Day Four, Travelling 4 States in One Day

Walmart Super Centre, Vandalia, Illinois

On Good Friday, Apr. 15^th it was 6:45 when I heard Bill talking softly to Gibbs. He slept in again. I think we were in bed by 9:30, Gibbs and I. Bill read for a while before joining us. We slept well; it was quiet with no outside disturbances at all. Bill noticed our fresh water tank was dropping quickly so he topped us up to 50 gallons since the water was available. 😊

Leaving the Casino
Gayle sets her gps while we fuel up
Following the Montana through plenty of greenery

While he did that, I emptied water from ice bags in the fridge, salvaging what ice I could. Things up in that section are staying cold at least, which is the general idea. The freezer section seems to be holding very well, the ice bags are still doing a good job. It is a more solid compartment and doesn’t get opened as much. I got a bag of ice cubes from Gayle, they’re making them daily, plus I retrieved the 3 ice packs.

Tunnels are cool as long as there is a light at the end!
 Bobby Hopper Tunnel

We were on the road by 8 and just pulled into the Cherokee’s fuel station in basically the same parking lot. Topped up at $4.79/gal, still a decent price for the times. 😊 What can you do but buy it when you need it, regardless of cost. We followed the Devall's as they are needing to put more of a push on for home than we do. We’ll stop when they stop today. It’s 56F/14C under half cloudy skies.

Leaving Oklahoma behind
Slight winds from the southwest today
Jumping into Missouri

Travelling along I-40E we soon caught I-49N which is a decent road. As we left Oklahoma and Arkansas behind, we both lost our GPS and truck compasses. Entering Missouri, they eventually returned and it is a pretty straight forward route to our next ‘hopeful’ destination. Speaking of decent roads, the update on my clothes closet situation is good. With the hangers turned to face the bed and back of the Suite, they didn’t budge! Yippee, yay, yahooie! ♥

Just as I left them 💕

Some beautiful scenery along the drive
Redwoods? Why not Purplewoods?

So, we have turned onto I-44E towards Springfield and stopped at a rest stop for a leg stretch and then at a Hood’s Truck Stop for fuel. This was very sweet as it was full service, windows done and free coffee all for the low low price of $4.59/gal. 😊 First time for that! The boys did have to get out to go in and pay which differentiated from the way we did it in the 'old days' when it was cash. We were on the road again at 11:45 and ate our lunch while travelling since we both made sandwiches this morning.

I often wonder how these roads originated
It boggles my mind to think of their creation
Full service is almost a lost luxury these days
It was appreciated, he did an awesome job on 3 windows

A stop at a Rest Area mid afternoon for a leg stretch again and then a fuel stop to top up before St. Louis. Bill led around the I-270S/I-255E & N bypass/loop and we smoothly transitioned to I-70E to Illinois. 

It's Good Friday and the highways were crazy busy
near St. Louis especially
We took the 270S Loop/Bypass around the city

Jefferson Barracks Bridge, if you stood at the state line
with one foot on each side, you'd be in two states at once
The Mighty Mississippi River
and a blurry Illinois welcome

Someone didn't have a good day 😌
His cab was pretty banged up, I hope he's alright

This has been an easy driving day and I was more comfortable than yesterday because of the cloudy skies and I didn’t have the hot sun on me. We experienced some winds this morning but they eventually moved all around us and were not bothered at all.

A favourite flower for someone
Gibbs, my favourite thing
My favourite water tower, Lebanon

We took Exit 61 onto US-40 at Vandalia to a Walmart Super Centre for the night. Arrival was around 5 and I’m beginning to see a pattern. 😊 We easily found 2 spots facing each other and put our slides out, set for the night. I had to do the fridge thing and clean up water but then we went ‘next door’ for a drink. Bill and I had a tea with Gayle and John had a beer to wrap up another great day.

I'd been trying to get blossoms all day with no luck
so here are some near where we're parked

Look what is across the street!
I refrained from going in even though it was open today
It's been a long few days and I'm too tired to shop

Our little bum is tired right out again
Bless his little ♥
He is such a good little traveller

My 'definite, no changing my mind' plan was to cook supper tonight so at 6, that’s what I did. With one package of thawed ground beef left, we had one of my favourite ‘Mom’ meals. Hamburger gravy with potatoes and mixed veggies. Yum, it was delicious, even more so since I hadn’t eaten much all day. That’s why I didn’t dare have an alcoholic drink when we arrived. I’d be a mess and no supper would be prepared here!

We cleaned up dishes and since I had found a bag of thawed rhubarb from the summer, it got stewed and that was dessert. ♥ The winds seemed strong when we arrived but tucked inside our home, we don’t notice them at all. It is going down to 41F/5C overnight so Bill pulled our Blue Flame heater out of the closet and lit it to keep the chill off. Temperatures we have to get used to all over again.

Good night!

This was another wonderful driving day of 493 miles and it was our last full day together as we part company tomorrow. Thank you for stopping in!