50 States, Day 220

  Poplar Bluff to Jefferson City, 255 miles
 
"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind."
~Mohandas Gandhi




Boom! The window shook as a clap of thunder rocked Missouri, and continued its rumbling for thirty seconds. Wow. That was an hour after the rain woke us. Going to be a tough day. Between the weather reports and our clever imaginations, we decided to start a bit later and hopefully the clouds and rain would pass. They almost did. We donned rain gear and headed West on 60, braving the storm for a few hours. Then, as predicted, the rain abated and soon the clouds began to clear. We stopped for fuel and switched the rain suits for the warmer (PP!) Gerbing gear.



Turning Northbound on 63, the landscape appeared dreary, the trees drawn with a dull #2 pencil. Whether it's the forest or the sky, even the houses seemed dowdy, single wide mobile homes and fifty year old houses that never had makeovers.

Before long, however, we climbed into the Ozarks, what the natives call mountains and we Westerners call speed bumps. But evergreen trees added color and Mr. Sun and blue sky gave it a bit of a lift.Call us rookies or Las Vegas weiners, but we seemed to do everything right today, starting with jackets and rain gear, then switching to Gerbing without plugging in, as the temp climbed to 55 degrees. Surely that's not so cold, right? But the chill, some weird Midwest 50+ degree chill, set in and we arrived in Jefferson City with cold hands and feet. Looking in the rearview mirror, we should have plugged in, but we've done hundreds of miles in those temps and been comfortable. Must be the humidity.



We check in to the Motel 6 (complete with fridge, microwave, and a blessed heater) and the crew informed us we could get a discount on dinner at the Country Kitchen, right in their front yard. Oh yeah. Ribs and chicken for me, boneless wings and fries for the Quiltmeister. Tasty and delicious.



Missouri is the place to buy a house. 1,500 s.f. 3 bed, 1.5 bath blah beautiful blah...$78,500. Or 5 bedrooms, 2.5 bath, 3,000+ s.f. 3 garages, 3 family rooms, his/her closets, blah awesome blah...go ahead, guess. Nope, lower. $179,900. What a deal. You just have to live in Missouri.

And now, hot shower thawed, Quilter Girl!

It is amazing how dismal everything looks in the rain.  I think this area would be beautiful, but the brown grass, stick trees and the grey skies make it all look very plain.  When the sun started poking its head out, things started to look brighter.  I even got out the camera.  We rode a long way today and I didn't really feel cold until we got into the room with the heat on.  We have ridden in 45 degree temps and not been this cold, it is crazy!

I was so excited about the quilt museum that I forgot to do an update on my quilt progress, so here it goes; I had a bit of a headache, so didn't get as much done as I could have but got started on the 2nd Irish chain quilt.  I am making 2 squares at a time; got 12 squares done and sewn together.  It is a start anyway and finally, here is a picture of the finished Irish Chain top.  


When I get home I will figure out what to do about borders.  I have seen pictures of these quilts with borders of more colored squares and it looked pretty good.  I can't do that here as I don't have enough 2" squares, but there are lots more where those came from.
QG
 
Tomorrow, the Missouri Capitol building. The locals call it 'Mahzzurah.'



 
 
 

5 comments:

Mel Nason said...

I love the pic of the shadow of you two on the bike, although it appears that you should both cut back on the ribs and chicken and boneless wings and fries.
Just sayin'!

Unknown said...

Mel, I'll be sure to pass that along to Quilter Girl, thanks!
But honestly it's the Gerbing gear. Really. Come on! It is! Really!
KP

Unknown said...

I felt funny posting that picture, because we're on a Honda Gold Wing. Not a Honda Shadow.
KP

Tim Rockstar said...

Ma it is amazing yhat you did that quilt while touring the country on a motorcycle. it looks great!

Unknown said...

You're a sweetie... and back in the will.
Mom