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LESLIE'S JOURNAL |
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| Date: 5th May
| Time: 8:38pm | Place: roadside, Sleeper, Mo. | |||
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I was going to take a moment to write my journal up by the train tracks in Sleeper, where we pulled over to see if my Dad's special engine-cooked Chef Boyardee recipe had worked. However, by the time we had taken dinner out from under the hood, pried it open and eaten it from the can, I noticed that we had attracted an audience as five faces stared out the window of the Sleeper Gas & Mini Mart (for sale). Now I've pulled over a little up the road, but as farmers keep stopping to see if the car has broken down I think I'll just keep driving and finish my journal in the hotel. Now it is 9.39 and Helen is typing this in for me as I drive. We can't decide whether to stop for the night , or keep going. We're both tired, but the road becomes so seductive that we keep telling ourselves that we'll go just a little further. We could have stopped in Lebanon, which sounded good, or Dixon, or Doolittle. Now we are rolling into Rolla and I know that if I don't pull over now, I'll be sorry in the morning to have driven through the last stretch of the Ozarks in the dark. It's been such a pretty spring day. The trees have their brand new, bright green leaves. Some of them are still in blossom and there is fresh road kill all along the road - all the true signs of Spring. If we were in Shamrock, Texas, we could have taken any one of the many armadilos or possums we've seen to the Road Kill Cafe, 'You kill it; we grill it.' Mind you, we are both vegetarians, although Helen has been acting a little suspiciously of late.... We've just pulled up at the Rolla Best Western. To my left a giant cow glows in the night, his billboard proclaiming: STEAK IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER. Helen looks as if she might like to get out of the car now, so I'll sign off and head for Room 107. P.S. Did I mention that the ladies room in Murphy's Restaurant (formerly Baxter Springs National Bank) is located in the old vault - the very one robbed by Jessie James? |
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