Post-GONE: Day 1

Today was a short day relative to the rest of my trip, thanks to not driving all the way back to Bettendorf, IA. I figured it was a good day to recuperate after the exciting weekend, so stuck mostly to the interstate.

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While I was driving down the interstate, I noticed a two-lane road that was running along side. After seeing a sign that said it was Route 66, I knew I needed to exit and drive along the Mother Road.

The drive on Rt66 didn’t last very long, as there was bridge construction that sent me off on a detour. After another stretch of Rt66 I had to take another detour around a freeway off-ramp. At that point I decided that while it would be nice to drive along Rt66, it would drive me crazy to have to make detours every few miles… so got back onto the interstate for the rest of the drive into St. Louis.

At this point the road was quite boring, so I tuned the XM Radio to some tunes from the 90’s. Some might not be able to imagine me singing along to the songs of the 80’s… I’m sure they would be shocked to find me singing and “dancing” along with such hits as I’m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred! While my Rest Reminder was turned-off, I figured this was a sign that I needed to stop and stretch my legs.

Before crossing St. Louis I needed to play tourist for a little while. I looked at the maps last night and plotted a route to a scenic spot to get some photos of the Gateway Arch.

While taking the photos I left my car running (just in case someone didn’t like me parking on the sidewalk) and I heard it start running really funny… like it had a misfire. I figured it was another P2135 DTC resulting in the car entering “limp mode”, and I was correct. Just like last time everything cleared on its own… but I’m starting to get a little more concerned about this code. Fortunately, I’m only receiving it when sitting at idle.

Being the middle of the day, I figured I’d take a shot at trying to get a little closer to the Gateway Arch. After driving across the river and along the river I was able to briefly stop my car and jump out for some quick photos.

The rest of the drive to the hotel was across the urban areas of St. Louis, and it reminded me just how nice the rest of my drive has been so far.

Tomorrow is a long day of driving twisty roads, so I’m heading to bed early. Hopefully the weather holds-off so I can drive the last bit of roads… but as of now there is a 40% chance of “Scattered Thunderstorms” in the evening.