3 March

I must have really settled into the swing of things because this morning I nearly slept through the alarm (my mobile phone). I reluctantly got up after 6 and then got ready for breakfast, showed the clerk my Vegemite and then had breakfast. I had some fruit with it.
I was away before 7 and had to refuel immediately before leaving Lincoln. Then it was some serious travelling to leave Illinois and be in St Louis Missouri by 9:40, to find parking (fairly easy) and then locate the entrance to the arch there (not so easy). The arch is managed by the National Parks, so I got $3 off the tram ticket to the top using my annual Parks pass.
The ride to the top takes four minutes, after you have watched a three and a half minute movie. The view would have been very good, but the clouds were in and so was the rain. I got the idea of it and then went down and looked at the museum in the space under the centre of the arch. Then it was back to the car and off. One advantage of this time of year at many places is NO QUEUES.
I went off into a Rest Area at about 196 on I-70. Ladies please ignore what’s in the double brackets.
[[In the gents, the urinals are flushed automatically when you leave. The brand name for this particular one was TOTO – so even though I wasn’t yet in Kansas, Toto already had his eye on me.]]
In the handwashing area, this one was unique. You put your hands right under, into an enclosed space and got sprayed with soap, then water, then warm air. If you weren’t quick enough scrubbing the soap off, you got nice dry soap all over your hands.
After that it was driving along I-70 to cover as much distance as possible tonight before driving to Denver tomorrow, where I need to cash travellers cheques, arrange accommodation with a laundry (I’m out of clean clothes) and Internet and also finalise a detail on the car rental.
I did find out that Kansas, for some reason, has the first twenty-odd miles of I-70 as a tollway – peculiar in light of the fact that the Interstate is paid for federally (as far as I know) and that other states haven’t done the same. Then the rest area facilities were built like a blockhouse – but of course Kansas is in “Tornado Alley” so perhaps they need to be.
By about 8 I arrived at Hays Kansas and booked into an Econo Lodge. Then, after normal computer work and writing some postcards, it was off to sleep.