First Jedediah Smith Trail 1822 — 1824

Day 10: August 25th, 2009 Columbus — Kansas City

Map Columbus to Kansas City

Today I wake up at a quarter past seven. I also woke up a couple of times during the night, but have been fallen asleep immediately. I take a shower and pack my stuff together. Then I leave the motel. Because I am in a hurry I do not check the oil level and tire pressure. This I will do tomorrow morning. Then I will have more time.

For breakfast I plan to drive to the Cracker Barrel at I–70. But on my way I pass a Bob Evans and change my plans. They are not really busy. I receive really quick my breakfast and also the coffee service is good. At least, one time the server at the counter jumps in to fill up my coffee — which she pours over the cup in the hurry.

I–70, OH

Around half past nine I pay and drive over to the next gas station. Then I start my 650 miles journey to Kansas City! All in all I want to see Rex and Mark after these many years.

I–70, State Line OH and IN

But my progress is dramatically reduced by an endless amount of road constructions.

I–70, Indianapolis, IN

I–465, Indianapolis, IN

I–70, Indianapolis, IN

The only good thing is that it is not raining. We have beautiful weather. In the morning, it was really pleasant with just around 70 degrees.

My first stop to gas up is Terre Haute. Just before 2pm I continue my journey. Because the gas station is extremely busy, I postpone my stop at the restroom and the brief lunch break. Just past the state line to Illinois I have a stop at the Welcome Center. There I call Rex to let him know that I am on my way. Unfortunately, I only catch his mailbox. I leave him a message. Then I continue my journey.

I–70, State Line IN and IL

I–70, IL

Now the traffic finally gets less and I have also almost passed all road constructions. So I start to make good progress now.

I–70, Effingham, IL

I–70/57, Effingham, IL

I–70/57, Effingham, IL

I–70/57, Effingham, IL

On my CB radio I overhear that they think I am the police. And also almost everyone, who passes me, slows down due to all my setup in the truck. This is starting to annoy finally at some point. It seems that I must design some stickers in the future to let the people know, what all this is about.

I–270, Chain of Rocks Canal, IL

I–270, IL

I–270, State Line IL and MO

I–270, St. Louis, MO

I–70, Missouri River, St. Louis, MO

In the meantime the temperature has risen up to 95 degrees and it is getting really warm. But I leave my windows closed, because I have not yet put on some sunscreen and I am missing the time to do so. Around 4pm (I have now gained an hour by crossing the state line to Illinois) I reach St. Louis.

The traffic is getting a bit more as usual for being in the vicinity of such a big town. But it is still flowing when crossing the Mississippi and Missouri. But then on I–70 we almost come to a full stop. This is some of these famous traffic jams out of nothing. There is no accident, nothing, just hard braking because they are all tailgating. So the next miles are really going slow.

I–70, MO

I–70, Missouri River, MO

I–70, Missouri River, MO

I–70, MO

But finally I also leave this behind and reach around half past four Warrenton where I have my last stop for gas. Slowly I start to doubt if I will really make it up to Kansas City. I call Rex again but only receive the mailbox once more. So I ask him how he has planned our reunion. I originally planned to go out for dinner. But if he should not have the time, it doesn’t make sense for me to take the effort. Therefore I ask him to call me back, because otherwise I don’t need to drive all the way to Kansas City.

While driving I think about where else I could stay for the night. First I think about Columbia. But this would be too early. So I will continue and may drive up to Independence. But from there it is only an hour and currently it seems that I could make it by 8pm. There was no call from Rex yet. So I hit the ground running.

Sunset I–70, Kansas City, MO

Sunset I–70, Kansas City, MO

Sunset I–70/670, Kansas City, MO

I–35, Kansas City, State Line MO and KS

And indeed I arrive just before eight. Originally I planned to stay at the Knights Inn. But I drive around the whole block and cannot see where the reception is! This is definitely annoying me now and so I decide to continue to the Motel 6. I am not in the mood to search around here.

There I receive a room on second floor, which doesn’t matter at this motel. There, parking is the worst I have ever seen. Therefore I didn’t wanted to stay there again. When leaving the Knights Inn for the Motel 6, I finally saw the reception. But then I didn’t wanted to turn around again.

At the Motel 6 I am the second one in the row. Caroline at the reception is taking nicely care of me. For unloading my truck, I get a parking spot not too far away from the stairs. Then I don’t have to drag my luggage to far here. While collecting my stuff together, Rex calls eventually. He will try to reach Mark but he is more thinking about going for breakfast. But for this I don’t have the time nor do I have the mood for it. And if I am just worth half an hour for breakfast then I can also skip this. All in all I still must drive a full day tomorrow.

I put my stuff into the room, then he calls back while I am just refreshing myself in the bathroom. He has reached Mark, but he doesn’t have time. Now I am really getting pissed off. In the meantime they have blown me off for the third time, where I have worked my butt off to get here. I send him back a very clear text message of what I think of this behavior and drive over to the Outback Steakhouse.

In exchange, my server Kristen takes nicely care of me. She has driven on Sunday (probably with her husband) from Michigan to here. Therefore she can definitely tell how I feel after such a long drive. I order my 8 ounce Outback Special and for the salad I order the special sweet–sour tomato dressing. Let’s see if my digestion can deal better with this.

Because I am so thirsty, I almost have the first Coke done by the salad. Now my stomach is already so much filled up that I am barely able to eat all my steak. When I take later a look at my check I see, that the Coke is missing. I tell her about this but she says, this is okay. This is really nice to be invited. I ask her if she is from Michigan and she says Yes. Then I ask her, if she is from Detroit because I have friends there. And also this is true and she also knows Dearborn Heights very well. This is pretty funny! I hand her over one of my business cards and tell her about my travels. This is something she finds really interesting. Let’s see, if she will write something back.

So starched I drive back to the motel. Now it’s time to take care of my diary. While I am at it I check if I am able to get somewhere a free Internet. And indeed, the Days Inn is so friendly to let my do some “piracy”. But I only download my virus update. The Service Pack will be done when I have an official Internet access.

Then I check my video taping and photos. It is already 11pm when I am able to start working on this. This is getting late today again. And tomorrow I must get some cables. Laptop power cord, shaver cord and Firewire. Unfortunately, there is no Radio Shack or Walmart around where I will have breakfast or where I will drive around without my camera already mounted. When everything is set up, I don’t really want to go shopping.

Around half past twelve I have eventually finished everything. Because it is really noisy around here I will probably better sleep with my ear plugs…

The next day is in preparation…