Spoffords Travel

October 19, 2022 Day 11 Warrenton Missouri to Cameron Missouri 228 miles

Another cold sunny day. Not as windy however which is good. We went on and off farm roads and one of the US highways. The main highways don’t have as many small hills to go over. The farm roads have very little traffic of any kind. About half of the corn fields have been harvested. We see lots of big equipment but most are just sitting. We passed through several small towns and near Mark Twain Lake. Lots more road kill. Once again mostly raccoons but at least two coyotes. We did see two small vultures at one carcass. They didn’t move when we passed by. The kill was off the road on the opposite side so they were pretty safe. We tried to pay more attention to the gas gage today so we didn’t run out of fuel. Lunch was at a Dairy Queen. Stopping for lunch and a bathroom stop seem the better option. It’s too cold to sit in the car or at a park bench. Rest areas don’t exist on the farm roads. We passed the exit for Hamilton Missouri. For those that don’t know that is home to the Missouri Star Quilt Company. Connie chose not to go. Simply not enough room in the car for all that she might find to purchase. We arrived at the hotel earlier than some days. That is good because we plan to do laundry. Unfortunately the washing machine is broken. So we go to the grocery store to buy microwave meals for supper. That store has some interesting items for sale. A bag of cracked pecans that must weigh about 2 pounds costs $17.99 and you still have to get them out of the shell. Then there was a nice selection of sweets labeled Amish that included coated pretzels and fudge. Rob did some maintenance on the car since we arrived early and the temperature is the warmest of the day. That still is less than 60 degrees. He cleaned and adjusted the points while answering questions from several onlookers.

October 18, 2022 Day 10 Vincennes Illinois to Warrenton Missouri 237 miles

Today is sunny but very cold. The wind blew quite hard all day. At least half of the day we drove on US highway 50. Sometimes it was a two lane road and sometimes it was a four lane divided highway. We were quite bundled up and the fuse to the inverter failed. This kept the heater fan and electric blanket from working. Hence we were getting cold. We stopped for gas and Rob replaced the fuse and was able to get at least some of the devices working again. Connie went in the convenience store to warm up. Half of the store has hard liquor. There are certainly some interesting flavors of vodka and whiskey. The price of the snack foods and candy are really high in my opinion. A single serving of chips is over $2.00. You really pay for the convenience. We saw lots of road kill. Mostly raccoons but a few deer and one coyote. The drive is mostly flat and through farmland. A few small towns and the edge of St Louis. At least this time we didn’t drive through downtown St Louis. We were definitely on some back roads. Even the farmers weren’t using them. They were paved however and often in better condition than some of the bigger roads. We listen to an audio book as we travel using blue tooth headphones. That makes the trip seem much faster. We turned off one of the lesser roads onto a divided highway and the car ran out of gas. We had been listening to a good murder mystery and not paying attention to the gas gage. Luckily we still had two full gas cans in the back. They are very difficult to pour into the gas tank however. Hopefully we won’t do that again. Other than that the car ran fine.

October 17, 2022 Day 9 Shelley’s house to Vincennes Indiana 244 miles

Once again the sunrise is incredible and stretches wider than the camera could capture. The temperature is much colder today. After breakfast Rob and I headed out. The no highway drive took us near the Cincinnati baseball and football fields. Some of the architecture is quite unique. More of the trees have turned colors but the colors are just not as colorful. The wind is pretty strong and trees are dropping lots of leaves. We drove through parts of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. The early part of the drive had small hills and curves but eventually the land flattened out. More farmland with corn and grain fields. Once we left Cincinnati the towns became smaller and not too frequent. The car ran well all day. We had to wear coats and blankets. Along the way we saw four other Model A’s. One was on the road and the other three were in a yard for sale. Rob struggled but continued to keep driving.

October 16, 2022 Day 8 Shelley’s house 0 miles

Today is mostly cloudy. The sunrise was beautiful again. The river is covered with fog which gives a different look. First order of business is to install the rear shocks on Shelley’s Model A. They got them installed and then adjusted a few other things. Then Rob and Shelley took it to Augusta just to check how it ran. Things went well. Later Michael and Shelley moved the horses from one pasture to another. The horses got really excited. The other pasture is much bigger but has been eaten down. Colder weather is coming and Michael was concerned the water would freeze. After supper Rob and Shelley tried to fix the grandfather clock. They worked with David but finally got to a point where they couldn’t fix it. Shelley is going to send it back to David for repairs. Michael and Connie looked at Shelley’s graduation quilt. Numerous pieces are full of holes. We think the cat has gotten her claws into it. Connie was going to try some repair options but the damage is too great.

October 15, 2022 Day 7 Shelley’s house 0 miles

Got up in plenty of time to see the sunrise this morning. It was very colorful. The skies are mostly sunny but the temperature is cool. Some wind but not too much. The plan for the day is to replace the radiator in the woodie. After a slow start the gang got to work. The process took until mid afternoon to get finished. The next job was to replace the shocks on Shelley’s Model A. That took until dark to install the front shocks. They also replaced the carburetor. The plan is to install the rear shocks tomorrow.

October 14, 2022 Day 6 Shelley’s house 120 miles

Today is foggy but clears off and is mostly sunny. We have not heard anything from FedEx about our package. Rob called Snyder’s about the package. They called FedEx and found out that once a package is rerouted it delays delivery by 3-4 days. Rob asked if we could go wherever the package is and pick it up. Supposedly that is true. So we decided to go right after lunch. The distribution center is about 51 miles away and takes about 1.25 hours to get there. We saw a deer beside the road on our way. The distribution center is huge. We found the package pickup door and went in. A security guard greeted us and said to wait 5-10 minutes because a shift change is going on. Rob waited about 3 minutes and called. Eventually someone answered. They explained the same thing only added that we should have called. Rob explained that since we didn’t send the item we could not get to a live person and were instructed to contact the sender. He explained more and asked if she could do something. She took his cell phone number and said she would look. After about 20 minutes she texted saying she found the package in the truck and would bring it to us. When she arrived she did have the correct package. After some discussion she gave out a local number and a classification of person to talk to. Rob has decided to no longer use FedEx. They don’t seem to care about problems with their delivery. Then before heading back we stopped at Costco for gas. The price there was at least 33 cents less than other stations. We also bought a few items in the store. On the drive back we went a short distance on a major freeway. It wasn’t quite a parking lot but close. Once we got off that the going was much better. We saw another deer on the way home. Both directions we followed the Ohio River for a few miles.

October 13, 2022 Day 5 Shelley’s house 0 miles

Partly cloudy today. Rob worked on both our Woodie and Shelley’s Model A. He got her car running. Several small problems but nothing major. Connie made cookies from cookie mixes and used a pizza pan to bake them on. Tasted pretty good. The day was pretty quiet waiting for news about the radiator. Rob ordered a radiator before we left Parkersburg. It was supposed to arrive on the 12th but FedEx couldn’t find the address. We called the sending company to have it rerouted, but it still didn’t arrive. We waited all day and no news of any kind. After supper Rob and Michael (Shelley’s husband) worked on Shelley’s Model A. He is trying to learn more about the mechanics.