Blew into a Wal-Mart

 Walmart, Ft Wayne, IN

On Wednesday, April 2nd we were up and hitting the highway at 7:30. It was a pretty quiet night but I'm glad our bed was away from the trucks. A couple ran loud and long. We slept well regardless. 

Cloudy skies as we started out.

We were soon on I-44E under cloudy skies.  It is quite windy but the fact that they are coming from the southwest is our morning blessing. We love tail winds!🤗 There are warnings around us but, for now, they are in the Missouri area that we are vacating. Hence our early start. Maybe we can outrun the storms?

There is usually one thing per day that
makes me chuckle.
We all live in a circus, right?

Approaching St. Louis, we watched for and got on the I-270S bypass around the city.  We commented on how easy it was with no construction and how little traffic and as we joined onto I-255N we swallowed our words. The whole interstate was closed off! 

The Mighty Mississippi never looks so grand
from a traveller's stand point but
the bridge is huge!

With poor, if any, direction from signs we just followed the traffic, semis, onto some questionable streets to eventually get back on I-255 beyond the closure. It seemed like a bit of a crap shoot as we had no idea where it would take us. 😒Not fun trying to figure it out at first. From there we excited at 25A and caught I-55N/I-70E.

A couple of new states in today's travels

We found another fuel station that honored the Mudflap and got another. 40¢ off the TA retail price. It was certainly going up in price.  We heard that back home, our friend, Casey, paid $1.16/litre for regular gas now with the carbon tax removed so at least they are getting a break. It is still more expensive than the fuel here but better.

We followed the semis & traffic
through back streets when the I-255 was closed.
They need more signage for passersby.

We got back on I-70E. Roads were not the best after we got into Indiana. In between all of this, we have been watching weather reports of possible tornadoes. It's scary but it is that time of year and we are going through some of the locations that they pop up, so not surprising. We've changed today's destination, otherwise it would have made for a short day, because of the radars weather patterns.

Such a cutie, tongue hanging out.

Heading for tomorrow nights stop may be impossible but if we can get further north we may be more out of reach of the storms. 🤔🙏  We passed Terre Haute, IN and aimed for Fort Wayne instead. We are both concerned about where will be safest but who knows? Tornadoes have a mind of their own and without getting too paranoid, we just want to be settled and make the best choices.

Our little Tuxedo man in his
thunder coat.

We've been trucking along as I write so have crossed into Illinois and Indiana, making our way around Indianapolis through construction on I-465N. Once through, we eventually picked up I-69N. Here we go again with rough patches in the highway. We thought it would have been improved by now. Ha! It was still very warm, 84F/27C, and still very windy. 

Traffic around Indianapolis, but it was
rush hour.
Construction, as always. It has to be quite
the challenge with so much traffic.

We pulled off for fuel at a Speedy in Chesterfield, IN and got yet another deal, -32¢, on Mudflap.  Yay! Prices are now around the $3.65 to $3.95/gal range so these savings help. Across the road was a McDonald's so that was supper. Two Big Mac combos please, we knew our meal would be late if we waited. $20 later and we're outta there, filled and pleased.

Catching I-69N
It wasn't better in the roads department

We decided on another hours drive, it was 6:15, and that would get us to our destination before dark and maybe before rain. We weren't wrong on either count although there were some spatters here and there before stopping. We pulled into a Wal-Mart on Coldwell Rd. and parked easily along the curb.

Sitting at McDonald's for a quick bite.

Approval was given to stay, graciously, but we decided to sit in Black Beauty for a bit to wait the storm out. No point opening slides until we were sure it was calm enough to do so. I walked in to use the facilities and check out their keto bread and yogourt offerings. I came out with 2 tubs of yogourt so was pleased. Our 'bit' of a stay in BB turned into 5 hours but believe it or not, with Elvis on our Sirius radio, we were warm and able to doze on and off throughout. 

It's blurry, I was hurrying back
from Walmart before the rain.
Heavy looking sky. 😒

Gibbs couldn't figure out this sitting in the truck 'thing', poor little gapher, he has been drinking up a storm all day. 🥰 We've had an incredibly long day, by choice, but it was still a good one. At 12:30 am, the rain had dwindled enough for Bill to get out, put jacks down and open up our home. Just the bed/kitchen side for now. We were in bed immediately and I know I had dropped off by 1 am. Quite the day! Temperatures started out at 82F/17C today and ended up at 59F/15C.

Spending some family time in Black Beauty!
Good night!

Thank you for you visit and all prayers and concerns today.