Hays, Kansas. Cooler ice froze solid overnight on the hood of the car, below which the engine had done almost 500 miles, yesterday.
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Gas was convenient to the Baymont Inn and Suites (a posh name for a run down motor lodge). We gassed up before getting on the road. About 500 miles on the last tank; downhill.
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Got gas after checking out, but the washer solution froze on contact with the window. Oh, well. So then we found a Starbuck's to charge up. It's over 500 miles to home. We usually like to find local coffee houses, but we were antsy to get going. This chain was already fully decorated for Dec 25, two weeks before Thanksgiving. And the route to the place involved quite a few roundabouts. The last time we were in Hays, the main drag was under major construction; presumably to make these wavy roads. The time before that, it was just an old highway lined with motels.
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Kansas scenery, for the next several hours.
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Plenty of wind farms here on the prairie
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Even inside the car last night, the water bottle froze.
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At noon, we stopped at the Plaza of the Flint Hills to walk and change drivers. More like a mini-mall than a simple travel stop.
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Approaching Kasnas City at 1:30, we see Coffee. But no way to get at it!
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Kansas City, is comparable to St. Louis in many ways. But their Interstate nest is more fearsome. I had to trust in Google to get us into the correct right, left, right, right, left lane. And this is the state line, right here.
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It's the second half of November. Isn't road construction season in the summer? Apparently not as we approach Columbia MO over the Missouri River. I liked the glowing limestone cliff and the dark bridge. Partly cloudy is fun for photography.
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Callaway Nuclear Plant is to our south as we pass east of Columbia. I find it reassuing that Missouri (a major coal state) has some nuclear running.
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Our shadow knows the way home. Horses to the barn, as it were.
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Our gas log for the trip. We drove 3694 miles and bought 88.1 gallons of gas from 85 to 87 octane with up to 10% ethanol, paying from $3.08 to $4.59 per gallon (this last was an outlier, at an out-of-the-way crossroad). So we got overall 42mpg including many winding gravel roads. We both thought this 2016 VW Jetta would do betta.
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Home! 535 miles from 10 this morning till 7pm. There was a detour; see next map picture.This map lives on our wall, and has all our major trips marked on it.
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Map Day 15, Hays, KS to StL, MO. With a detour due to bad traffic in Wentzville. Thus we got to drive rush hour traffic in Marthasville trying to cross the mighty MO to Washington, MO and then come home via I-44.
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