Dallas TX to Springfield MOToday's Driving Distance: 420 Miles - Driving Time: 7 Hours Total Driving Distance [so far]: 3020 Miles - Driving Time: 49 Hours |
 Dalton, Diane & Skid |
| Today got an early start since both George and Diane had to be off to school and work early. I went to beautiful downtown Forney and had steak & eggs at Mama's/Daughter's Diner. Another long drive to my next stop in Springfield Missouri. The rain has cleared up and it's a nice sunny day for traveling. I traveled north and east of Dallas to avoid traffic. There were some nice country roads to take, I get bored driving only freeways. As I was traveling west on W. Audie Murphy Parkway [Do youngsters know who he was?] I saw a sign for a WWII POW camp so I decided to check it out. My mental image was of broken down barracks and some type of Japanese prisoner memorabilia display. I needed to stop and check my route anyway. It was just a mile off the main road through the town of Princeton TX. |
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| I followed a few signs and arrived at a large open field. Next to the field was a sports complex with a large parking lot, several baseball/softball diamonds, and a picnic area and concession stands. At the end of the picnic area building was a large marker. It turns out the camp is completely gone and now a community park. All that remains of the camp that I could see was the marker on the wall next to the parking lot. They held German prisoners of war here and the POW's worked on local farms before being released after the war was over. |
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| An interesting stop but not what I expected. The road north of Dallas was nice, not too busy. Highway 75 then 69 north. The road would wander through many small communities with just a few stop lights, then widen back to 4 lane divided highways. All day on the car stereo was Judas Priest. I connected with Interstate 44 East in Oklahoma just before the McDonalds that is built over the freeway [who thought that one up?] Smooth driving as I arrived in Springfield MO around 6pm. I met up with my good friend Dennis whom I've known since 4th grade and we ate BBQ at Famous Dave's for dinner. Afterwards we shared stories and hit the hay as I was tired from yet another long day of driving. |
 Another fine Texas home |