GOC Central Beautiful Dunwoody Georgia

5771 miles
10 states
4 time zones
10 days

I skipped Days 9 and 10 so here they are..

Day 9. I had an easy drive from St. Joseph Missouri to Jefferson City Missouri so I hit the road late, around 9:00 AM. I took the long way to get there by driving down Highway 65 past Sedalia down to Highway 54. This was so I could drive by the Niangua arm of the Lake of the Ozarks where I used to have my cabin. I always like to drive through the Lake of the Ozarks just to see how much it has changed over the years. Back in the 70’s the Niangua arm was pretty deserted. It was 38 miles from the dam. It was great for water skiing since it wasn’t all that built up. No more. As I was driving through Osage Beach I saw a sign for a Dierbergs store. WTF? A Dierbergs? Here at the Lake? Dierbergs is a St. Louis supermarket chain. I wonder if they have gooey butter cakes, another St. Louis specialty? I was planning to stop at the Dierbergs in Illinois at Exit 16 of I-64 on the way home but if they have gooey butter cakes here I can save a stop. I rolled in the store and it was huge! I found the bakery and sho’ ’nuff they had them. Grabbed three of them and took them to checkout. I’d have one on Sunday and freeze the other two for later. A lot of people from St. Louis retired to Lake of the Ozarks so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at how much like St. Louis it has become. The roads are better now. It used to take four hours to get there from St. Louis. Back in the 70’s, I made it from my cabin to my mother’s house in two hours and 20 minutes. Of course, I was driving in the 90’s on I-44. Back then, I knew where all the radar traps were. Now, with I-70 and I-44 completed and the upgrades to Highway 54 and the other Missouri highways it should always take less than three hours.

After checking into my hotel, I went to see my friend Cliff who lives just outside Jeff City. I’ve known him since 1973 when we both started working for the Mattel Office Products Division of IBM. Both of us managed to escape OP and make it to the Field Engineering Division. Better pay and better management in the FE Division. I moved on to Atlanta as an instructor and he moved to Poughkeepsie as a technical writer. He then became a systems engineer (which used to be one of the best jobs in IBM) in Chicago where he got caught in a downsizing and lost his job. He got screwed. We both have spinal problems. Mine from an accident, his genetic. He served me some barbequed spareribs (which are now known as St. Louis style ribs) which were delicious. None of this baby back crap. These were nice and meaty. I missed him last year since I didn’t go on a road trip.

Day 10. Got up early since I had to drive 700 miles to get home. I filled up with gas before I started and got Mickey D’s coffee. Fortunately, it was Saturday so there was no traffic through St. Louis. All the traffic I encountered on the trip was driving fast. I set my cruise control on 75 and made great time. I only had to stop for gas once in Kentucky and got me a milkshake at the McDonald’s at Monteagle. Fortunately their milkshake machine wasn’t broken like the last time I stopped there. I made it home in 10 hours. I was beat!

This trip took a lot out of me. I went to bed around 10:00 PM and for the first time in I don’t know how long, I slept all night without waking up in the middle of the night. When I woke up Sunday morning, it was raining so I went back to sleep. Got up around 10:30 and ate breakfast (gooey butter cake) and read the paper. Then, I went to bed for another four hours. Got up and did the laundry and got all the trash out of the car. Gonna need to take it to the car wash this week.

I had planned my trip for ten days but I had packed for twelve. I saw everything I wanted to see and had a great time. My sister told me I should have gone up to Lake Louise but that would have been too far. Now, I’ve gotta start planning for next year.