Day 8 of 11 Driving across the USA

I was still worried about my car, even though I'd just driven 450 miles after the storm, so I trucked on over to the Volvo dealer in Prairie Village. They were so friendly and accommodating! They took the car, put it up on the lift, saw nothing but a little missing windshield washer fluid, filled me up and sent me on my way.

I love those good Volvo dealers!

I drove clear across Missouri all the way to St. Louis on I70. What a miserable highway stretch. There's a LOT of traffic between these two cities. It wasn't fun.

I stopped briefly in Columbia, MO in search of a good breakfast. I had a really hard time finding anything, so instead I found a car wash and a Subway. It was the only fast food I ate on the entire trip and it was awful. I can't believe people eat that by choice.

I hopped out to take photos of the Arch of St. Louis, the gateway to the West, then headed for another long stretch to Lexington, KY.

Once I got out of East St. Louis, I followed I64 for Lexington, KY. It once again emptied out and was a wonderful, pleasant, scenic drive. I drove through southern Illinois, southern Indiana and finally entered Kentucky. I stopped at a gas station in some small town and asked the Indian working behind the counter if he knew what yellow-flowered plant was in all the fields. He said he'd never noticed it before. Had no idea. I still have no idea what it was, but it sure was pretty.

About 9:30pm, I was less than ten minutes from my exit, I heard on the CB that there was a smokey between markers 66 and 67. It was pitch black, but I was watching for him mostly because I had nothing better to do. I was cruising along on cruise control at exactly the speed limit when, the flashing blue lights appear in MY rear view mirror! Mine!!! I'm, like, what the hell! I wasn't drunk, I wasn't speeding, all my lights work....hmmm.

Says he pulled me over for weaving. Yeah. I go through the spiel about where I'm headed, what I do, blah blah blah. It was very interesting that he kept asking similar questions different ways to see if I'd slip up. Then my CB squawked. He jumped. Said what's that! I said, calmly, knowing I have nothing illegal, it's a CB radio, sir.

Step out of the car and hand it to me.

Now just one minute. He's on the safe side of the road and I have to get out with all that speeding traffic and go to the other side of the car?

Yup.

So I hand him the radio and he seems perplexed by the fact that it's hand-held and yada yada. Then he wants to go through all my stuff. All of it!

Well, I didn't really feel like making a stand for my rights, so I said sure. He looked through everything. He REALLY looked at the car's wheel wells. He was sure I was transporting SOMEthing to fill the evening's quota.

Well, he didn't find anything, gave me indecipherable directions about where to find a hotel, and I drove off. I drove way past my exit, and that turned into a nightmare of avoiding detours, etc.

I finally checked into a Marriott Suites and crashed. It was a long, ten-hour driving day and I was beat.