Friday, August 30 – Indianapolis, Indiana to Jefferson City, Missouri

Our motel driveway in south Indianapolis must have been facing east. This was our view as we pulled out onto the street.

A truck passed us that was hauling little pigs – probably going to a farm to be fed and fattened. Notice the little nose in the top center.

It was a beautiful, cloudless morning. The time changed for us shortly after 8 am. We are now in Central Time.

If you follow my blog, you may remember that our Christmas presents to each other were road trips: Cerwin’s was an “all interstate” trip and mine was a “all backroad” trip. This is Cerwin’s trip. I chose Bryce Canyon for him and he chose to drive I-70 for most of the trip west. My trip is coming up in October. 🙂

The familiar cross along the interstate in Effingham, Illinois.

This was the closest we got to “The Arch” in St. Louis – at an exit when we stopped for a break.

We stopped here so Cerwin could check on the condition of the chapel near East St. Louis. There currently is no chaplain here, so the chapel is closed. 🙁

Moving on through Illinois.

We live fairly cheaply on the road concerning meals. We usually eat a good breakfast at our motel – free – and take coffee and orange juice with us. We have crackers and snack bars with us for snacking until supper. On this day Cerwin was hungry for a hot dog when we stopped for fuel – shortly after noon. We usually eat our evening meal in the late afternoon.

It started raining about the time we got on the road from our fuel stop.

This was our goal for the day – to visit the Rissler family in California, Missouri. By this point our car registered 1,000 miles on our trip odometer.

John and Karen Rissler recently built this large chrome and truck accessory shop – right next to the California exit.

We first visited Delton and Ashley’s Diesel Power Plus shop which is in the same building. Pictured: Delton, Ashley, Bruce, Arlin and Wendy. We were pleased that so many family members were in the building. Arlin’s wife, Wendy, works in the shop and was stitching caps when we were there. (Delton and Arlin are brothers to John)

Arlin is a truck driver. We usually see him and Wendy at TFC Global’s Truck Rally in Lebanon, PA.

Someone wanted me to get a photo of Delton’s socks. 🙂

Delton, Wendy and their youngest. Their older children were in school.

Wendy was fixing an issue with the machine that was stitching four hats.

This is what she was stitching.

Wendy was finished with the “fix” and began the machine again.

A thread tore and needed a fix by Ashley. The computer tells them exactly where the problem tear is located.

Ashley telling Cerwin about the machine.

Wendy showing Cerwin how they can tell by the screen what is happening with the stitching.

They also have lots of equipment for printing on t-shirts – even a machine that prepares the shirts for the printing so it lasts through many machine washings. I call it screen printing, but there may be a more professional name for it these days.

Then we went over to John and Karen’s chrome shop. John was on the phone at the customer desk. Notice the old Marmon behind him.

This is what it looks like from their office.

Karen said this is where she spends most of her time.

Cerwin and John in the office.

John and Karen’s son Kyrell waiting on a customer.

Another customer

John gave us a tour of the building – this is their warehouse storage above the store. Parts of the shop are still under construction. There is even a place in the center of the building where they can go for safety in case of a tornado – which are frequent in this area.

It is difficult to get a good picture of the shop because of all the chrome and lights.

Cerwin wanted a picture of him sitting at the customer desk. Notice the 6″ chrome stack that is the foot rest.

John showing Cerwin a catalog at the customer desk.

A customer was leaving as we left to go to Paul and Michelle Rissler’s shop. The customer (blue truck on right) was also going to Paul’s shop.

This is John and Karen’s old truck. They have another one they usually take on the road.

Another customer arrived (red truck) as we were leaving.

Paul and Michelle’s shop is just a few miles away.

They were in their office – waiting on the customer who just left John’s shop.

I tried a better shot that didn’t compete with the window as the background.

They took us to the shop where they showed us their new wheel polisher which their youngest son operates.

Next they took us outside where we saw the truck he is building and hopes to bring to our truck rally next year.

Their paint shop

Where they mix the paint

Their son Justin working on the customer’s truck.

Another truck that was in their shop.

It was a highlight of our day to see the Rissler’s shops. We were sorry to miss Dave and Deb who were in Pennsylvania for a funeral. These brothers: Dave, John, Paul, Arlin and Delton and their wives have faithfully encouraged us in ministry and visited TFC’s chapels and truck rallies.

It was a cool, rainy evening, so after we left the Risslers we went to our motel in Jefferson City and enjoyed the jacuzzi.