A Thursday in Missouri

     Thursday found Dad and I in Missouri, we parked at a Pilot gas station (a truck stop). I actually liked this place better than the Swift terminal, I think that was due to the fact that it was less crowded and in the middle of no where (relaxing).

     After we got there, Dad and I took a 6.5 mile (round trip) walk to WalMart and back - Dad and I like to walk, can you tell? ;) It wasn't too terribly scenic, but it was nice nonetheless. On the walk, two nice people asked us if we needed a ride. I found this pretty exciting, a nice testament to the thoughtfulness of the people of Missouri. Dad, however, decided to joke that they were really trying to get us in the car to kill us, "They both had mini-vans.." he said. I blame my father for my over-active imagination. One lady had a poodle with her though, and you can't put up with a poodle's hair and not be kind-hearted ;)

All throughout this town there were businesses owned by "Secrest", so we found if funny that on this old billboard someone had stamped "VOTE NO Gary L. Secrest" on it :P

 

     We had, yet again, 8 hours to burn here. So, at Walmart I bought a frisbee which Dad and I tossed around in the giant empty part of the truckstop parking lot. It would have been so cool if all the truckers sitting around had gotten out of their trucks and joined us for a game :P For some reason they didn't ;)

 Here is the semi! Truck sweet truck

We parked right at the end edge of the parking lot, this was the view off the edge.

A makeshift sign at the edge of the parking lot

Sales tip 101 - Don't be too cheap on advertising, it makes people question your legitimacy...

        This truck stop had a Subway connected to it, so I went there for lunch, and then got some headway done on my reading while Dad slept. I'm working on "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" by Josh Harris, a book that's been on my "to read" list FOREVER.

        I also took a shower at this truck stop, and - praise the Lord - it wasn't bad at all. Dad has a shower card for the main truck stops he goes to. The way it works is, if you fill up with more than 50 gallons, you get a free shower. You don't have to use it right away, but it does expire after a while. Dad hasn't put any fuel in the truck since I've been riding with him, so we used some showers he'd earned before. If you don't have any showers left on your card, you simply pay to use it.

        The shower was actually very well kept, I don't think I contracted anything ;) I've been told that showers at truck stops are usually pretty nice (since you're paying for it, they clean the shower after each use), whereas showers at the terminals are a little less nice (since they're free "company showers"). I've committed to trying to not get too grungy on this journey, so far so good :)

       Well, we left Missouri, and headed out to Illinois around 8pm, so far it keeps getting colder each time we move!