Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’…

September 6, 2007
Salina, Kansas

Well, we’re on the road again. First, let me catch up on the last few days…

On Tuesday, we buckled down and got some stuff done for a change. Geri did a whole series of loads of laundry and I got the coach ready for departure. The tricky part was adding oil to the transmission, which I’d never done before. Apparently, you need to add the oil (it’s a special synthetic developed and marketed – i.e., “overpriced” – by Allison for their transmissions) through the dipstick tube. I bought a funnel with a flexible plastic tube and a valve that allows more precise measurement, and everything went OK. The transmission has an internal sensor that tells you how low the level is, and it was down 3 quarts. I had a gallon (you can’t buy it by the quart, just gallons or barrels) of the Transynd on hand, so I’ll have to replenish the supply while we’re in sales-tax-free-Oregon later in the month.

Late in the morning, we stopped by to visit Mom again before we left. She was doing OK and in reasonably good spirits, but noticeably weaker than when we visited earlier. She’s struggling with memory issues, and now has difficulty completing sentences and thoughts. At least she’s accepting the assisted living facility, so that’s a good thing.

We hit the road around 2:00, heading for Illinois. We cut across to I-65 and headed north to I-24 in Nashville (we bypassed “Big Jim’s Boobie Bungalow”, another interesting roadside attraction). We rolled into the Flying J truck stop in Oak Grove, Kentucky around 7 PM and settled in for the night. The parking area was pretty full, so we were happy to get a good spot on the end of a row with less noise.

Yesterday, we rolled out around 7 AM and continued up I-24 to I-57. When we got to I-64, we headed west but then took US-51 north to Vandalia, then local routes over to Litchfield. This route cut out quite a bit of time and miles as opposed to the Interstate across to St. Louis and north to Litchfield.

We caught up with Geri’s son, Mike, and his fiancée, Susan, for dinner at their house. Susan’s mother, Mary, joined us as well. We grilled some filets and corn on the cob, and Mike and Geri made potato salad. With a starter salad and Susan’s neat dessert, we were well fed. After a bit of wine, we sat outside (it cooled off) for a while and then retired to the coach for Al-tinis, which got us all ready for a good night’s sleep.

Today, we had some showers in the morning, and got on the road a few minutes later than planned at about 6:45 AM. We headed down I-55 toward St. Louis, and actually passed Mike going the other way (he started work around 5:30 and was on the way back from his first run). He suggested a route around St. Louis (I-270 to MO-370) and we were on I-70 before we knew it. We followed I-70 through Kansas City and ended up in Salina for the night around 4 PM. We had reserved a space at a park along the highway, so we’re at least able to relax a bit tonight. That is, assuming the weather cooperates: they’re predicting strong thunderstorms and/or 2” hail and/or tornados and/or flooding. Yikes! It’s been booming out there as I’ve been composing this, and the pups are already hiding under the bed. Hopefully, we’ll just get wet.

Tomorrow, we’ll head for Denver, stopping for the night just east of the city. On Saturday, we’ll continue on to Grand Junction where we’ll spend a couple of days before moving on to Oregon.