Places, Earth
Missouri 2024
Missouri 2024
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Places, Earth
Missouri 2024 |
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My wife's father's health was failing and she wanted to see him one last time, I don't like
airlines, so I planned a road trip to Missouri. It was two long days and a half day each way, and
two and a half days in Springfield. We had planned a trip to Yellowstone that month, so we
canceled that and planned this trip for one week earlier. Day One: L.A. to Gallup We started going north on Highway 14 to the Pearblossom Highway. Everyone says this way is faster, but you need to pay more attention so you don't miss a turn. We made a rest room stop in Victorville where, upon leaving the store, my wife started to enter the wrong car. We entered Interstate 15 and continued north. I would normally have taken Interstate 40 from Barstow to Kingman, Arizona, but I came thought that way less than a month earlier and knew that both rest areas were then closed and the two along Interstate 15 were new. According to MapQuest, this was only one mile further, of course it became eleven miles when I missed a turn and drove five miles before realizing. We stayed on Internet 15 in Barstow and stopped at C. V. Kane Rest Area and Valley Wells Rest Area. I almost missed the exit from Interstate-15 at exit 286, Nipton Road toward Searchlight and then headed east, crossing into Nevada and continuing on Nevada 164. At Searchlight, we caught Highway 95 south to 163 toward Laughlin where we crossed the Colorado River into Arizona. We then missed a turn, going straight instead of turning left and drove south for about five miles before realizing and turning around. Turning right onto AZ 68, we continued east to Kingman where we got gas. We joined Interstate-40 and pressed eastward. We stopped at a rest area near Winslow. It had been windy since Victorville, but this stop was so bad it was hard to open the car doors. Fifteen minutes later we were in a dust storm with about 500 feet visibility. The wind continued through the second day and Oklahoma City. Exhausted and saddle sore, we finally arrived at our hotel in Gallup, New Mexico. At the hotel, I grabbed a brochure for a cave that looked interesting. Turns out, it's near San Antonio where I was less than a month earlier. Oh well. We settled in, ate dinner, and got a well deserved sleep. Day Two: Crossing New Mexico and the Pan Handle I slept well for six hours, my wife didn't sleep so well. We got ready, packed, ate, and checked out by 7:15. We lost a half hour over an accident on the east side of Albuquerque. We really needed the next rest area. We thundered east. We stopped at another rest area and then Pajarito Rest Area shortly before entering Texas. I remember having stopped here two years earlier. We crossed into the Texas Panhandle. Two years earlier, I had stopped at Cadillac Ranch just as the sun was settings. It had been raining and I spent 15 minutes changing boots and cleaning mud off my tripod before driving off. Today, it was mid-day and dry. Two years ago, in the dark, I didn't realize how colorful this art piece is. Since its original installation, it has become the canvas for many, many, many, layers of spray paint. All over, paint cans lids were smashed into the ground making an unintended pattern of their own. It is on the south side of I-40 and few miles west of Amarillo, Texas, 13651 1-40 Frontage Road, Amarillo, Texas. As we drove through Amarillo, I could see the hotel where we would stay on our return. This section of Interstate 40 through the Texas Panhandle is lined with wind farms which I was starting to see all over the Midwest in two previous trips and now this one. Donley County Rest Area East Bound is probably the nicest rest areas I've seen (most in Texas are basic), with exhibits about Route 66, ‘The Mother Road' and built to resemble an old time movie palace. As we left, we realized we still had another hour of Texas to cross. We finally crossed into Oklahoma about 5:30 PM. A little west of El Rino we passed a bad truck accident on the other side of the highway. A semi was on its side blocking the entire highway. We felt badly for the driver and people stuck on the other side and hoped we didn't find ourselves in a similar situation since we were on such a tight schedule. We reached our hotel in Oklahoma City about 8:15, just ahead of a major thunder storm that lit up the sky for about 30 minutes. We went to bed listening to thunder and thinking of the tornado warning for the night. Day Three: Oklahoma, Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plain We survived the night, the thunderstorm that night was thunderous and lit up the sky for a while as we fell asleep and fortunately the tornados warned about, stayed away from our part of town. It did rain a little. We got off at about 7:15 heading north. State Highway 74 ran north through farm land and rolling hills and often we observed wind turbines casting a spinning shadow across the road. We waited for a long train (several containers carried the Amazon logo) at Covington and joined US 412 west to