10/3 - Rock Port to Danville, Missouri

We started off the day with the power cord reel going dead. (For those not familiar with RVs, it's an automatic reel, powered by the batteries, which carries our 50 feet of 50 amp cord.)  50 amp cord is very thick, heavy and difficult to manage. There's no place to stuff the cord by hand and it doesn't disconnect from the reel.....it either goes on the reel or it stays outside. We'd look really smart rolling down the highway dragging 50 feet of cord behind us. Before we got to the point of total panic, Jim took the switch out which still didn't work, but after he jiggled all the wires around it decided to work again. The cord was duly rolled up and we were on our way, but not without the worry of "what if it happens again and wire-jiggling won't make it work?"  Then it will be time to really panic.


Besides the above, there's nothing to report today other than that we made it around Kansas City without any problems which was a big relief. (Going through there last year was so bad we were afraid to go anywhere near the city again.)  The drive was good....beautiful weather once again....but the 290 miles seemed much longer than either of the past two days. Maybe it's because the 900 miles we've just driven have worn us down after not doing more than two days in a row since the start of the trip. The cats are tired of this daily driving and Lovie has spent all three days constantly going back and forth from the back seat to the front, demanding constant petting. She has a captive petter and is taking advantage of it.

We crossed the Missouri River again today....twice for good measure....once just east of Kansas City and again about 100 miles later near Columbia (picture above). The river meanders all over, covering many more miles than the road.  We'll cross it for the fourth and last time tomorrow near St. Louis.

These bluffs right next to I-70 are very different from the gently rolling countryside we'd been passing for so many miles. They were interesting while they lasted which wasn't very long.  We were soon back to rolling farm land.

We're in another lovely campground tonight, one we stayed at on our way to Minnesota last summer.  There are very few people here at this time of year. The owner told us they stay open all year but it's mainly for the one-nighters like us who are traveling on I-70. She said Missouri is no place to be in the winter.

After we got set up, we went to an RV parts store in a town eight miles away (population 2,200) to see if we could get another switch for the cord reel. No such luck. What a place....every surface piled high with stuff and most of the floor covered with parts and empty boxes. It would be a miracle if they could find anything in there. There were three Shelties barking their heads off with no one making any effort to quiet them. A very effective way to get rid of customers.

Sunset from Danville, Missouri

Tomorrow we'll welcome a slightly shorter drive, 260 miles to Paducah, Kentucky.