Maryland Bound... Day Two

What do you talk about on long car trips? Our conversations have been rather random and sometimes go off on several tangents. As we left Tucumcari, New Mexico this morning and discovering they have NO Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts or any other coffee place we discussed what would entice people to stay and live in such small towns. That led to a discussion of moving and then where in transit our boxes being shipped by Fed Ex might be... and if the Fed Ex trucks we saw might have our stuff in them...

Could this be the truck with our stuff?

We passed into Texas and commented on how "unpicturesque" the scenery was- and then off in the distance we could see a huge white cross on the side of the road. Just outside of Groom (wouldn't you love to know the story behind the name?), Texas is a 190 foot tall white cross erected by Steve Thomas who wanted to "show his gratitude to God for His blessings with a public symbol of faith." Wow! How "public" am I with my faith? I chewed on that for awhile as we drove along.

The cross is illuminated at night and is viewed by an estimated 

10 million I-40 motorists every year!

We saw a billboard for Shamrock, Texas indicating an old gas station there had been used as a set in a movie. After debating which movie, we decided to stop in Shamrock, see the old gas station and get some coffee at McDonald's (still no Starbucks!). Can you guess the movie?

~ Ramone's in the movie "Cars" was modeled after this old Conoco station! ~

Highlight the area from ~ to ~ to see answer!

As soon as we crossed into Oklahoma... "where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain"... it was man against nature for control of the car. I think we drove almost entirely through the state with the steering wheel turned to the right! We were discussing wind energy (yes, this was the most intellectual conversation we had!) and how Oklahoma would be a perfect place for it when suddenly the landscape was filled with...

WINDMILLS!!!!

See how the trees are wind-swept to the left? Hence the need to keep the steering 

wheel turned to the right just to go straight!! Crazy!

We crossed into "The Show Me" state (Missouri) and ended the day in Joplin traveling a total of 599.4 miles today. After a tasty BBQ dinner at Lumpy's- a local joint tourists don't frequent in the "bad part of town" according to the desk clerk at our hotel- it's time to call it a day! Two time zones down, one to go!