Enid. I noticed to the north a yard filled with parts for wind turbines being gathered for installation in the area. My wife lived a few years in Enid and I wanted to see the town. It is larger than I expected, filled with flour mills, other agricultural related businesses, and railroads. We wanted to find a school where her father once worked and had a hard time getting to the other side of town because of stopped trains at grade crossing, but finally I found a clear crossing. After finding our destination and exploring the town for about an hour, we got on US 412 and headed east to Tulsa. US 412 and Tulsa slowed our travel with road construction. Eventually we joined Interstate 44 and powered northeast to Joplin where we got gas and continued to Springfield. We missed the exit and drove about ten miles before getting back on track, eventually arriving at my in-laws home about 3:00 pm. We visited a few hour and drove to our hotel, checked in, and settled in for the night. Day Four: Ouch. We slept well, got ready, ate, but had a little time before leaving for the day. We stopped at the in-laws on the way to Branson. We arrived in Branson and met my wife's childhood friend (from Enid). While stepping back far enough to get them in frame with a sign, I took one step too many, slipped on the wet grass, and fell down a small hill. Fortunately, the back of my head didn't damage the asphalt street, so I'm not in trouble with the city. I retrieved my sun glasses and camera shield rolling toward an intersection, and finished the photo. The friend gave us an insider's tour of Branson. We walked a little in downtown, walked through some stores, and drove past Taneycomo Lake. We walked through Sight and Sound Theater which has major live productions of Biblical subjects. A show runs a few years and then the elaborate sets change for a new show. We enjoyed lunch at Mel's Hard Luck Diner which is good food and live music. My wife enjoyed her Mel's Way Grilled Chicken and I loved the Love My Catfish. We continued the tour. We enjoyed a two hour show of The Duttons Family and the Duttons Theater. Not only was the show enjoyable, but during the intermission for the guests, the singing family got no intermission, they worked the concession stands. After the show, I bought a 6 piece value pack of fudge, Yum. The tour continued with the outer areas around the town. We stopped at Table Rock Lake where I photographed the show boat steaming around the lake. We stopped at an overlook with a view of the whole town. We finished our day at Big D's Barbeque, voted best in town for five years. My wife ordered Brisket Sandwich, Mac and Cheese and I ordered Pilled Chicken and Coleslaw. It was starting to get dark and overcast with a local storm between Branson and Springfield, so we said our goodbyes and returned to Springfield. There was a section about ten miles long with rain and lighting, but by the time we approached Springfield, it was blue skies again. We settled in for the night. Day Five We got up, got ready, got fed, and got gone. I wanted to see Wild Animal Safari and my wife wanted to spend more time with her parents, so I dropped her off and went safariing on my own. The safari park is about 20 miles east of Springfield and didn't take long to find. I paid my fee, drove to the end of the parking lot, and entered the gate. I was greeted by three or four Llamas hoping for a food sack. I had to wait for them to get bored and move out of the way. The narrow paved road winds through a large area divided into a few smaller area, some with cattle guards at the gates. It was mostly varieties of antelope, equine, and wild cattle. There were some ostrich, zebra, and an enclosure with wolves. The road is narrow, twisting, and often animals crowded around the car, so it took about an hour and a half to loop back to the gate. Many of the animals came up to the car looking for food and I got some good closeups. I had to readjust my mirror after I left. After the driving part, I parked and did the waking part of the tour. These were smaller animals that wouldn't stay in the larger open enclosures. The giraffes were friendly. There were two lions and two tigers, they made me miss my smaller cats at home. A small reptile house had snakes and lizards, two tree sloths, and a few insects. I enjoyed this safari in my own car. Somehow I missed my turn on the return and saw a little extra Interstate 44. I stopped at the motel a few minutes before returning to my in-laws where I spent the rest of the day. My wife was crying as she said goodbye to her family, fearing this was the last time to see her father. It was a solemn drive back to the motel. We made one last stop on the way back to the motel, The Worlds Largest Fork at 2215 West Chesterfield Street in Springfield. We returned to the motel and got ready to go home the following morning. Day Six: Long Journey Home We arose, got ready, and got on our way. We got off a little after 7:00 AM heading west on I-44. We stopped at the Oklahoma Welcome Center in Miami where we learned that only two days earlier, they watched a tornado cross the interstate just outside the building. I had a