Socal to Phila road trip, Day 3....ARE WE THERE YET?

Am I there yet, this is a seriously long drive. But I took lots of pics! So onward with the Pillowcase Report! (as usual, click pictures to embigganize)

Quick recap: started driving from Socal 2 days before, crossed California and most of Az, tried to sleep in a wigwam but all full, spent the second day crossing middle America, stopped in Oklahoma, had a good night's sleep thanks to CLEAN pillowcases.

So I thought I'd go a little bit into how I lived in a car alone for 4 days, driving 14-15 hours per day. It's simple really, when I got hungry, I ate:
(These were yummy Chester's fried chicken gizzards, a delicious combination of crispy, chewy, spiciness you won't get at the other fried chicken joint)

...when I got thirsty, I drank:

..and when I got tired, I slept:

There were tons of these water towers all over Oklahoma

another one

So Oklahoma, was really pretty too, at least the Eastern half of it, near Tulsa. I stopped for gas in this really small town that was so picturesque, but for some reason, I felt like a tourist if I went out on the street and started taking pictures, so I took none. But the town was cool, it had an abandoned gas station that would've made for a good photo op, except for the semi parked in front of it, great architecture of the town hall, small car dealerships that still had glass showrooms next to the streets and the lot in the back like you'd see in the 50's or 60's. People were super friendly too. I think next year, I will drive further in and see more of rural OK. Here's a few examples of rolling hills and greenery along the highway in OK:




I stopped by in a small town outside of Tulsa to grab some coffee and I saw this cool Vespa store. The whole town made me think of Southern California, everyone was super hip but had a warm inviting vibe. Next door to this Vespa shop was a sushi place, just like something you'd see in Newport Beach.

Oklahoman Jungle:

I also passed through the 2nd largest McDonalds in Vinita, OK. But definitely the MOST INTERESTING McD's in the World. The title of the biggest McD's belongs to this place. In case you're wondering, the whole thing including the middle single Arch is the McD's. It would be kinda awesome to eat over speeding motorist on the Will Rogers Turnpike.

After Oklahoma, I passed into Missouri. First thing I did was get gas and buy some food. This is what I got, also shown earlier up top. These things were cheap, a half box was $2 or $3 but I think the lady liked me so she filled up the box until it was splitting at the seams! These are chicken gizzards fried in some spicy batter that was so greasy yet so delicious. I had planned on eating something healthy like a sub, but when in Rome...do as the Missourians do. They also had the liver versions of these and of course the rest of the chicken.

The roadside junglery really thickened up in Missouri. There were green forests as far as the eye could see and rock faces jutting out randomly like the ones shown below.



I passed through St. Louis and I had the strongest urge to go and look around. Primarily because of this:

OK I was hoping to get a more dramatic picture of the Gateway Arch, but it's not exactly a walk in the park squirming through traffic between semis while avoiding focusing on the splattered bugs on your windshield and the various expressway hindrences. So I'm going to cheat, here's a much better picture from Wikipedia:

The other picture that didn't turn out bad is below. This one includes the spectacular skyline of St. Louis. St. Louis is an amazing city with the Mighty Mississippi in the East and the Lenghty Missouri in the West. I would love to spend a few days exploring it. See the Wikipedia article for all the interesting things you can do there.

Once out of the major metropolitan areas, there were endless farmland filled with, yep you guessed it, corn. Some of these were taken in Missouri and some in Illinois, actually I think maybe all of them were in Illinois. I didn't actually realize I had passed into Illinois until the scenery changed from green jungles to corn, then I figured there was something wrong. There was actually nothing much to see other than corn while on my drive through IL. Maria told me that the rest of IL is more of the same except for Chicago, where you are transported to an alternate reality where people are friendly yet the town is modern and fast paced, like a Midwestern New York. Gotham is a definite must visit next year.




I also saw what looked like a prison. The place had barbed wires on the fencing and didn't look too hospitable. If you ever escaped from here, transport and food could be obtained quite easily, seeing as the interstate is but a few hundred yards away and there is an endless supply of corn!

To compliment my Day 2 post about the biggest cross in Texas, this biggest cross in Effingham, Illinois. Yes very interesting.

Moving on, in addition to endless rows of corn, the state penitentiary, and the giant cross, I topped off my day with this amphibious Honda Pilot:

I passed through Indianapolis in the night and saw the BIGGEST stadium I've ever seen, it threatened to swallow the entire cityscape of Indianapolis, it is a behemoth! I would've also loved to stop by the Brickyard. This city is on my to-visit list for next year.

Illinois Sunset:

I stopped outside of Dayton Ohio for the night and, yep you guessed it, smelly pillowcases. I had unpacked my pillow the day before so I came prepared to conquer the attack of the smelly pillows. I made a mistake coming in to my stop, I thought I had booked a room at Motel 6, but actually it was the Super 8 that I booked. It was unfortunate because the Motel 6 seemed a lot nicer (and they probably wash their pillowcases everyday too). So TRAVEL TIP #3: skip Super 8, listen to Tom Bodett and stay at the Motel 6, They'll Leave the Light on For Ya!

Stay tuned for my invasion of Pennsylvania!