We’re taking a different way back. Instead of Paducah, it’ll be via Dyersburg and Jackson. Mostly interstate. Might be a little longer, but its easier driving.
So we stopped at the Flying J in Matthews, MO. This place had everything – private rooms for making phone calls, a convienence store, a nice restaurant, and a barber’s shop. Pretty much blows my myth that truck stops are dirty dingy places. I got a slice of pizza to go.
We’ve seen catfish farms. Small holding lakes for catfish. They’re near the board with Tennessee near the Mississippi River. They have oxygenators or something that keep the water moving to keep things fresh so the fish won’t die. Don’t ask me who it works. I’m no fish scientist.

As seen on an interstate billboard:
“Gambling benefits Missouri. Over $1 billion for schools.”
Yes, but how many gambling addicts are you teaching?
This trip has given me a great respect for truckers. Jim pointed out that just about every consumer good you buy these days is transported by truck. Truck drivers are a intregal part of American economy.
The CB? We don’t use it much. At least not as much as what I thought. Just the occassional “Your right tail light is out.” That’s it. Definitely not some sort of chat room. It does have a computerized weather forecast.
Here we are stopping at the Matthews Flying J travel plaza.

I got up at 6:05AM this morning. The hotel restaurant didn’t open until 7. Jim’s coffee mug had a broken handle so he tried to find some superglue. No luck.
At the restaurant I ordered a ham and cheese omlette, but I couldn’t eat 1/3rd of it. Ate most of the toast.
Jim told me that the lady who works the front desk said she was Mormon. So it wasn’t too surprising to find the book of Mormon next to the KJV Bible in the hotel dresser.
Right now it’s raining and we’re going through Mark Twain National Forest. It’s got some hills to it, so this must be the Ozarks.
Just in case you were wondering what we’re carrying here it is:
4 Bedroom furniture.
150 blankets
420 128oz bleach
36 Baby Boxes
180 Boxes – Family Food
72 Boxes – personal care
290 bras
90 men’s briefs
48 chests of drawers
40 boy’s pants
50 men’s pants
3 boxes of men’s polo shirts
72 men’s t-shirts
2 women’s dresses
15 women’s pants
48 women’s robes
30 women’s shorts
5 2 piece women’s suits
64 women’s tops
20 dinette sets
48 leather gloves
25 gloves
108 6 pack of panty hose
24 box of 6 insect repellant
4 medical supplies
120 cleaning buckets
415 girl’s panties
48 pillowcases
48 pillows
25 sheets
1 box – men’s shoes
1 box women’s shoes
42 skirts
180 3 packs – men’s socks
324 women’s socks
336 1 gallon water
That makes $64,588.54 worth or merchandise. Also the truck weighs 65,000 pounds full of merchandise….36,000 pounds empty.

We arrived in Springfield at around 7PM. Jim has me talk to our local contact on the phone to guide us to the final destination – a warehouse. I initually thought we’d be going to a church. I later found out the church had a good deal going for renting the warehouse – $1/month.
We unloaded everything from the truck – dressers, beds, mirrors, clothes and food I had helped box up previously. There were about 20 people there from Sunset Church of Christ unloading. Much of the stuff was already on a pallet. So there wasn’t much we could do except dodge the forklift operator. Later on a teenaged boy took the controls and seemed to be less adept at it. I got several pictures of the unloading. Hopefully Kevin and Amy will be able to use it in the bulletin.
At lucnh we ate in Mountain View at the Pizza inn. There was a Walmart and Dollar General, Blimpies, and McDonald’s nearby. We ordered a medium meatlovers (or whatever they call it at Pizza Inn).
So tonight’s quest was to find a motel. We tried a “downtown” motel in Mt. View, but there wasn’t big enough parking for a semi. We could have parked in the business district, but Jim said he could be fine for that. HE got a $150 parking ticket in California.
Later on we tried the Honeysuckel Lodge, but it too had no parking for semis ( carport was too low for the semi). This is a common thing – trying ti find a hotel with parking for semis.
So now we’re at the Hickory House Inn in Birch Tree. Jim successfully parallel parked the semi – awesome. I could not have done that.
I ned to close this entry, as I’m being told we’re getting up early tomorrow.

Sinclar gas stations have small dinosaur logos on them. I began noticing them as we got into Kentucky. Gas actually comes from oil which came from dinosaurs. So I guess the logo is appropriate.
Let’s talk about political and religious statements. We just passed a large spool (cable spool) on the side of the road. Written on it was “Do You Know Jesus?” What gave someone the idea to write that on a large wooden spool, I’ll never know. Then there’s the van with “No War with Iraq” written in bold letters on the side of it.
Anti Abortion billboards. There’s here in Missouri also.
I saw a car wrapped around a railroad crossing sign – except that it looked like it was moved from its original location. Placed on the side of the road as sorta a piece of highway art.
We crossed over a couple of bridges to get to Missouri. We were briefly in Illnois for a time. Some of those bridges were quite narrow. We hoped we wouldn’t met another semi. There was a time when we were on a 2 lane road with no shoulder and met a wide load truck carrying a house. Luckily we were able to let them through without too many problems.

We just went though a weigh station. Supposedly there are sensors on the road which give a estimate of the weight. We were well within the weight limit so we did not have to stop. On the side there was a “save haven” – an overnight parking lot for trucks.
We went over the Cumberland and Tennessee River bridges just now. Part of the beginning of the Land Between the Lakes.
When we entered into Kentucky, I saw a “Plain Jane” police car – a Camero pulled over someone. Jim calls them “Plain Jane” cars.
We’re about to stop here in Marshall County.

Instead of Norman/Moore, OK, as originally thought, we’re going to Springfield, MO. We won’t be going the interstate all the way. We’ll take I-24 to Paducah then take backroads to Springfield. This will give me a chance to see more of the countryside. Maybe some of the Ozarks.
The trip will probably take just as long as Moore since we are on the backroads. it took a little while to get the paperwork. We arrived at around 9AM, but didn’t leave until 10:45.
Jim likes to listen to talk radio. Right now its Paul Harvey. I’m more of a music man. I made a CD with music that I thought he’d like. We’ll see if we get around to listening to it.
The seat tends to shake alot making writing difficult.
More to come later on.

I’m going to Norman, Oklahoma, tomorrow. I’ll be riding in the Disaster Relief semi-truck delivering supplies to tornado victims. Thankfully I won’t be doing any of the driving. I’m just along for the ride.
I’ll be keeping a travel log to post here when I get back…sometime on Wednesday. Hopefully we’ll be able to find a hotel which will hold a semi. Otherwise we’ll be sleeping in the truck. I’ll expect to be eating at Subway alot since they seem to be nearby truckstops.
It’s a 10 hour drive. We’ll be hitting the highway pretty hard and not stopping unless we absolutely have to, since it is difficult to find a parklot big enough for the semi.