Wide awake at 0600, I think Bill is slipping something into my food! The more I hang out with him, the more I am turning into him! I resist the urge to get up and write, it isn't that strong anyway, roll over and go back to sleep. That is my talent, mild Narcolepsy. I mean no offense to anyone who actually suffers the disorder, I have just never had any problems sleeping.......anywhere.........under any coditions.

Warm bed in a dark room? No brainer. Ditch on the Interstate with traffic 10' away? Still doable!

I wake again at 0715, perfect timing. I have my leftovers from the night before for breakfast, load the bike and depart on time. I either left something somewhere or my packing technique is getting better. The first couple of days I had to force the saddlebag lids shut, now there is room to spare. Of course I was overlooking the space inside my sneakers, that is a pair of socks in one shoe and a pair of gaunchies in the other.

A substantial savings when you only have 32 litres to work with. 32 litres sounds like a lot, and it is when you are talking, say Dr. Pepper or Skim Milk, but as storage for personal effects for a 3 week trip, not so much!

The plan today is head straight south on this lovely agricultural road until we get into Kansas. As we leave the Norfolk area we can see the skies are dark up ahead, it takes about an hour to reach them but to our surprise it is fog, not rain. We drive in the fog, which is quite, er, foggy at times, enough to cloud up the visor. You have to take your index finger and make the windshield wiper motion (ee - ee, ee - ee) every few minutes to clear it.

I find fog very demoralizing, even more so than rain. There were just enough sporadic patches of sunshine and clear sky to restore one's hope then the fog would come crashing in again. Curiously 'merican cars typically do not have daytime running lights so often oncoming traffic would just, poof, appear, kinda startling, but I guess that is another good reason why they are in their own lane. We stopped at a small town gas station so Bill could top up and one of the local yokels said it was foggy there often, at combination of altitude and geography I guess.

We left Nebraska and entered Kansas stopping again at Bellivue for fuel and to change to an eastern highway. We were booking it this morning! Now we were eastbound on Highway 36, again a desolated and deserted tertiary ag road, flanked on either side by, you guessed it, corn. Can there really be that a big a market for Niblets?

That kind of stuff intrigues me, so I looked it up on, where else; World of Corn 2018. In 2015, the US harvested 15 148 038 000 bushels of corn. Thats billion right? There are 48 standard cobs on average in a bushel of corn or 727 105 824 000 cobs of corn, 2203 for every person in the US. People, that is a lot of popcorn! Apparently a major portion of it is animal feed. Having grown corn myself, mostly unsuccessful due to lack of pollenation, I can attest that there is a tremendous amount of waste produced by each corn stock. I guess the real challenge is not just what to do with the 727 billion cobs, but the millions of tons of waste stalks. Anyone have a good idea? I know where there is a limitless supply!

We spend a total of about 3 hours in Kansas, just cutting the top right corner, then after a short jaunt on a local Interstate, who number escapes me, we are in Missouri. I am mildly disappointed that in addition to the 'Welcome to Missouri' sign there isn't also one that says 'You're Not in Kansas Anymore'! Too easy? Too lame? I dunno.

As we are on an Interstate of sorts there are the helpful signs of where to turn for food, gas and lodging. I am determined to stay in a walkout mo'tel tonight, haven't been in one since Shelby. We are in Cameron, MO when the lodging turn off comes up and we immediately see an EconoLodge, walkout style, looks like it was built in the 60's, kinda run down.

Perfect!

The mo'tel is undergoing air conditioner maintenance, a very dirty, stinky, but friendly man is pulling each unit out, cleaning it out and re-installing it. The first 2 rooms we get are smoking rooms, and smell of it. Both Bill and I are former smokers, but neither of us like the odor of 10 000 old smokes, we change to non smoking rooms. Mine doesn't have an AC unit, it is being maintaned.

I unload into my room and go to get a six pack of dust busters at the gas station down the road. Because I like Bill I also buy him an airplane sized bottle of 1800 Tequila, a brand he has decided, is OK! By the time I return, my AC is back in place and rattling away ineffectually, prolly just like before Stinky worked on it.

We enjoy the dustbusters on the pad in front of our rooms and speak to the various passersby as they, uhm, pass by. Whilst sitting there I notice, 500 yards down the road a Mexican flag, which can only mean one thing, Mexican Restaurant. Holy s***, is Bill leading a charmed life or what. We go there for dinner, Bill has some fair to middling Tequila, and a very Mexican breakfast.

I have a Mango Marguerita and Nachoes. Did I mention I hate Mexican food? I do, but I like Bill, alot, so I make sacrifices for him! Maybe I will be repaid at some point with Sushi restaurants 3 nights in a row.

As we are walking to dinner Bill mistakenly thinks a car is turning and is going to hit me. He literally throws himself in front of me to protect me, scaring the s*** out of me in the process. What's not to like about a guy like that, let's do Mexican every night!

We are back in our rooms by 1930, my pitcher of Marg's has done its job and my after dinner nap turns into a full nights sleep. I awake at 0500 and do 2 full blog days which is good cus at one point I was 3 days behind. I had previously negotiated a later departure time for tomorrow morning as I had a few calls to make regarding projects I have underway so I wasn't concerned about sleeping in.

Day Six

Norfolk, NB to Cameron, MO

650 kms