Interstate 44

Last night we took a walk after parking for the night.  It was warm enough to require only a hoodie.  We haven’t been able to take a good walk for a while because of all the ice and snow.  Tonight we didn’t even need a coat.  I’m loving this.

Today turned out even better.  Clear, sunny, and touching 70 degrees.  I rolled the window down for most of the afternoon and drove with my elbow out the window, Route 66-style.  Window rolled down in January; unheard of.

We spent most of the day on Interstate 44 playing follow-the-leader with the truckers. Missouri is somewhat hilly, so I would be leading up the hills, and they would be leading down the hills.  Not my favorite way to drive.

First stop was Meramec State Park. After a couple hours of driving it was a nice diversion.  Several trails here and we took the Bluff View Trail, a 1.5-mile loop that follows the bluff along the Meramec River.  The CCC has a presence here, with shelters along the trail and a bunch of lodge buildings.  Seems like they are all over this state.

Typical rocky trails which required some careful footwork, but it was a beautiful trail on a beautiful Winter day that seemed like Spring.

On the way out of the park we passed Master Donuts and, not passing up a chance to sample the local donut fare, we pulled in and bought a couple donuts for this afternoon.  The selection was surprisingly small for such a big place but we did find something delectable and drove away with it.

Next stop was the George Washington Carver National Monument.  Located almost on the border with Kansas and Oklahoma, this is the birthplace of George Washington Carver, although he did not spend a lot of time here after his boyhood.

We arrived just in time for the 2pm ranger-led walk, and we were the only ones to participate, so we had a private tour, of sorts.  Ryan the ranger was a fountain of information, and we spent over an hour on the loop trail while he outlined lots of details of Carver’s growing up and the people who were influences in his life.  Quite the amazing person, to have started out under the yoke of slavery and ended up a respected authority on botany and peanuts and many other things and also respected for his ability to cross the racial divide.

We turned south off of I-44 on US-69, heading through Oklahoma, which, in retrospect, was probably a mistake.  This road is in poor condition and the constant ka-bump ka-bump and rattling of everything in the RV got on our nerves after a while.  I’m sure I’ll find some loose screws in the next few days.

We stopped for the night at the Creek Nation Casino in Muskogee.  We read that they have a few RV sites with electric that are free for the taking.  And they did.  I had to register and now I am a card-carrying member of the casino, but we scored a site.  Driving out there, the staff arrived ahead of us to unlock the electrical box, and a security car accompanied us and sat there with his headlights on to illuminate the box until we were hooked up.  Everyone here was super pleasant, and these sites are located a good distance from the buildings so it will be a quiet night. We are the only ones here.

419 miles covered today.