June 29, 2015 - Monday

Got into a fight today.  There was yelling, screaming, name calling and tears.  The reason for the fight?  My TomTom sent me to the middle of nowhere!!  I plugged in "Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri" and off I went.  when the pavement ended and the directions where to go down a road that looked like it might require 4 wheel drive the yelling began.


I turned around and ignored the repeated directions to make a u-turn and back out to the highway.  Found a sign to Fort Leonard Wood.  Took I-44 and found a sign that said there was a security gate ahead and to be prepared to be inspected.  Hmmm.

Fort Leonard Wood is an army base.  While I knew that there was a portion of it that was I thought that there was a town around it.  There's not. 

I tried nervously to explain to the uniformed man (uniformed men make me very panicky) with a big gun (makes me even more panicky) who was scanning my driver's license that I was born there and was just curious to take a look.  It requires a background check and there is not a town and NO YOU CAN'T TAKE A PICTURE.  He allowed me to turn around and scoot away.  I got down the road and pulled off to put in my next destination.  TomTom kept telling me to turn around BACK TO THE GUARDED GATE!!!  That is when there was more screaming and the tears.

Looking at a map on my tablet, Fort Leonard Wood does look like it is in the middle of nowhere and the first directions that I was sent to would have put me coming into the Fort on an unauthorized road where I no doubt would have been SHOT!

Back on the road I realized how much the landscape looks so similar to Oregon.  The difference is the roadkill.  While I am tempted to take pictures of the different roadkill I don't want this blog to become macabre.  The roadkill in Missouri is turtles.  Box turtles.  Managed not to hit any of the live ones crossing the road.

 Anyway, I am in Tupelo, Mississippi and headed to St. Petersburg, FL where I got offered a job today.