Day 33 “Just Direct Your Feet to the Sunny Side of the Street”

Nope, that's an Auburn!

This is the second last day of the trip and will pretty much wrap things up. The most significant thing today was the overflowing banks of the rivers that we crossed. There are millions of acres of land that is flooded by the torrential rains in IL, MO, OK, TN, MS, AR and I am sure other states from this slow moving storm. More than 20people hav died andthe damage is in the millions at oeast. Little creeks that are normally a dozen feet wide are now ½ mile across and inundating thousands of acres of land including the corn and farmland in IL especially. The towns of Ellington and Piedmont, MO were partially evacuated due to the flooding. More than 500 roads were closed.

When driving it is a bit frightful as you anticipate that all is well, but never know what lies ahead. Today the I-44 traffic was stopped in one place where a truck had turned over last night into the ditch and remained

Western Meadowlark Great Tailed Grackle

partially blocking the Interstate. Today, again, another truck had just been completely overturned on its back with all the “16 wheels” showing but it was still intact. But the enormity of the land that was covered was awesome. The Little PineyCreek was not 'little' any more at about 1/2 mile across, and the Gasconade River flooding was a far as the eye could see. The cut's above the river are of limestone mainly. The planting of the cspring orn crop of southern IL and cotton in other states (AR) will be on hold until that water drains and the fields dry up. (Did you know that the word 'up’ has more than 50 meanings,. Look it ‘up’ in the dictionary!) I-44 was hit by an F-5 tornado in 1999, and JW McCall wrote the song, "Convoy " with I-44 as the focus.

Ruth’s rule for a DQ stop is none after 3:00 PM. (Her rule) so we missed by 10 minutes today as we looked in vain for some along the route. Maybe tomorrow. There were some in Vandalia, but we missed it. DID YOU KNOW…that the Dairy Queen was first started in Joliet IL in 1940 by Sherb (sic) Noble. There are 5,700 of them today. Had your "Moo Latte" today?

Prickly Pear Cactus

Tomorrow will allow us a stop at “Das Essen Haus” in Middlebury IN as we will be there in the early afternoon and time for an early dinner. If you have never been there it is a “shopping stop” run by the Amish people, and the main feature is their family style chicken dinner (or beef) with all the trimmin’s I.e.: mashed potatoes, two veggies, stuffing, cranberry sauce, noodles, and of course all the chicken you can eat. Oh, and there are 35 varieties of pies, usually, that come with the meal. (Select one) It is fun to take a group there and have a rollicking time eating. There is a bake shop and many other shops that you can stroll around in after you eat (or before if you wish).The Amish can present a beautiful product especially food.

Yucca in Bud

So tomorrow we leave from this Cloverdale, IN, RV Park, which is as quiet as it gets, to begin the last leg of the trip. It was a good one and we must relate to the wonderful sunny days we did have until this week. The bird count is still at 167 as we saw no new ones today although the hawks were starting to dry their wings on the trees and poles. The journey through the southern part of the Ozarks was magnificent. The multiple layers of sandstone and conglomerate layers with limestone made beautiful cuts along the road. The Mississippian Period stands out at the deepest of the cuts just before St. Louis heading east.

Thanks for reading and I hope that some new pieces of knowledge have been imparted from time to time. We had a great time and are blessed that we are in one piece and healthy. Blessings,

Jim and Ruth