Greetings from West Plains Missouri!

That is correct!  We are on the road again looking to score another Half Marathon Victory for Cheryl.  Or at least a close runner up... or age group recognition..  Or something.   Tomorrow we will be at the "Heart Of The Ozarks" Half marathon.  Cheryl is very excited. 

The location of West Plains is right along the border of Arkansas.   Which means it was a long drive here.   But luckily!   We had the New Cherry Bomb Subie!   And she handled it  like a champ.   Especially since the roads were terrible in Missouri.  I shall elaborate...

Packed snow covered roads!

The odd weather we have had in Iowa has pretty much been just cold with wind.   But as we crossed the border of Missouri,  the snow began to pile up... And up!  I guess they got hit with freezing rain and some serious snow last night.  The plows did a pretty good job staying on top of things, but they had not fully cleared the roads down to the pavement.

Multiple trucks in ditches!

This made for some slow and  cautious driving.  Cheryl started out this trip saying we have 8 hours to get there so we need to drive 70 mph at all times.   Well...not so fast! ( Literally!)  All it took was a few semi's plowed into the ditch to change that assessment.  I did manage to drive around 50 most of the way through the snowy parts.  

Google Maps "Shortcut" through Farmland.

OH!  And before I forget...  Garmin ( Google Maps) in an effort to show us the "fastest way possible" had us going down these un-plowed, backwoods, farm roads!   Not a very fun driving experience!  Miles from any help and the worst possible road conditions!    AND......No place to go to the bathroom! 

Getting better!

Mostly melted now.

Eventually I was able to speed up as the snow melted and cleared.  The temps warmed up the farther we traveled south, so that certainly helped. And the Sun has been bright and shiny all day...   By the time we got to our destination, all of the snow was gone and only a touch of ice clung to the rock formations. 

Dry and sunny!  Nice!

But we survived the muted episode of "Ice Truckers."  ( See March 2014 Adventure!)  And With the New Subie!   Hurray!  Packet pickup was quick and uneventful, so now all we have to look forward to is hanging out in the hotel room and waiting for the race to begin.  We are only about 10 minutes from the start line here, so we might even be able to sleep in a bit.  

Other than that,  I'm hoping warmer weather will join us soon.   The race will start in the 30's and end in the mid 40's we think.  Back in Iowa, the temps are supposed to rise to the low 50's...( we hope!)

The Swag..

Tonight's Snacks!  $4 a bag!

But let's not get ahead of ourselves too far.  Focus on the race, and Then blog about the huge money prize Cheryl will win for us.   There will be money,  right?   Well, we shall see.    Thanks for stopping in.