Sep 8 Day 23

Where are Tom and Lennie Now? - Click here for our current location !

Day 23, and the end of the trip is near. Today we made our way across the remainder of Kansas, all of Missouri, and most of Illinois, ending the day in Effingham. There are a number of key indicators that tell me we are almost at the end of our trip... the amount of time on highways vs. back roads increases, Lennie starts running out of interesting things to photograph, I actually start looking forward to driving a car again, and the speed limits are back in the 60-65 range.

The eastern portion of Kansas was pretty unremarkable. There was a section of highway that seemed to undulate up and down for a dozen or so miles.

At the eastern end of Kansas, we crossed over the Kansas River...

and made our way into Missouri.

Once over the Kansas River, we got a view of the Kansas City Missouri skyline.

Right along I-70 is Kauffman Stadium (nicknamed the "K"), home to the Kansas City Royals.

As the day wandered by, we started to see a number of cars like this one below (notice the tail). When I saw the first one, I didn't think much about it, just assumed they had kids and were having some fun.

Then we saw more, they were on the road, at the gas station, in the McDonald's parking lot, etc.

Finally, I saw one that also had the college sports window flags, I finally realized it had to be related to some college football game.

Turns out, the Missouri State Tigers had a late afternoon game against the Georgia Bulldogs. This is Missouri State's first season after their move to the SEC. Looks like the Bulldogs handed them a 41-20 loss.

The next two cars looked like really nice restorations. The first one is a 1957 Chevy Bel Air wagon, typically called a Nomad.

The second one is a 1957 Bel Air convertible. Both looked really nice.

Later in the day we crossed over the Mississippi River as we entered Illinois.

They seem like friendly people, at least they have a sign at the entrance saying "welcome".

Lennie wanted everyone to know that in addition to her hi-viz helmet, she also owns a hi-viz tee shirt. She is certainly a fashion statement (of some sort).

Tomorrow we will make our way HOME !!!!

Today, we traveled 488 miles from Junction City Kansas to Effingham Illinois. This brings the trip total to 6015 miles. Below is a map of the route from today.