It was nearly 10pm when I called Boone on my long walk back down to the truck from the restaurant, for an update.

"Dad, and I are ready to roll. We broke in Darren's cam about twenty minutes ago, so He's hooking everything up to leave, but he still has to go by his house and pack.
"You aren't going to wait for him are you?"
"No way, we figure my rig will be the slowest anyway, so I'm getting ready to hit the road, Dale has to clean up and get some other stuff done also, so I'm going to head that way!"
"Alright, we're leaving Lambert's now."
"Are you driving all the way to the track", Boone questioned.
"I doubt it. John has a room in Collinsville, north of the track, but I'll probably stop short of St. Louis...like Sullivan or there about."

Rachael and Skippy were asleep before we made it back to I-44, and John was following me, so I was left to my own recognizance, and I did fairly well for the first hour, then the full belly and long day began to wear on me. The first thing you notice when driving fatigued, is that speed control is the first thing to go. Anyone who has traversed Southern Missouri understands that there is precious little flat ground, and I found myself charging down hills at 70, and cresting the next at 35, and that just wasn't acceptable, so I started looking for a suitable place to bail. Finally, I came upon exit 161, Fort Leonard Wood, and pulled into a Kum & Go.

"Gotta get rid of some of those throwed rolls?" John laughed as he pulled up beside me in the parking lot.
"Naw...I'm just done! Think I'm going to grab a room here and then make it into town in the morning."
"Ok...we're going to keep going", John agreed.
I grabbed one room with two queen beds on the side of the Liberty Lodge that was facing the parking lot we parked in, and called Boone before I settled into my bed. I told him where we were, and based on his calculations they were five hours behind us, Dale was an hour behind them, and Darren hadn't left his house yet!