First Jedediah Smith Trail 1822 — 1824

Day 38: September 22nd, 2009 Davenport — Columbus

Map Davenport to Columbus

You won’t believe it, but I was actually able to sleep one night without my ear plugs! And with this, I totally sleep in again. Around a quarter to eight I wake up. Well, my body still runs on Mountain Time Zone. Now I must hurry up to quickly get into the shower and to get myself ready. Then I take a quick look on how to drive to Cracker Barrel. This restaurant is simply just down the road of my motel, staying straight. This shouldn’t be too difficult. Even the rain was so kindly to stop. So I am able to fill in my spare gas after I have loaded my truck (this time, my car parks in front of my room!). Then I take a quick look at the oil level. This should be also fine.

Before I leave, I quickly call Helen to let her know that I will not be back by tonight as originally planned, because of my car breakdown two days ago. Then I walk over to the office, check out and drive to my breakfast place. There I receive the absolutely best coffee service of my whole trip! My server was permanently filling up, almost unbelievable! And she always asked if she should fill up or return a bit later. This is really a perfect service! Therefore I tip an extra Dollar here. This must be honored.

When I am back at my car, I see a missed call and a text message on my mobile phone. Indeed, if you forget your phone one time, everybody wants to get a hold on you. To my parents, I write a brief text message. But I give Matt a call and tell him how things are going and that I am on the road again. I am more than happy to invest these five minutes for his fantastic assistance. There I must really think on what I can do for him as compensation.

But for now, I must get going. Just on the other side of the road is a Shell gas station, where I gas up. Just past eleven, I am eventually back on the road. My software shows 7:45pm as arrival time. With another lost hour due to the next time zone, it will be almost nine in the evening. There will also be not much chance to be a bit faster than the expectation of my software. Well, let’s see, if I will really drive this far.

I–80, State Line IA and IL

I–80, IL

I–74, IL

I–74, IL

I–74, IL

I–74, IL

I–74, IL

I cross the Mississippi River and the state line to Illinois.

I–74, Peoria, IL

I–74, Peoria, IL

I–74, Illinois River, Peoria, IL

Then I drive over the Illinois River and through Peoria.

I–74, Bloomington, IL

I–55/74, Bloomington, IL

I–74, IL

I–74, IL

At Bloomington, I–74 units with I–55 for a short distance.

I–74, State Line IL and IN

I–74, IN

I–74, IN

I make good miles. There is only every now and then some rain and also every now and then a heavy shower. But it doesn’t take too long. Finally, I cross the state line to Indiana.

I–465, Indianapolis, IN

So I drive on up to my stop over for gassing up in Crawfordsville. This time, it’s not raining from the bucket. It is also getting warm again. We have almost 85 degrees. Now, I continue in direction of Ohio and drive through Indianapolis.

I–70, IN

I–70, State Line IN and OH

Just before the state line to Ohio is Richmond. This is the town, where I stayed last year for the last time before getting back home to Helen. But it is now not even seven in the evening. Therefore I drive on.

Of course, it is getting dark when I arrive in Columbus and the local Motel 6. Thanks to my software, I drive first in the wrong direction until I am able to find the correct direction with the help of my motel guide. This costs me another 10 minutes, unnecessarily…

Checking in already happens at the night check in counter behind bullet–proof glass. It seems that I have picked a dangerous area for my stay this night. The motel is built the same way as in Richmond. All buildings are one story high and generously distributed. I receive a room at the far end in direction of the shopping mall. Let’s see, but it seems to be also very quiet there. Maybe it will be again another night without my ear plugs?!

I put my stuff into the room and take a quick look at my laptop to see, where the closest steakhouse is located. The Texas Roadhouse is pretty close. Hopefully, they will not be closing early again. Around nine in the evening I arrive there. For a short time I think to go to the Outback Steakhouse, which is just across the street. But I finally choose to go to my Texas Roadhouse.

Here, I receive a perfect service from a very young server. It seems to me that he just has started to work here. Also here, I give an extra Dollar as tip. I am sure, he will be happy about this. And they talk to you around here saying “Buddy” and not “Sir”. This is something I really appreciate…

Just before ten I pay and drive back in direction of my motel. While driving I look out for a Walmart and soon discover one. There, I buy my fuel stabilizer and dental floss for my parents. Then, I drive back to my motel. There I start the usual tasks with doing bookkeeping, listening to CDs and writing my diary. Finally, I download all pictures of today. Then I am ready to go to bed. This will be the last night in a motel! Actually, I should have chosen a Holiday Inn or something similar fancy for this last stay…

The next day is in preparation…