television as the Starlink is working well even in a higher population area the speed in is excess of 200 Mbps. Breakfast this morning is a fried cheese omelet, salsa, and sour dough toast, along with a wee blessing of the Irish in our fresh perked coffee. Mister Sam seems to be controlling our departure time with a bit of a nap on Miss Laurie’s lap, but we manage to get him corralled and were on the road by 9:30.

With the cruise set at 64 mph (101 kmph) we are rolling along well, Texas seems to take very good care of I-40 through the state and while we have experienced a number of road work areas they are well marked and are a mile or two at best. Mister Sam has voiced his wishes just as we were preparing to cross the state line into Oklahoma and we have pulled into a rest area where he seems to be catching a “CAT NAP” while I update the blog.

As we cross into Oklahoma we are only a couple of hours from our end destination, trees are becoming more plentiful, I mean big majestic trees that block your view of the horizon and provide real shade. It is amazing how great the green grass, the majestic trees and the smell of a fresh cut lawn after being in Arizona. Traffic on I-40 has been light although most of the traffic is semis, the 75 mph (120 km/h) has us in the right lane and with the gentle rolling hills with the cruise on has us shifting between 5th & 6th gear, although the speed only varies between 61 and 66 mph and on some grades will have the transmission hunting (switching back and forth between gears) so on those grades I shift into 5th gear where it will maintain the 64 mph the engine speed is so slight 1390 rpm in sixth and 1570 rpm in fifth that the fuel efficiency is minimal at the state line we have descended another 800 feet (243 meters).

2:15 and we are off of the highway and tucked along the outside row of our Walmart destination parking lot. we are right beside I-40 so there is lots of traffic noise but just for an overnight stop it will be perfect. We managed to keep the drive time under four hours today sneaking in at 3:46, the 200 miles (321 kilometers) per day seems to be the right number of miles to cover, enough to see progress but not enough to be too hard on any of the participants.

Dinner this evening was barbequed pork chop with a salad, because pulling the barbeque out and firing it up in a Walmart parking lot is kind of frowned on a few days before a long road trip we barbeque a number of items that can be warmed up in the microwave on any travel day. Our secret is any thing that we barbeque for reheating I keep a little on the rare side so the re-heat doesn’t dry out the meat.

So now I need to pick a destination for Friday night, and on the weekends we need to be a little more aware of more vehicle traffic, maybe a few less heavy trucks and more family outings. And while some of you might think that is better in reality it is not, the truck drivers are professionals while the vehicle with a family may not have a driver that is giving their full attention, and it also makes Walmart’s and restaurants busier. tomorrow has a number of concerns travelling through Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Joplin, it looks like a few miles more as well, much of it will be on a toll road that is usually in good condition but has a higher speed limit which can make drivers more aggressive but if we hit the road by nine o’clock it should work out just fine.

The other issue is we did not fuel today and to be honest I’m trying to make it to the next Buc-ee’s in Springfield MO to refuel, our fuel tank hold 100 gallons (378 liters) and at 8 mpg we should be able to transverse 800 miles. the distance between the Buc-ee’s is 550 miles so it should not be an issue, but tomorrows fuel mileage may not be as good as there are more rolling hills than today, also three cities, and twenty miles more than today, if we make our tomorrows destination we will be below the half tank mark which while not a problem for driving but someplace between 1/2 and 1/4 tank is the fuel draw for our generator which shouldn’t be required any way, but if it was it might not start and run.

So lets check out today’s numbers: 225 miles (362 kilometers) in three hours and forty-six minuets, we averaged 59 mph (95 km/h) we consumed 28 gallons (106 liters) of diesel fuel at a rate of 8 mpg (29 liters/100 km). Another solar harvest in excess of 5.1 kilowatts, so far the array has been handling our power consumption easily on a daily basis. The fuel mileage today is usually what we average on a cross country trip, and a number that I think is good for our size and weight as we roll down the road, I suspect the better fuel mileage is because of a more powerful engine so it is not working as hard.

Just got a weather alert from my weather app, warning of a thunder storm overnight, the forecast has it all around us.