In Columbia, Missouri for the night - Day 4, May 3, 2012

Fatigue is definitely setting in from all of the driving. When we reached Columbia, Missouri last night we had to ask someone exactly where we were. We thought about driving the two hours to reach Kansas City for the night but neither one of us could fathom driving another minute. So Columbia, Missouri is where the driving ended. We ate at Whitecastle because Heidi said someone told her that Whitecastle burgers were to die for. Neither one of us are sure what that person was talking about. Here is a picture of one. They are cute - they fit in the palm of your hand - but looks are definitely not everything.

Here is the view from our hotel room.

We did go and eat there, since we did not eat much at Whitecastle, and also, just so we could say we had eaten at Hooters. We got to watch the NHL playoffs and talk to some guys about the St. Louis/Los Angeles series. The food at Hooters was good. We ate chicken strips which would have tasted so much better if Americans ate honey garlic sauce. 

Our day began in Richmond, Indiana and the weather was still beautiful and so very hot! It was like summer! The day began around 77 F (25 C) and the temperature kept rising to 84 F (29 C)! Guess I did not need to bring a coat after all. Maybe I will need it when I land in Halifax later.

Our day began enjoying our free breakfast at the hotel where we saw a crock pot full of stuff that was very unfamiliar to me but not to Heidi. She was drawn to it and excitedly exclaimed, "Yummy! Biscuits and gravy!" The next thing I knew, she had this concoction on her plate (see picture below) and ate it for breakfast:

I enjoyed my typical eggs and breakfast sausage as I do not enjoy eating soggy biscuits. The sauce was yummy though!

In the breakfast area in the hotel was a garbage can, as they are commonly referred to in Nova Scotia, clearly marked trash. I have always found the little differences in accents, dialect and vocabulary interesting. I have always referred to garbage as garbage and the receptacle in which you place your garbage as the garbage can. When Heidi first met my girls, she asked the youngest one, who was only 4 at the time, to please put something in the trash for her. Without hesitating, the little one took the piece of garbage from her and took one step before stopping, turning to Heidi and asking, "Can you please tell me, what is trash?" I thought of this when I saw the garbage can clearly marked trash so I took a picture.

One of the first things we saw while driving in Indiana, which seems to be mostly very flat farmland, were horses. But these were not your typical horses and I could not believe what I was seeing. The horses I see in Nova Scotia are mostly solid coloured and typically brown, white, black or even grey. 

Here are the horses I am used to seeing:

Heidi wants me to include my direct quote when I saw the horses in Indiana, "What?????? Cow-coloured horses??????" Upon first glance of these animals, I saw the tell-tale pattern black and white pattern of dairy cows, which looks like this:

So I thought I was seeing cows but I had to do a double-take because something did not seem right. Once I looked more closely I could see manes and long tails and definite horse-shaped bodies. These were horses, not cows! I could not believe my eyes! I did not get a picture of the horses I saw but they were similar to this one:

These are what I will forever now think of as a cow-coloured horse.

As we continued on through Indiana I never did see anymore cow-coloured horses but I did see many more crosses and lots of flatland and farms. Here are some pictures of the Indiana landscape where we were driving.

There were state troopers everywhere along the interstate in Indiana and not so many in Illinois. We reached Illinois at about 12:25pm and we got a picture of the sign for you!

We drove by the Indianapolis Colts stadium and got a picture of that too!

And here is a picture of me and Heidi at a rest area in Illinois:

We entered the state of Missouri just shortly after 2pm and got a picture of that sign for you too :-)

While driving through, we took a picture of the Missouri river:

We stopped at a thrift store in Missouri and outside the store was something that struck me very funny. I understand the concept of the can, since we also provide containers in which smokers can place their cigarette butt,s but we do not clearly label them "butt cans" as this person did. You also have to remember that we were so tired and it was so hot outside, which made this even funnier to me.

We drove in Missouri for another few hours before eating at Whitecastle and calling it a night. We have another five hours or so ahead of us tomorrow before we reach our final destination of Wichita, Kansas! Here we come Wichita!