Day 10 - Sikeston, MO - Conclusion

If I'm going to drive to Marceline tomorrow, I need a head start.

My friend in St. Louis has invited me to crash in her place for the night and then I can get up at the crack of dawn to get on the road.

It will almost make the drive bearable.

I check out of the hotel and put my bag in the car. It is going to be the first time that I get to drive the new Jeep for any significant length of time.

I check in with "The Kids" before I leave. I'm a little nervous about leaving them on their own. I feel better because Claudette will be around but I'm going to make this trip as quickly as possible.

My Mom is already in bed. She is, as they say here, plum tuckered.

She's making me put a note in my pocket with Jack's phone number as my ICE number.

I'm surprised she's not asking me to pin it to my shirt.

I tell them that I'll be back around 7:00 p.m.

The drive to St. Louis is a nice one. I get plenty of time to think about what we've done so far on this trip. It is pretty amazing that just 16 dayts ago, I had no idea that this was going to be happening.

I meet my friend at the her local bar. Walking in, I see a cigarette vending machine next to the front door. I knew I was going far away on this trip but I had no idea i was going to be time traveling as well.

My friend is with her Mom and another friend. I get a huge hug from her Mom. She wants to know how my Mom is doing.

She wants to help in anyway that she can. Everyone wants to right now.

There's, unfortunately, not much that anyone can do.

Eventually, it is just me and my friend at the bar. We finish the pitcher of cheap beer and head back to her place.

Even though it is after midnight, it is very warm in St. Louis. We sit on her back patio next to a row of deflated kiddie pools that she and her friends sat in all day.

We talk about work, life, and all of the funny things that are going on with the mutual friends that we have.

I watch fireflys dance around her back yard while off in the distance, I can see the heat lightening spark across the sky.

It is serenity.