I spent all of this time in Wichita, resting up and doing some volunteer work. I was also figuring out where I would go from that point. Obviously, I would head east. But, there were many possible routes.
The most sensible route home would be to go back up to Kansas City, then through St. Louis, Springfield, IL, and then through Indiana and Ohio, eventually getting up to I-90. This would be B-O-R-I-N-G. I already drove up to Kansas City and I did not feel like doing it again. Besides, there are a number of places I wanted to see that are east of Wichita and didn't happen to be on that path.
The rental car was initially due back on September 24th. By waiting until September 22nd, there would be absolutely no way to get the car back home in two days. The clerks available over the weekend thought the only possibility would be to rent for an additional month since I was on a monthly rental. If that was the case, I would have a car for several more weeks. I didn't feel like letting it just sit in the driveway until I got home (you can't turn a car in early or else it will cost extra). So, I came up with the idea of adding Oklahoma and Texas to this trip. This would be my first ever visit to Texas. I also thought about making a token visit to Louisiana (due to lack of time and the potential for a hurricane) just to add that state to my list of visited states (it's one of only six remaining unvisited states).
The gas shortages happening as a result of Hurricane Ike had me worried. Indiana, Georgia, Virginia, and various other states were being hit hard. Gas was actually being rationed in Indiana. It's good that I decided against the most sensible route since that would take me through Indiana. Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri did not at all seem to be affected. The price for gas (according to the gas price temperature map) in these states seemed to be quite cheap.
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