Rockin' Down the Highway

(Val) The closest I got to racing this weekend was seeing the Bass Pro Shop show car hauler at their Outdoor World, and zipping by Lebanon I-44 Speedway on my way to Springfield, MO. For the record, I did wave and say “Howdy” as we passed by. There were a lot of haulers there at 10am, no doubt recovering from Friday night’s MARS/UMP Showdown and gearing up for Saturday’s finale.

We arrived at our destination around 11:00, which would have been a lot sooner if the yahoos at MODoT would actally put up detour signs when they close an interstate highway. Many thanks to the kind security guard at Purina Farms in Gray Summit who got us headed in the right direction.

We drove through rain off and on, and fog rose up in the valleys. There was nothing torrential or threatening, for which I was thankful. Our observations of the damage left behind in St. James by the previous day’s tornado was enough to make me very thankful that we dodged that bullet.

The trip down was uneventful and we enjoyed a little early morning comedy provided by Craig Cornett on 93.7 the Bull out of St. Louis. (The Bull Rocks!) The comedian on his show that morning was hilarious and had us laughing out loud about is post-college days working at Denny’s.

As we neared Springfield, we passed the 3M Company and Jesse asked if I thought they had a gift shop. Picking up on her silly mood, I asked if she wanted to buy some Post It Notes. Her reply was, “Pink is SO last season.” To which I replied, “I hear yellow is making a comeback. It’s the new black.” (Guys, ask the woman in your life if you don’t get it.)

We proceeded into the big city and managed to locate our hotel even after falling for a very misleading blue sign. (Strike two MoDoT!)

I am always cautious about booking hotels, and whenever possible, I stick with a brand I know and with which I have had a good experience. Because we originally planned this as a scrapbooking weekend, we were looking for a place with lots of room to work. With that in mind, we booked a studio with an obscure name that actually looked ok in the pictures.

Below are a few of my own revised guidelines for booking a hotel:

1) Beware if you can’t securely book your hotel online. In this day and age, there’s just no excuse for not providing that feature to customers.
2) If you pull into the parking lot, and realize that the old name of the hotel has been covered up by a plastic banner, you might want to reconsider your accommodations.
3) Finally, if a unit of your hotel is roped off by yellow caution tape…well you get where I’m going here.

To be honest, the place was decent, and we chose to stay rather than go to the trouble of finding a new home for the night. However, I will be writing a letter to management tomorrow. I could put up with all the burned out light bulbs, and the slightly musty smell, but the air conditioner that woke me up every time it roared on, combined with no hot water to shower with this morning was the last straw.

Our tour of Missouri State University was very thorough and we had a great day for it once the clouds finally cleared. The campus is very nice, and I feel as if it will be a good fit for Jesse, should she decide to go. We enjoyed the football game and the marching band too. It helps that we are both sports nuts!

When we left the game, we went in search of our traditional French Silk Pie, and we found it at a Village Inn restaurant. Getting it to go, along with a couple of cold cups of milk, we took it back to our room for the ultimate taste test. We have come to think of ourselves as connoisseurs of French Silk Pie, and Jesse has even devised a score sheet for the task. This trip’s selection rates no where near that of the Tippin’s pies from the Olathe, KS Henhouse that we have come to love so much.

After the long day on the road, and all the walking around the MSU campus, we were pretty beat so we hit the hay right after the Cardinals game wrapped up on TV.

The clear sky of Saturday night was long gone by the time we awoke on Sunday morning. We plotted our trip home over breakfast at McDonald’s and then headed off for more adventure.

As did many girls of my generation, I grew up reading the “Little House” books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and I loved them. For a while, I remember actually wanting to be Laura, living life in a cabin on the open prairie. All true lovers of Laura’s books know that she wrote them while living with her husband Almanzo in Mansfield, Missouri. Mansfield is just a half an hour or so east of Springfield, and I have always wanted to go there, so this looked like the perfect chance. We altered our route to take us to Mansfield, and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s home.

We found it with no problem at all, but unfortunately it was closed when we got there. I did manage to take a few pictures, and pick up a brochure so that next time I’m down that way, I can actually take the tour.

After leaving the small town off of I-60, we headed north on Highway 5 to scope out Hartville, MO. This small town is the home of the Got Milk? Fall Outlaw Winged Kart Nationals and we have been asked to cover the event next month. Because we have no idea what to expect, and because it was sort of “on my way” home, I decided to scope it out and take a few picture so Spring will know how to plan.

Hartville Saddle Club Speedway is actually a horse arena that is converted into a race track one weekend a year. We found it with no problem, and got our pictures. It’s definitely small, but I can see why it would be interesting and exciting to see racing there.

After leaving Hartville, we made the 40 minute journey to Lebanon, MO, home of the famous Walnut Bowl and Barrel Factories, both of which were closed. We also tried to visit the home of the World’s Largest Jigsaw Puzzle Collection, but they were closed too. Seemed like every hokey thing we tried to do on the way home was closed!

Our last stop was for dinner at Applebee’s in Rolla, which was a nice treat. I’ve missed Applebee’s since the one by our house burned to the ground last month. We made it home in good time, sprung Frisco from the puppy hotel and enjoyed the second half of the Rams game.

It’s good to be home, and I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep in my own bed again. Of course, I’ll be ready to hit the road for my next adventure before too long!