600 miles
17mpg
Walmart: $0

  
After 600 miles and 12 hours of driving, sometimes you just need to stop. Anywhere. It doesn’t matter.

  
Like a Walmart parking lot.

Thankfully, this one in Marshfield, Missouri allows overnight parking. And I am very grateful.  I was going to aim for the Mark Twain National Forest closer to Branson Missouri, but apparently the flooding is even worse down there, and there are evacuating some campgrounds. I could’ve spent $45 up the road at the KOA in Springfield, but really I’m only going to sleep here. I don’t need a pool, marshmallows, and a bunch of superfluous K’s. (“Kamping Kabins“,  “KOA Value Kard“, screaming Kids you’d like to Kill…)

What I really want to get to is the Route 66 good stuff in Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. That’s where I’ll spend more time, and maybe even two nights in one place.

On my marathon drive, however, I did get to see the world’s largest rocking chair in Cuba, MO.

  
So for now, I’ll be planning my day tomorrow with the aid of my map and favorite Road Trip USA book in front of me, with a view of the garden center at Walmart.