Gumbo Across America....a man and his shit goin' home

The very latest in reality programming - Johnny Gumbo, friend/ festival co-ordinator/ Ph.D./ Rotarian/ Nascar aficionado/ snakecharmer/ philosopher/ rogue, is leaving Connecticut and is making his way to the Great Northwest in a sleek rented UHaul. Stay tuned for reports EXCLUSIVELY on johnnykmusic....

Episode #3 - Just point it west and drive
After picking up a hitch hiker in Indiana (jg agreed to take his niece's cut-out paper doll, Flat Stanleyette, along for the ride and take pictures of her crossing the country for a class project), jg and Hattie set sail on I-80 across IL & Iowa. jg negotiated one slight turn to the right and a half turn to the left over the course of 600 miles of flat, straight hiway. Some of the day's highlights included passing such notable sights as the MidEast Conflicts Memorial Wall off Exit 97 in IL, Exit 45 ("take the road to Ronald Regan's birthplace" - wherever that is), and the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in Iowa as well as crossing two of our land's greatest rivers, the Mighty Mississip and the wandering Missouri.

But the big event of the day was pulling into The World's Largest Truckstop in Walcott, Iowa, or as it's known to truckers around the world, "Iowa 80". Acres and acres of big rigs and a shopping mall complete with showers, a movie theatre, library, 5 restaurants, trucking accessories of all kinds, gift shops, jewelry shops, complete maintenance facilities, truck scales, and even an on-site dentist. They've even got three 18-wheelers on display inside the mall. It doesn't get any better than that.

The crew finally made it to Omaha, NE, and scarved down a chicken dinner at the Mullberry Roadhouse before retiring for the night. Tomorrow, more "just point it west and drive" all the way across NE to cowboy country

Previously, on Gumbo Across America:

Prologue

Episode #1

Episode #2