vague memory of eating in a restaurant in an arch over a highway during a family trip from Los Angeles to Minnesota in 1965. As a ten-year-old budding designer, it impressed me, but I didn't remember the details or where it was. I finally realized that it must have been the Will Rogers Archway, built in 1957, eight years before that long ago trip. During this trip, we drove under that arch going and stopped on the way back. I climbed the stairs on the west bound side, looked around, took photographs, and bought sub sandwiches for lunch. About an hour after entering Texas, we stopped at Gray County Rest Area. Two things I noted are the restrooms which are tornado shelters built of reinforced concrete and covered with earth, and a panoramic view. Among the information kiosk is an exhibit at the center about Palo Duro, the second deepest canyon in the United States. I had never heard of this before and added it to the bucket list for next time. A few miles west in Donley County is the Donley County Rest Area East Bound where we stopped a few days earlier, which also has a tornado shelter. Just a few miles west of the Donley County Rest Area East Bound, the entire east bound Interstate 40 was blocked by a big rig on its side extending from the center divider to the outer shoulder. The backup extended about two miles of vehicles stuck and the occupants standing around. Vehicles were being diverted at the previous off-ramp, those after the off-ramp were stuck. This was the second large truck on its side blocking an entire side of the highway that we saw on this trip, fortunately for us, both were on the other side of the highway. In Amarillo, we intended to stop at a grocery store, but when we arrived, there was a gas leak and emergency vehicles were everywhere, so we had to go to a more distant store. We found our hotel and settled in for the evening. I had stayed here two years earlier. Day Seven, More Long Journey Home We got ready and departed about 7:00 AM. Just as we were loading, a thunderstorm started. Then it started to rain. By the time we started the car, it had stopped. We stopped at Glen Rio Rest Area just feet inside New Mexico and I took several photographs. We stopped again at Pajarito Rest Area. It was overcast with some rain as we drove through New Mexico. I saw, not for the first time on this trip, three trucks in a convoy with one wind turbine blade each. We saw many wind farms on this trip, the Texas Panhandle and New Mexico being no exception. We got gas in Santa Rosa and continued west. Fortunately there were no problems in Albuquerque as there was last Monday. I finished the audiobook East of Eden. We hoped to use the rest area west of Albuquerque, but it was closed. We crossed the Continental Divide, but as always, the sign came on too quickly and I didn't catch the Elevation. We got gas in Winslow and expected to be in Flagstaff about 3:00 PM for dinner. Then I discovered that our destination opens at 5:00 PM and it would only take an hour to get there. I quickly queried things to do in Winslow and two things came up, Old Trails Museum and Standing on a Corner... The museum would close in 25 minutes and take five minutes to find, but it was small and I saw enough to be satisfied. Standing on the Corner... was just across the street and took about ten minutes. This is based on a popular song by the Eagles. There is a set of chrome eagle wings on the wall to pose between but I couldn't coax my wife from the car. We got to the restaurant and waited a half hour for it to open, we were the first group in the door (the previous time we waited an hour). I ordered Curry Fish and my wife ordered Curry Chicken. I took about thirty minutes to reach Williams. We had stayed in this Best Western twice before. It is beautifully decorated in Southwest art and Kachina dolls. We got a well deserved sleep. Day 8, Home We got ready and by 7:30 we were on our way home. We made a quick stop in Seligman and continued. We stopped at Haviland Rest Area, crossed into California, and stopped at John Wilkie Safety Rest Area. We stopped at the next rest area, got gas in Barstow, and made it home about 3:00 PM. Our four legged family was happy to see us home as we cleaned the mess. 3,614 total miles |
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| Note:This is not the official site for any of the places shown in Places Earth. Places Earth is not responsible for accuracy of the information. Hours of operations, prices, exhibits, and sometimes locations are subject to change without notice. |
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Support this Web Site I hope that you find this web site helpful. It started because of my love for Architecture and interest in History and a desire to share my photographs and tales of my adventures. I don't allow paid advertising. This web site is for your benefit and enjoyment and I make no profit on it. For twenty years it has been supported primarily from my regular paycheck as a Set Designer. If you are in the need of a designer, please see my Set Designer portfolio site Set Design Portfolio. |
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