In the meantime, the truck and I will be making a trip up to spend some time with my sister and renew acquaintances with my Iowa friends during September. Traveling without my pups and my cat will be strange. It has been a hard year, I lost my L'ilBit, Amber and Holly -- all in a matter of 4 months. First Amber died with liver complications and tumors on her spine. A couple month later, I lost Li'lBit. She had been blind for several years, which didn't seem to be much of a problem, but she developed some tumors along her mammary line. She was pushing 15 years of age, having some bladder problems and I do believe, if there is a doggie alzheimers, she had it. I couldn't see her suffer so we made a trip to Gatesville TX to the vet she has had all of her life and we said our good-byes. Holly, the cat from hell, lived to be near 21 years, and after a few months of steadily loosing weight, she just went to sleep one night and didn't wake up to the sound of her breakfast bowl hitting the floor. My heart still has huge empty spots.
Brooke is the only pup left and, after a few short trips, I found she does not travel well when it comes to motels -- so she will be spending September with her "Aunt" Brenda -- she lived with Brenda prior to coming to my home so it is not a strange place to her and she seemed to enjoy the trips back to Brenda's over the last few months.
I have decided to take my time getting to Iowa and will be traveling up a portion of the Jefferson Highway. Inspired by the east-west Lincoln Highway, and named for President Thomas Jefferson, the Jefferson Highway was built in the 1910s as part of the National Auto Trail system.
Nicknamed the "Pine to Palms Highway," (or Palm to Pines - depending on which direction you are traveling!) it was the first north-south transcontinental highway linking Winnipeg Canada with New Orleans. Completed Feb 4, 1924, it extends 2,194 miles, from Canada, through Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana. Initially, the approved route bypassed Arkansas, but in 1924 a route was added through Arkansas.
I will be picking up the trail in Denison, TX and taking Highway 69/75 up through Oklahoma. Around Miami OK, it merges with the old Route 66 thru Joplin and on to Carthage MO.
There is one leg of the JH thru MO, primarily Highway 71/I-49 and one leg goes through Kansas, Hwy 69. Since there are things I would like to see on both sides of the KS/MO state line, I will be bouncing back and forth between Missouri and Kansas as if I were a Kansas Jayhawker or Missouri Bushwacker during the Civil War. Hopefully, I will have the time (and energy) to bounce back and forth to pick up the sites.
The area from OK through KS and MO is heavy with old Army posts and Civil War battlefields. So this is fair warning -- if you aren't into history, this may be a really boring trip for you!
Again the route splits near Kansas City, the western branch going up to St Joseph and then back east to Route 69. The eastern branch continues as Highway 69 from Kansas City, nearly running parrallel with I-35. It continues as Hwy 69 into Iowa up to Ames and then jogs east on the Lincoln Highway and continues north on Hwy 65 near Colo -- site one of my favorite diners in all of Iowa -- the Niland Cafe at the Reed-Niland Corner, the intersection of the Lincoln and the Jefferson Highways.
From Colo, the trip will be east on the Lincoln Highway until I get to Marshalltown. It will seem strange not pulling into Shady Oaks Campground, but without the trailer, I'll patronize one of the local motels for the month of September.
As I said, I'm not sure how much touristy stuff my lungs will handle -- and, of course, there is always the weather. I'll be leaving Rockport Aug 15 to spend some time with friends in Gatesville TX. While there I'll do my regular Gatesville errands, tires checked and rotated, well-baby check up on the truck, and Brooke to the vet. Then, weather permitting, I'll head north on my trek on Aug 24th -- hoping to be in Marshalltown a week later. Would love to have you come along for the ride.
