Sept. 10, 2010 - We Embark

So we left home at 6pm on a Friday, to find ourselves in a traffic jam 30 minutes out of town. Great! We drove into the night, trying to get as far away from home as we could. 1:45am we stop for the night in a truckstop somewhere in Missouri for our first night on the road in the teardrop. It rains. Torrentially. We found our leak! And lucky for me it was on Ed's side. Actually we both tossed and turned all night just getting used to the idea of sleeping in a shoebox on a trailer in a truckstop in Missouri. So Ed's feet got a little wet but we patched up the leak in the morning. But not before being awaken by strangers talking about us just outside our window...

(read this in the thickest southern accent)

Mr: That's a tiny little camper right there, the back opens up and they got a kitchen and storage.

Mrs. A camper? You mean a trailer for camping supplies?"

Mr. No, no, that's a camper, you can sleep inside of it.

Mrs. No way, that is too tiny!

Mr. No it's not, I betcha they just got tired and pulled off to rest, I bet there's people sleeping in there right now.

And so it begins, seldom will we make a stop and not have an admirer or two. Literally not a day went by in our two weeks on the road that we didn't have someone strike up a conversation about our teardrop. "What is it? Where did you buy it? Do you really sleep in there?"

Sept. 11
After brushing teeth and cleaning up a bit at the truckstop, we finally hop on Route 66 at 9:30 am.
Here is our very first roadside oddity, you see we were quite excited.

In case you were wondering, this is the Route 66 Rocker.
Erected 4-1-08
Stands 42'4" tall
Weighs 27,500 lbs

We spotted the rock frog! Aunt Nancy, Americana expert and enthusiast, had given us a list of things to look out for. This was one of them, it was a like a scavenger hunt, looking for everything on her list and finding a ton of stuff in between.

Our very first neon stop, the Munger Moss Motel

Our first diner stop, the Bell Restaurant in Lebanon MO. We enjoyed a most satisfying breakfast at 11:30am. Love that ceiling!

Edit: I missed a page in our travel log! More to come from from our adventures on the 11th - I can't believe we did so much all in one day...part 2 of day 2 coming soon.