Road Trip Day 4: Oklahoma City to St. Louis(ish)

Another full day of driving was ahead of us. Today the driver of our truck called to confirm that he would deliver our stuff on Sunday. It's great that we will be able to unpack and settle in soon, but it rules out taking the trip at a more leisurely pace.

Once we crossed the border into Missouri, where the exits and services are more frequent, I grew less paranoid about my daughter announcing the need for a potty break at a moment when we were far from a bathroom. Before Missouri, I would cajole and bribe her to go every time we stopped. My cajoling sometimes worked, but my bribing never did. I suppose I should be happy that she isn't easily won over by sweets!

Lunchtime has been a real challenge for us on this trip. We need outdoor seating so that we don't have to leave the dog cooped up in the hot car. At the same time, it would be ideal to have a play area to give my daughter a chance to run around. Unfortunately, we haven't come across a place that has both when we have needed to eat lunch. We have been opting for the outdoor seating because it is easier to find and the dog can be with us. We did notice some nice rest stops in Missouri that had picnic tables and a play area, but no restaurants. If we had known about them in advance, we might have hit a drive-thru just before then and stopped to eat at the rest area.

Our search for a dog-friendly hotel near St. Louis that wasn't too far away from our route took us to Mascoutah, IL. We thought it was a suburb at the edge of the metro area, but it ended up being quite rural. There weren't any restaurants nearby, so we backtracked a few exits for dinner and then went to bed.