The Beat Goes On, Early Shopping, Foggy Start, Losing Each Other

Walmart, Joplin, Missouri

We were up with the birds on Wednesday, Mar. 18^th. We were drinking our brews at 6:30 and in to the Walmart at 7. That is definitely the time to go with maybe only 20 people inside aside from staff. We got our ground beef and some chicken for the freezer and scooted out. Quickest shopping ever! Ken and Kim were heading in as we returned. With quick wash ups, I made a sandwich for our lunch and we all pulled out before 8:30.

Driving into the fog once more

And eventually, we saw the blue sky and sunshine

Just at the corner, we both pulled in to fuel up. The price for diesel was amazing at $2.39/gal! The sun was fighting the fog this morning so we were expecting a clear sky at some point along the drive. Let’s see how far we get today. The goal is Joplin, MO at minimum. Before we left Bill chatted with his sister, Carol, with the same concerns as everyone else back home and full support in our decision. We all agree how crazy the hoarding is and that is one thing we can scoff at, even though this is a serious situation. Just get what you need for 2 weeks people!

How many of us have driven under this awesome looking Skydance bridge ?
The structure was inspired by OK's state bird, the scissor-tailed flycatcher
How cool is that!?

The temperature was co-operating as it was a mild 50F already. The sun broke out through one of the visible blue patches at 9:45 and that sure warmed things up inside and out. We had 57F staring at us right well and proper! By the time we reached Oklahoma City, it was almost 10 but busy enough for not being rush hour. Clouds have now replaced the blue sky and sunshine but it is a dry day. 

It's hard to not notice these huge planes along the highway

Part of the Airforce Bomber Base

You can see the fog has returned somewhat

We had one close call where a pick up cut across in front of us for no apparent reason. I’m dreading what that did to inside the Suite. Bill had to pump our brakes 4 or 5 times. They work and so does the horn!  We were glad to put O.City behind us. Staying on I-40E there were good sections and very bad spots but we are trucking along. Just after 11 we pulled off to a Sinclair fuel station to top up on diesel at $1.99/gal and so we could use their washrooms. They were just cleaned, so perfect! The rest area previous was closed.

My only collage today but it is an interesting one
We understand the implications from low fuel prices
BUT we are still  happy to save all we can on this trip home

Down the road, we pulled off at a No Facility rest area that was open for parking so we stopped and had our sandwiches. We checked and compared notes for the route ahead before heading out around 12:45. 

Our rest area lunch stop was open and very spacious

Woops! Bill and I took a B instead of an A exit and had to drive the wrong way 2.5 miles to turn around. Now we were on I-69N and Kim and Ken would be ahead of us. They were paying better attention and didn’t make the same mistake. I-69N is no treat to drive on either. 

So many familiar things along the interstate

Lots of water in the area

Many fields of grass fed  cattle
which is nicer to see than those cattle farms we've also seen

Thinking we would catch up to Kim and Ken, we drove through a lot of small towns, Muskgee, Wagoner, Chouteau and Pryor before we caught US60/Rte 66 at Vinita and went through Afton. Still no sign of the Journey. 

It is nice to see a lot of trees in blossom too

They’re ahead of us somewhere. We chatted back and forth by text to update our destination address and carried on through Fairland. Still in Oklahoma. Next was a turn onto OK-10/S 660 Rd, a jig to the right and left onto MO-43. That means we crossed the state line!

Grand Lake State Park

Too funny! Ken and Kim got twisted around too so now they are behind us, somewhere! We carried on with a few more turns and arrived at the Walmart SuperCentre in Joplin at 4:00. 

The day got better again

We found the ideal location, way off to the side and within 15 minutes, Ken and Kim joined us. After set up, Happy Hour ensued inside the Suite. We could only sit inside because we didn’t want to get our chairs out although the weather was quite nice. It isn't proper etiquette in these lots.

A really nice casino Temporarily Closed

Some nice homes off the highway on a frontage road

Many topics were discussed with an acceptable interruption by phone call from Marilynne. After reassuring her of our location and well-being, we carried on until 7 o’clock with our friends. It was almost like a ‘this is soon coming to an end’ gathering and it will be sad. When they said goodnight, I heated up a container of our chili for supper. For dessert, it was a toss up between Jell-o and Ice Cream but I seriously doubted that I would need anything at all.

Joplin arrival at 4 pm

The Happy Hours are winding down but we are still together

We ate by 7:15 and had dishes done and sandwiches for tomorrow made by 7:45. I sat to work on my posting but I was tired and distracted. I gathered the receipts and made a list of our expenditures that needed to be claimed at the border. Then I didn't feel like finishing my blog. This was another good travel day and although we lost each other for a while, we miraculously ended up at the same place!

the chili was good and healthy too!
good night all!

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