Days 22, 23, and 24

Oh Boy……….Three days behind on my blogging! Good excuse, though. The air conditioner is on the fritz in the cab of the truck, so it is almost unbearable to hold this hot laptop long enough to sort pictures and turn out my witty commentary (HA). But here goes……I am going to hit the high spots of the last few days.

I remember we left Albuquerque and went through Texas and made it to Tulsa. We saw a partial rainbow in Texas and I managed to get a quick shot of it. In Groom Texas, we passed a sign that said Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere. It was very pretty and I went to good ole www.roadsideamerica.com and found out that apparently it is the second largest, but hey, it was big and I am not going to measure it to find out which. It was pretty and the text about it on the website was interesting. I also remember coming into Oklahoma after dark and there was the most fantastic lightning storm, like you see on TV. It would flash and shoot bolts all across the black sky. It was VERY impressive. We watched it do that for a long time.

We got to Tulsa and stopped for the night and that is when we realized we had no A/C. We were able to sleep because it was not that hot and it had been storming. However, the morning was a different story. I tried to work but it was SO hot. Bigfoot got up and we left. The truck moving helped some with the windows being down, but did nothing positive for my hair. Oh well, I will take it if I don’t have to be hot.

A piece of rainbow in New Mexico

The Biggest, or second Biggest, Cross in the Western Hemisphere!


Our destination was Carthage Missouri. We had NO idea what was in store for us there. We pulled in and checked in at the guard shack and they gave us a map to follow. We drove around and followed a sign with an arrow pointing us to “Underground”. Interesting. We went that way and sure enough, the entire deal was in fact underground, or in caves to be exact. We had to park and wait to be called and then proceeded into the cave as directed. Inside the cave was the entire warehouse, even employee parking. Now, understand the scale here. Several 18-wheelers at a time, all moving around underground, maneuvering around stone pillars seeming to hold the whole deal up. There were many “roads” going in all directions underground, depending on where you needed to go. The docks where we had to back up to were even farther under the ground. I tell you, it was something else. We thought it would be cool in there, but we were wrong. It was still hot. I did the best I could to get pictures inside the cave, but even with the lighting, it was still darkish and my camera has trouble in the dark because I can’t hold it still enough. I sat the camera on the door and snapped would I could. It was certainly an experience. They did not turn out as well as I had hoped and they are fairly blurry, but I hope you can get some idea of what it was like.

Can this be right? Are we supposed to go in THERE?

That's what the map says!

Let me go check this out.........

This place is HUGE!

The docks we have to back into.

In the underground warehouse, Carthage Missouri.

In the underground warehouse, Carthage Missouri.

In the underground warehouse, Carthage Missouri.

Poor Sparkle, she just cannot relax and unwind. We were in the cave at this point. I was reading.

Let me try this angle.


We left there and went to the truck stop to wait until the next day for our pick up again at a different place in Carthage Missouri heading to Deerfield Beach Florida. Normally, great news, but without A/C, not so much. It is working intermittently, so hopefully it will hold out. Anyway, I became homicidal in the parking lot of the truck stop, so for my safety and the safety of others, I walked over to the Sleep Inn and rented a motel room for the night. I did laundry, and took a shower, and set the thermostat as low as it would go. It was nice to have room to move around and a bathroom right there and of course, to not be hot. Bigfoot watched TV all night. We ate a good dinner at the truck stop restaurant with the coupon we got from the hotel and went to bed, fat and happy and COOL!

Yesterday was Friday and we left the Missouri truck stop/hotel heading toward Florida. We have been following Route 66 for a week and Joplin Missouri (where the hotel was) is also along Route 66. Somewhere along the way, we passed the signs for the biggest rocking chair in the world, a Route 66 landmark, but we could not see if from the Interstate. You can see it on the roadsidemerica website, though. We made it to the Kentucky/Tennessee line last night while I was sleeping. We have A/C at the moment, so I am grateful.

I think that catches us up to the present time. I will try not to get so far behind again. I am afraid I missed something good to tell………


Hey Buddy! Momma told me you were riding along! Glad you are. Leave me some comments!