We Now Join our Regularly Scheduled Program Already in Progress

April 9, 2024 – Day 24

Giant City State Park, Makanda Illinois – Cracker Barrel, Joplin Missouri

Today we were going to break camp and hit the road. It would be a long 374 mile day from Makanda, IL to the Cracker Barrel in Joplin, MO. You don’t want to get there too early and take the space of paying customers. The goal is to get there after the dinner rush so the parking lot is empty. It’s also easier to navigate the lot and to park.

But first there were morning things to get out of the way which included showers and dishes. We had “breakfast and a show” watching the people leave the campground. We chuckled at the lines at the dump station since we weren’t going for hours. Our planned time to leave was 11AM, which would still get us to the CB too early. We planned to park at a Lowes/Home Depot or Walmart and eat dinner in the parking lot. Exciting, right?

We started to head out around 11:15 and that was only 15 minutes late (susan: Only 15 minutes behind? That’s good for us!). Surprisingly it took way more time that we had planned to stow all the wooden and plastic ramps. (susan here: there were lots, the site looked level but it was far from it!) Then the Camp Host stopped by and we chatted for a good long time.

Then we went off to leave “our treasures” (black and gray tanks) and take on fresh water that we needed for the next three days. We got talking to some people that we’d talked to the day before. With time ticking we said our goodbyes and “Have a safe journey!” We pulled out and stopped immediately. Might as well have lunch, right? We’d be driving when proper lunchtime rolled around. Some sandwiches were quickly made and consumed and we were (finally!) on our way. No idea how behind schedule we were at this point but it wasn’t 15 minutes.

Minutes out of the campground the GPS told us to turn right onto South Church Street. Except we noted one rather important detail: Limit 10 Tons. We weigh nearly 15 tons. That’s 5 tons more than the limit. We didn’t turn right. We decided to go to the Visitors’ Center tell them where we were going and ask for exit advice. They were happy we didn’t choose to ignore the sign. We were well behind schedule now but that’s ok. We can’t make up time but there are always good stories, such as this one, when the day doesn’t go quite as planned.

Eventually we crossed the Mississippi River at 1:30pm. Again. The first time was so cool. Now that we’re “seasoned pros” it’s interesting but no longer the big deal it was the first few times.

Here we were deep into grain country. The fields were gorgeous and the metal buildings numerous.

Diggins MO has a sizable enough Amish poplution that we saw signs that said “Share the Road” with buggies on it instead of bikers. We saw one buggy bolt across oncoming traffic. The driver and passenger must have nerves of steel. The horse was at full gallop flying across the side of the oncoming traffic side of the road and then across the other direction. It was a sight to see. Also, horse poo was everywhere on the shoulders.

Around this time we were cut off by a speeding sedan. You know how it is, right? Someone does something really stupid and you think “Where’s a cop when you want one?” Well, that cop was there! They tried to take the exit but they were thwarted! Karma was served!

We needed gas and we couldn’t find a Flying J with the RV lanes. We knew this at the start of the day and Paul spent about half an hour with satellite view and street view trying to find something just off the highway that would fit us. For those playing at home, remember we’re about 53′ nose to tail. We don’t fit everywhere. Casey’s looked like a decent bet.

We fit, but it was very tight. The pump was slow also. All told we lost a good amount of time with that gas stop.

Soon we realized that we’d be arriving much later than expected. The Cracker Barrel was nearly empty of paying customers and there were 4 or 5 folks parking for the night. No surprise that we easily found a space.

Good night!

Daily: 370

Total: 1,997

Driving Miles/Day: 250

Overall Miles/Day: 80

mpg: 5.86