4 STATES TODAY....ARKANSAS, MISSOURI, ILLINIOIS & INDIANA

BRIDGE OVER THE FOGGY MISSISSIPPI

Seems the more tired people are, the less noise they hear.   That has worked well for us the past few night's in Wal-Mart parking lots.  Despite last night's train whistles, big trucks coming & going, kids with souped up cars peeling in & out of the gas bar next door & "welcome Wal-Mart shoppers" speakers on the Wally-World building, we seemed to drift right off till morning.  Well, I did anyway.

EARLY MISTY MORNING PIT STOP ALONG I-57

We were underway at 7:10 this morning & crossed the Missouri State Line 5 minutes later heading north on I-55.  One hour after that we crossed the fog shrouded blue/green bridge over the Mississippi river & headed east into Illinois on I-57.

A LARGE BRIDGE LOOMS OUT OF THE FOG

SOCKY GEEPERS CROSSES THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Weather was good today except for a few long patches of fog.  No traffic problems & everybody kept the rubber on the road.  Followed 57 north to Effingham where we picked up I-70 & swung east with Indianapolis in our sights.  Stopped at a rest area west of Indy & armed the rig with cannons & rockets in preparation for doing battle in the big city that hosts the Daytona 500.  (oooops, made a big geography mistake here...not to worry Movinon2, they haven't moved Florida to Indiana & the Daytona 500 is still in Florida.  Ray in Gleason says the Indy race is called the Brickyard 400.  I think Al gets to go to the corner of the room with a dunce cap on & geography book in hand)

Our strategy was to use the 465 southeasterly route under & around Indianapolis & that seemed to work fine as we caught the city napping & rolled right through guns & rockets blazing.  By the time Indianapolis knew the Bayfield Bunch had blown into town & could launch a confusing defense of misleading road signs & detour arrows, we had already rolled out the north end of Indy & were happily homeward bound singing jolly roustabout songs.  See ya later Indygator:))

KELLY'S ON THE JOB:))

Had figured on making it as far as Angola, Indiana where we have stayed at a Wally World a few times before, but then.............we saw a Cracker Barrel sign.  Kelly assured me Cracker Barrel allowed RV'ers to stay overnight in their parking lots.  Didn't take much arm twisting to get me off the interstate & into the CB parking lot right quick!!  This will be our last night on the road & we will be home in Bayfield sometime Wednesday afternoon.  What better way to celebrate the end of our great winter in the southwest than a yummy Cracker Barrel supper.  It will be many long months before we ever get back this way again.  Oh, & the name of the town we are in right now for the night is, Gas City.  That's right.......Gas City.  It is south of Fort Wayne, Indiana

MY 423RD EGG SALAD SANDWICH THIS TRIP.....OK, OK, MAYBE NOT THAT MANY:((

Going to have to dust off my 'blossoms' book when I get home too.  Seems those may not have been Cherry blossoms I was taking pictures of for yesterday's blog.  Janna from TIN TEEPEE says they were likely Dogwood blossoms.  Janna is from Montana & I am not going to argue with anybody from Montana, that's for sure.  Besides, I'm a man who knows better than to question a woman's judgment.......10-4!!

THE LARGE TRUCKER'S CROSS IN EFFINGHAM, ILLINOIS

Our first stop in Canada tomorrow will be in the little town of Forest.  It's on our way home & we stop there every year.  Why??  Tim Horton's coffee of course.  We have been 5 long months without our Timmy fix & we'll be stopping there for a couple pails full to go for sure:))  You may know more about grits & sourdough biscuits America but we Canadians sure got it all over you guys when it comes to a good cup of coffee!!

OUR LAST NIGHT ON THE ROAD......CRACKER BARREL IN GAS CITY, INDIANA

Blog readers Sue & Doug inquired a few days ago about what type of camera I use so I will refer you to this link I posted a few months ago while at the ranch in McNeal.  Scroll down in the post & check out the answer.........NIKON, NIKON, & CANON

GROANER'S CORNER:((    Every day a peddler pulled his cart of wool from his home to the village market. It was a long trip. He had to travel around the perimeter of a large lake that was owned by the town tycoon, a modern-day scrooge. One day during the winter the lake was frozen over. The peddler realized that he could cut off two miles from his trip if he crossed over the lake. He was spotted halfway across by the tycoon. Scrooge came racing out of his mansion and screamed at the peddler, "I'll be darned if I'll let anyone pull the wool over my ice!"

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.