The Missouri Convention, Part 1

File Under: Special Series

Time to begin the TDI exclusive extended series, The Missouri Convention. There is no other site on the entire internet that will bring you the insight and thoughts that I am about to impart right now. Unless they're plagerist. Then you WILL find these thoughts and insights elsewhere. Aarrgh, those pirates! Anyways, let's start with late Sunday night/early Monday morning...

I did not sleep at all. I had to leave for church at 3 am, so what would be the point? I watched some TV programs, and watched a couple episodes of 24 on DVD. I'm to the point in season 1 where Dennis Hopper is now in as the main villian. I love how me made his own accent sound very, VERY fake. Hehe.

I arrived at church at about 3:10, 3:15, and only saw about 4 other cars on the road the entire time, and most were at the corner of RiverTown and Wilson. Very odd. Kinda spooky. I parked the faithful minivan, and carried my stuff on over to the coach bus. My luggage was loaded, and I boarded the bus. I saw some people from church in the waaay back of the bus, and I was going to go sit by them, but there were sooo many people standing in the middle of the aisle, doing various things, I decided to take the seat closest to me. As it would later turn out, when there was enough light out to take pictures, it was pretty fortunate, 'cause I was in the front row! So I had a great view of my surroundings.

As we left Bethany URC, by the gas station that's there, there were 5 cop cars there, and one civilian car, with two people sitting on the curb. Apparently, they had all been there since at least 3 am, but with fewer cop cars then. We were all very curious as to what was going down.

I tried journaling in the dark. I can make out "5:37 - it's cold!". Indeed, it was cold. Freezing, I should say. The A/C was extremely tempermental. It was not anybody's friend during the trip.

5:10 am CT - Arrived at Lynwood URC (Keith David, Pastor), to pick up a bunch of people from area churches to fill the remaining seats in our busses. We also changed bus drivers. We took off again at 5:36.

5:45 - Passing through Chicago Heights.
6:00 - Passing through Matteson, passed Lincoln mall, for what it's worth.
7:26 - Back on the bus. We stopped in Joliet, IL for breakfast at a McDonalds. The Joliet city council (a bunch of old men) were meeting for breakfast, and had the time of their lives with us. They had plenty to say about everything. They were nice, and fun. They encourages regulars to just skip the lines and cut in front of us, 'cause we'd be a while anyways! (about 2 busses stopped at this McDonalds)
7:52 - Still on bus, waiting to move. Other busses went to a Burger King, which apparently is painfully slow. Gggrr!
8:20 - Passed the Kankakee River. Kankakee is a funny name!
8:30 - 232 miles 'till St. Louis.
9:30 - Just passed the town of Normal. Hehe.
10:15 - Saw wood house, am declaring it historical. About 11/2 hours outside of Springfield.
10:49 - Just had a 25-minute rest stop. It takes a while with 4 coach busses! We had been watching Twister in the bus, but there was some language, so we stopped it. Dispite the fact that everybody had seen the movie, and loved it. Oh well. We then proceeded to watch Toy Story.
12:09 - Saw the St. Louis arch in the distance!
12:23 - Just passed though St. Louis. It's small and quant, but I approve. Especially of the arch.
12:36 - How can you have an exit for a interstate that's both for Chicago AND Tulsa?
1:01 - It's getting kinda warm in the bus. We're wondering if the A/C stopped working.
1:10 - The other bus drivers are having difficulties with the air as well. Such woes may be climate-related. We're kinda high up, lots of twists and turns on the road, and it IS kinda 100 degrees outside. The busses are slightly overworked.
1:30 - Rest stop, mainly to check the A/C out. It seems OK now...
2:40 - Passing through St. Roberts, MO. Passed an exit for Fort Leonard Wood.
2:55 - Saw 3 military jets flying in the distance. Probably from Fort Wood.
3:02 - Passing through a town called Sleeper.
4:00 - We arrived! Which is great, 'cause registration ends right at 4. But they'll wait for us. They HAVE to! Hehe.

CLIFFHANGER! OK, so it's tough to do in print, but I'm going to end it there. Next installment, I'll talk about the rest of Monday, about the first lecture session, and about the most ill-executed mixer imaginable. Stay tuned!