The Great Big Sky

It’s an early wake up around 7 am. Lea and John are already busy in the garden. I visit with them and get some radishes for the road. John roasts the coffee for the Coop and they just got some Fair Trade Guatemala Beans. It’s interesting because I’ve never seen green coffee beans.

After I say goodbye I go to the Penny Lane Coffeehouse for breakfast. I meet the same people as yesterday and it is a family, Randy a schoolteacher and musician gives me his latest CD for the road

Then it’s time to say goodbye. I really like Heidi and Paul, they created a wonderful Oasis in southern Indiana.

I make a quick stop at the Library to check my email, somehow the WIFI at the Coffeehouse was not working for me. It’s a beautiful day and it’s very hot outside and even more inside my car. I wish I had a working AC. I have to have my windows and roof open and so it’s kind of loud. With my short hair flying in the wind I pass by that beautiful field of yellow again.

Then I hit I64 straight to St Louis. I don’t play tonight but want to make some miles towards Kansas City. Look at that great blue sky! It’s fascinating and I start writing some poetry in the car.

All over sudden I realize that I’m running out of gas and there is no service in sight. I slow down to make it last longer. Not one minute to late I see an exit with a gas station.

A couple hours later I’m passing through St Louis. The traffic starts to get denser and the heat drives the sweat out of me.

It takes several hours before I clear the city and I’m toast. I need a Motel soon and don’t want to drive any further. I find a cheap one with a little Italian restaurant (well, not really Italian, more for truckers.The Cesar/Chicken salad is a pure nightmare and I have to rinse it down with several Budweisers. Then I start talking to James, a highway worker who also stays at the Motel. We buy beers for each other until we sing fragments of our favorite songs to each other.

Luckily the dive closes early and before I hover out I take another photo with James and the barmaids.

I fall into bed and wakeup a couple of hours later, still in my jeans and the TV running. I’m a bit embarrassed but then again it was a great social study with me in the midst of it.