The Long Haul

At the end of every vacation there's that long haul home. Not that big a deal when you fly to your vacation spot, but grueling when you drive. We had a very long drive in front of us so we'd packed up most of our stuff the night before we headed out. So all we had to do was eat breakfast, toss a final few things on the truck, hook up the trailer and take our leave of Big Spring.

This was our campsite just as we were leaving. It wasn't a bad spot. Full shade. The Current River was right behind us through the woods. One thing that always amazes me is the size of some of the RVs and trailers that we see. The trailer just in sight in this photo was a monster. It was almost like seeing a full-sized mobile home. A very young couple had it and were pulling it with a giant American pickup truck with dual wheels.

We stopped for one last look at Big Spring. The morning sun was shining on the pool, making the clear water even a deeper turquoise than before. One neat addition was the guy in the green shirt standing in front of the cave...like a bit of the spring water given legs.

We'd heard about this place and had been told to make sure to eat there. We arrived at 10:45 and at first I was afraid we were too early for lunch. But it turned out that we got there at a very good time. It was already crowded, but by the time we'd eaten, the lines were out the door and beginning to wrap around the building!

The food is very good. Lots of great vegetables! Their gimmick is how the waiters serve the hot yeast rolls. The dudes roll down the aisles yelling "Hot rolls! Who wants hot rolls?". And when you raise your hand, they literally throw them to you...sometimes from across the very large dining hall. I never saw one of those guys miss his target.

In addition, waiters walk around with bowls of various freshly cooked vegetable dishes asking if you want anything...generally stuff that you didn't order. We left there thoroughly stuffed. If you're in their neighborhood, I strongly suggest that you give them a try.

The dining hall where we ate. This was just a small part of the dining facility. It's a pretty big place!

I tried to catch some hot yeast rolls in flight, but I never could quite get them.

A bridge as we left Missouri. I can't recall if we were crossing the Ohio River or the Mississippi at this point. There were many barges on the river below us, though. Traveling through this part of the country was strange...it was almost like the low country in my native Southeast. The highways were all built on high berms to keep them dry when the big rivers overflow their banks.