Avery is off to school.I have been telling Scott he needs to help me "negotiate" directions. (I meant "navigate.") I think we'll keep this Freudian slip.
Leaving the South (or Trying to)
We cruised back up I-24 the way we had come, on through Kintuck (where the road quality went considerably down and rest stops disappear), on through a bit of IL, but the interstate started getting ugly with delays and construction, so I decided we needed to try a state route. This became our revelation of the day: state routes are really, mostly COOL! Yeah, you have to stop in towns and maybe go a little slower, but there's hardly any traffic, it's beautiful. We went through Murphrysboro, Chester (home of Popeye!).
In Missouri, continuing on a state route, we saw giant mysterious oak trees and strange trees with pink flowers. (Anyone?) I had really wanted to stop and do some caves in MO, but the heat was just GROSS. Every time we got out of the car, it felt like someone slapping a scalding wet blanket in your face. We figured we would just keep driving.
Out of St. Louis, we saw what we've been seeing all across the country in variations: tons of billboards with "Ad Here"on them. Or just blank. These were standing in water. This goes along with the many deserted restaurants, gas stantions, businesses. It's hard times out there, folks.
At Cameron, MO: "Ma and Pa's Kettle." We continued on Hwy 13 and then 36 to stay out of Kansas City, which turned out to be some of the easiest and most fabulous driving. 65 mph, no traffic, beautifully kept roads, pretty scenery. These are the dark orange hwys on our map. (Not blue). Our faves.
On Hwy 29 north of St. Joseph, Scott was happy to see swales in the hills to catch rainwater. Some still had water in them from the last big storm. Some had corn so tall that you couldn't tell. Marla would love it.
Finally, the sun was starting to set and we were near some nice state parks...on the Missouri River. We had seen that the Missouri River had flooded earlier and wondered about our chances for camping. As we were prowling around at a gas station, seeing that one exit had been closed, I asked a ranger who happened to come in about the parks, and he told us ours was under six feet of water. And not to bother about any of the others.
Phil helped us save the day, uh, evening. We found Waubonie SP in Iowa, just over the border, and Phil got us the phone #. They cheerily told us to come on by, that they were on high ground.
Waubonie turned out to be a beautiful spot--tons of fireflies in the woods.
But it was muggy and buggy and hot. T-Lou panted, lying on the floor. We panted, lying on our beds. Then, CRASH! We had violent lightning, thunder, but only a few drops. Things got a little cooler, but we still tossed and turned. Scott heard another barred owl.
T-Lou started munching and crunching his food and lapping water sometime around 5 a.m., I think. This is getting to be his habit. I got up to get him more of both. I saw something like a weasel or stoat run across the lawn and two light brown deer, smaller than ours. I heard a little cry of something from the bushes.
Eventually, the rain came crashing down, and I jumped up to shut the hatch and the window that lets in rain. Three windows in the Scamp crank out in a neat way, but one, for some reason, is a slider. :(
Once the storm slowed down, we threw things together and decided it was time to move on. We had come 700 miles and gotten ourselves a day ahead of schedule. Wooo hooo!
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