Wet! The Next Leg, Sister News, Check-In with Home

Walmart, Terra Haute, Indiana

On Thursday, Mar. 19^th we were both woken by the sound of the rain, wind and thunder at 4 – 4:30. Surprisingly, as windy as it was the Suite didn’t budge. It must have been coming from the right direction. I hope the Journey beside us was sheltered as well, they were right beside us. I didn’t get a picture of our stopover though, too wet this morning. It was still dark at 7 so after Bill had something to eat and we got washed up, we led the way out of Joplin at daylight.

About half hour down the road, I remembered to take a picture

Lots more standing water in the fields today

 We pulled out of there at 7:45 and got on to I-44E. First stop was a TA Travel Centre for fuel and we both topped up at $2.35/gal. Ken was going to lead but we had to pull out for another truck behind us. We got back on the interstate and drove slowly until Ken caught up. The rain was forecast for all across the area, with a large front coming through Missouri at 10 am. We were blessed enough to miss real heavy rain and only received light showers periodically to start the day.

Ken passing to take the lead

It was uneventful until around 11:30 we pulled off at a Full Facility rest area for lunch and a leg stretch among other things. We sat for about ½ hour. I will go on and review the St. Clair Rest Area for two reasons. One, thank you for being open to patrons who need a place to pull over and stop. 

We had a dry morning, just cloudy and mild

There are still things worth taking pictures of
The wipers went a lot from the road spray

Two, how frustrating it is when single family vehicles pull into the large spaces reserved for transports and rv’s. That is very inconsiderate. We can’t park anywhere else.

The Eads Bridge in St. Louis

There was some confusion (A LOT!) on our part and perhaps on Ken and Kim’s when we approached St. Louis. Kim got a message from their Garmin gps that the bypass I-255 to the south was closed. We suggested the I-270 which runs north and that is what we both took. Our gps’s would not recognize this bypass and we both ended up going in different directions. There was about 30 minutes at least of uncomfortable driving trying to get back on track. Our gps helped us there.

Many of us travelers will recognize this huge cross too

 Once and only when we finally got onto I-55N and eventually I-70E did I relax. I do believe “I never want to go through St. Louis again!” spouted from my lips. That was not fun at all and tensions do run high in those instances. On the other side at Pocahontas (😊 ) Bill pulled into a BP station just off I-70E and gave Black Beauty a well-deserved drink. She was almost breathing on fumes with just over 60 mph to E. We never go that low but once in the heart of S.L., we were stuck.

More dryness and we thought it was funny that
this transport got between us for the longest time
He was from Ontario and waved when he finally passed Ken and Kim

 The rain in the middle of our confusion did not help matters at all. It was so heavy that traffic was almost coming to a halt but of course, we’re in the city so you keep going. One of my biggest pet peeves, everyone needs to slow down! Back on the highway, the rain had once again stopped completely and that was a nice relief. 

There is sure a lot of standing water in the fields on either side of the interstate. The mild 67F surprised me when I stepped out of the truck at the station. It was lovely!

I think they've had enough rain, don't you?

Kim and Ken messaged to meet us at the designated Walmart location so we had a couple of hours to go before seeing them again. It all worked out and soon enough, we were entering Indiana. I missed the Illinois sign and then was too late also for this state. You can see by my picture that all I got was a blur. I tried!

this is my picture of the Indiana sign
don't blink or you'll miss it, like I did!

I kept myself busy during the easy parts of the journey today by crocheting the back of my sweater. If, for some reason, it doesn’t turn out and needs to be rippit rippit out, it kept me occupied. We arrived at Walmart in Terre Haute, exactly as we’d planned but were too tired to go any further. It was 5:40 EST. We lost our last hour and are now the same time as at home.

Today's collage was of water towers
My favourite is always the Lebanon bumblebee

Once set up beside our friends, Kim asked about a Happy Hour. We walked next door for about 30 minutes and Ken toasted us again as that would be our last – for a while. The plan is to scoot out early and make it home tomorrow night. Keith was trying to make it tonight and we haven’t heard a peep from Jo-Anne and Bob whether they made it home today. Shaun, if you are reading this, ask them to drop us a line!

Last Walmart set up, this season too

We came home around 7:15 and I made up a box of Mac & cheese with our last 2 big wieners for supper. I didn’t feel like chili tonight but Bill would have been fine with that. Our solar panels got no sun today so our batteries were not charged enough to last the evening. Bill turned the generator on before H.H. and after dishes, turned it off for the night. Now, we’ll make it through until morning. I sat to work on my post and then joined Bill in my chair.

A humdrum supper but it tasted good
and we had Jell-o for dessert tonight

Tonight, I heard from my sister, Gayle (& John), who spent the winter months in the Baja, Mx. They crossed into the U.S. yesterday (took 45 min) and soon blew a truck tire. Bad luck for them but he put the spare on and they have 4 new ones on order. It was good to hear that they are okay and resting in Quartzsite until that happens tomorrow or by Monday and they will make their trek homeward too. I feel relief that they will soon be on home land.

My first sunset in a long time!!

Bill’s step-Mom, my M-I-L, also called to make sure we were safely at a destination for the night. Thank you, Marilynne, for keeping tabs on us. It means a lot. This was a good day for the distance we’ve travelled. About 460 miles but I could well have done without the St. Louis experience. We survived and if that was a challenge, we passed it too. The rain needs to fall somewhere and it just happened to be on our travel day. 😊 We made it safe and sound and so did our friends.

And it was a beaut!!
Good night from Terra Haute, IN
and Happy Spring!

Thank you for checking up on us. We are doing well.