Travels with Sierra; Hit the Road Jack

Hit the road, Jack 

(yes, it's a Ray Charles reference)

I throw the last minute items into the truck. Everything is packed...I hope. 

It's the first day of my "Westward Ho "trip. I head out of Ohio on Interstate 70. I run into slow moving traffic before I even hit the state line. I have gone a grand total of about 30 miles.

Two lines of traffic are driving at almost 63 when the limit is 70. If it were just a few cars poking along, I would weave my way through traffic until I passed the morons that are holding everyone up. But I can’t even see the front of the line. 

After a few miles of this, with nobody passing anyone, it starts to rain. So, naturally, everyone slows down to under 60 mph. Oh, Look! A Cracker Barrel! I whip off the poky puppy highway and head for the parking lot. I get out of my car and head for the door in a steady rain.

Before you can say half-blind granny drivers slow poking in the rain, I have my breakfast. Mommas' Pancake breakfast to be exact. I don’t know what it is about Cracker Barrel, but they have the best orange juice. The pancakes always have a slight crunchy edge that is very tasty.

When I am done, I head back out to the truck.  

The rain has stopped and the sun is shining. Traffic is back to moving at its normal highway speeds and the slow poke parade is nowhere in sight.

Back on the road again! (In case you missed this musical reference; Canned Heat about 1968)

I drive to Whetstone creek conservation area near Williamsburg, Missouri. 

This is to be my first boondock campsite for the trip.

As I pull into this area I can hear giant horse flies attacking the truck.Thwap. Thwap. Thwap.

Not a good sign for camping!

The area is quite lovely. 

A very well maintained gravel road leads into the park. There are several lakes and ponds. They all look like good fishing sites. I suddenly wish I had figured out how to fit a Kayak in the truck.

While the campground is not much more than a parking lot with some picnic tables and fire rings, It will do. The fact that it is free makes it that much better. 

I check out the pit toilets and decide that is not a place I would want to sit for even the shortest amount of time. It is dirty and I can see about 10,000 mosquitoes clinging to the side of the chute. I am not gonna be sitting, or shitting, down that chute. 

I drive around taking photos of the setting sun and then settle in for the night. 

It takes a while for the truck to cool down. But when it does I get a fairly good nights sleep and don’t hear the bugs anymore. 

The morning is very chilly so I get up early and hit the road…avoiding the pit toilets.

Next blog; Booneville and Ogalla.