notes from the road

today i neurotically drove past a small town where i had thought to overnight, it would have been cool to do a bike ride there, as it's as flat there as it was in missouri but far more open with fewer trees. right now i'm a ways north of kankakee. seeing that name in my atlas when i checked where i was going has resulted in the song the city of new orleans, which is about a train called the city of new orleans, playing over and over in my head. songs about trains seem to be better to drive and sing with than do songs about trucking. the travelling wilburys' song end of the line is also a good train song, good to drive to. i'll have to download a tab, at least for the city of new orleans.

yesterday down in missouri i took a bike ride following a state highway about ten miles or so out from the truck stop i was at. it's incredibly easy to ride ten miles on roads that are totally flat. i visited the town of East Prairie pop 3200 and swung into Macdonald's, which there is the name of their grocery store, completely unrelated to the fast food chain which ironically is where i'm posting this blog. the cashier in the store asked me where i was from and it caused a bit of a stir when i said i was from springfield mass. i talked to a teacher for a few minutes. she taught everyone in the town when they went though her grade, and she invited me back to the town for the fourth of july. don't know if i'll do that but i guess i'll drop by there again sometime. me not being a people person, i was glowing with delight and it made my evening to meet up with some randoms in a tiny rural town in missori and have brief pleasant conversation with them. also got some more good pics that i can't post without an image editor.

tomorrow i have a delivery in the chicago area and then hopefully i can get a load headed back towards mass.

well, later dudes.