Day 11: Monday 5-Jul-1999
From: Dayton, Ohio
To: Joplin, Missouri
Distance : 650mi (1040 km)
Time: 12 h
Alarm clock woke us up at 4:30 am. We put together the last things, made coffee and sandwiches. At 5:30 am we were on the way.
We had forgot the papers with the information about the rest areas (Flying J) that we had planned to use on the way out to Arizona. Fortunately we saw a sign for the Flying J in Indianapolis. We stopped there and filled up with gas and got a brochure with information about all the rest areas in the US.
Lillemor put in the cities with the Flying J's that we could stop at in our map program on the PC and calculated the length of the route. We have about 1500 miles to go (2400km) and that will be done in 3 full days. With planned stops in Joplin, Missouri and Amarillo, Texas.
The first leg of the trip went fine. If was a hot day (about 90 F/ 32C). Even the PC got overheated and stopped working for a while. We have to make sure it is not laying on the floor next to the hot transmission. The floor gets so hot on the driver's side that Lillemor cannot put down her bare feet on the carpet.
We did not have any problems with traffic, it was flowing very well all the time, except for about 30 min after Springfield.
We arrived at the Flying J in Joplin, Missouri at around 6:00 pm. We dumped our tanks and filled up with water and then parked. The place is like a parking lot next to a gas station -- not very exiting. But it is good enough for us, we have everything we need. The only thing is that we have to make sure that the kids do not get outside, it is not a safe place for kids, with all the trucks and cars.
The fridge once again did go off so the freezer was warm. Since the lassagna was almost completely defrosted we have to eat that for dinner. It was still very hot at 8 pm, we were drinking water like crazy. How will we be able to sleep? It turned out to not be too bad after a shower and putting on the roof fans we slept quite well.