Day 17: Nebraska City to St Louis, Missouri #fiveexplore #travellingduringcovid19 #roadtripusa2020

Day 17 – August 2nd

Today was one of our longest drives. We dipped our toe into south west Iowa. It was hard to draw many conclusions from a gas station next to a corn field, but the attendant seemed very friendly. I noticed some strange looking flavours of potato chips but chose to resist.

As we progressed south, we crossed into Missouri and headed further south. The scenery was noticeably greener now and was less discernible from our east coast home in New Jersey. To pass the time Lyra reintroduced disaster questioning. “What do we do if our windscreen wipers stop working and it's pouring with rain? What if you can’t stop the car? What if the rain is too heavy?”

One interesting fact about Missouri is an excess of firework shops littered along the highways. Apparently since the pandemic firework sales have been booming. Missouri also has the largest firework store in Hannibal. Whatever keeps you entertained, I guess…

We approached Kansas City a couple of hours later and entered on the Kansas side of the city, thus ticking off another state in a questionable manner. On the route in we drove next to the international airport. Like other states it was eerie how few planes were taking off and landing. Kansas City is spread across two states - Missouri and Kansas. Apparently, the Kansas side is much smaller than the Missouri side. We spent a total of 25 minutes in Iowa and Kansas today but ticked off three new states visited. Efficient.

Talking of efficient, the potty bags and ‘she-wees’ were in regular use now and meant I could continue our rapid progress without stopping for endless toilet breaks. God bless urination technology.

After fireworks, the other lesson I learnt about Missouri is driving. Specifically, the drivers are insane. There are two key issues, not just unique to Missouri. Firstly, although countless signs state by law you drive on the right side of the road unless overtaking, few drivers do. They either cannot read, missed the memo, don’t care, or enjoy breaking the law. Instead. countless cars and trucks sit on the left of a two-lane highway, driving slower than the right lane. This causes the second issue, rampant undertaking with no indicating. It’s basically like the wacky races. Cars weave in between each other. If you leave more than two metres of space in front of you, a car will appear from nowhere and fill it. Trucks spend twenty minutes trying to overtake other trucks, leaving a long trail of frustrated drivers queuing in their wake. Utter Chaos.

I did some research and found a study by SmartAsset. Apparently, Missouri is the joint 3rd worst state when ranking the worst drivers in America - 'The Show-Me State ties with California for third. Missouri ranks 10th for rate of googling traffic tickets or speeding tickets, an indication that residents are getting tickets more than in other states. Many drivers here also forgo insurance, meaning accidents can get costly. The death rate per 100 million driven miles is also high in Missouri. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that 1.28 people die for every 100 million vehicle miles traveled in Missouri. That figure is up from 1.21 in 2015'.

Our day finished when we arrived in St Louis early evening. I had two goals for our stay here. See the Gateway National Park and eat a St Louis BBQ.

We walked a few blocks and entered the Gateway National Park. Opposite a beautiful courthouse, the Gateway Arch commemorates St Louis in the westward expansion of the United States in the 19th Century. It sits on the Mississippi river. If you turn north you can drive to Chicago, if you turn south you can drive to Memphis and eventually the deep south. On the other side of the river is the state of Illinois.

St Louis has the feeling of a crossroads. The size of the arch is vast. I craned my neck upwards and felt dizzy from the effort. We took thirty-one family selfies with the arch trying to get Lyra to smile (-this is true, I counted). Lyra was in a dark mood. Six hours of driving, more sightseeing, no dinner, and her gaming time interrupted for something as inconsequential as historic gateways.

We finished with a visit to Sugarfire BBQ. This is a well-known local BBQ joint. By the time we got there they only had brisket left but it was still delicious. Accompanied with fully loaded potato salad, slaw, fries, local beer, and chocolate milkshakes, we once again gorged on an American feast of fat, sugar, and carbs.

Oh Yeah.

I tried not to think about paying for the sins of my holiday diet. There were still four more days and four more states to come. Until tomorrow.

In addition to this daily blog, you can check out our Instagram feed for more photos and short posts documenting our 2020 road trip @fiveexplore