Stephen H. Long Trail 1819 — 1820

Day 9: September 1st, 2008 Terre Haute — Kansas City

Map Terre Haute to Kansas City

Somehow I totally slept in again. Around half past six I am finally awake and get up. Now I slowly must find a new rhythm for the day when packing my stuff together. More must go in my backpack because I am afraid that the pocket grips of my back will be torn apart.

Around half past eight I am ready to leave. First I drive over to Cracker Barrel. There I arrive just in time before the big Labor Day crowd rolls in. They have a new special, which I try directly. However, I would have preferred three slices of bacon more than the sampler of ham, bacon and ground meat…

I–70, IN

After breakfast I drive over to the Marathon to get gas. They even have some cleaning agent in the washing water! Just past ten I am back on the Interstate. Currently, everything is pretty empty, only a little bit of traffic and it is really pleasant to drive.

I–70, State Line IN and IL

I–70, IL

I cross the state line to Illinois. Somewhere a Honda CRV passes me. The girl turns around and make signs like “Go–Go” to cheer up and waves! So, either she likes offroad trucks or she also mistakes me as a storm chaser. Anyway, it is a nice experience for me!

I–70, Effingham, IL

I–70, Effingham, IL

Then I pass Effingham.

I–70, IL

I–270, IL

I–270, Chain of Rocks Canal, IL

I–270, Mississippi River, State Line IL and MO

I–270, Mississippi River, State Line IL and MO

I–270, Mississippi River, State Line IL and MO

Around noon I arrive in the area of St. Louis. The traffic suddenly increases heavily there. On Interstate 270 I cross the Mississippi River and the state line to Missouri.

I–270, St. Louis, MO

I–270, St. Louis, MO

I–70, St. Louis, MO

I–70, Missouri River, St. Charles, MO

Then I am back on I–70 and cross the Missouri River. I continue up to Wentzville where I stop for gassing up. Then I drive on to the next rest area where I have my unhurried lunch brake. In the meantime I have crossed the next timezone and it is just before 1pm. Nevertheless, this rest area is still pretty empty. Again, I earn questioning looks when people see my truck. But in the meantime I am getting used to it.

I–70, MO

I–70, MO

Then I continue up to the last rest area before Kansas City. There I stop to change the tape of my video camera. Usually this can easily be done while driving. But the traffic around here is so heavy that it feels to risky for me. So I use the stop also to walk over to the restroom. This rest area has parking spots on the other side of the building, too. I remember that I have also stopped there a couple of years ago and I have met a couple on their Harley Davidson..

I–70, Kansas City, MO

I–670, Kansas City, MO

The last leg must be driven in very heavy traffic. Strangely, it is getting less crowded when I get closer to Downtown Kansas City. Anyway, I get a little bit lost because it is very difficult to read the map on the laptop while driving. But from memory I roughly know where I have left the last time. But my GPS software wants to direct me on another route. So I try to follow this advice. This works pretty well up to my hotel. But there it directs me to the left instead of right. I quickly turn around. Then I enter the parking lot of this Holiday Inn Express.

My reservation is there and as welcome gift for being a new Priority Member (the club which I have quickly selected at half past eleven in the night yesterday) I receive 1000 bonus points. I pack my stuff in the car together which takes almost fifteen minutes in the meantime. Then I go to my luxury room on third floor.

I wash myself briefly and copy the pictures to my laptop. Then I call Johanna. Around half past five we leave and make a short walk through Westport. At the Classic Cup Cafe we have a homelike dinner, then we go to her apartment. She shows me her new rabbit and puts on some for me unknown music like Classic Rap. Okay, at the end she puts on Trace Adkinson.

Around half past nine I am getting too tired and we leave. I briefly take a look at her car headlight, which shines up to the sky. I show her the screw where she can adjust it because I am not able to turn the screw with her tools. Then we walk back to my hotel. There we say good–bye and I start writing my diary — certainly not before I have brew a can of coffee. Just before eleven I am finished and I start taking care of my video taping. An hour later, also this is done and I can get ready for my bed. Somehow I am never able to go to bed before midnight…