Our Location:
Walmart, Salem, Illinois
A pretty quiet night but I was still up at 4 am. This is not a new thing for me but it does make for a long day. Riley rolled out at 7 am and even though it was foggy we were on our way by 7:30 am. It was pretty foggy until we reached the Interstate, a mile or so away and then it started to clear quicker, I guess between the sun and the heat being produced by the road top, it helped the process along.
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| Fog this morning. |
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| Missouri welcome centre. |
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| This is a very small section of the parking. |
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| Lots of pathways to stretch your legs. |
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| Some interesting things along the pathways. |
We stopped 3 times overall, two rest areas and one fuel. Diesel prices are rising the farther north we go. We are regularly seeing above $4.00, but if you watch it is also available for the $3.80-3.95 range.
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| The dandelions look used up. |
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| As you can see, very wide spaces. |
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| We are enjoying the drive. |
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| We are entering the state of Illinois. |
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| The roads were rough for a while. |
We had an easy day today, travelling only 232 miles/373 km, we used about 15 gallons/56 litres of fuel, we travelled for 4 1/2 hours. By my thinking we averaged about 15 1/2 mpg. Our average speed was 57miles/91 km. Again I have no complaints.
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| We crossed the Mighty Mississippi River to leave Missouri for Illinois. |
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| Spring is working hard… |
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| Blossoms are visible. |
The roads were decent overall, Arkansas roads were good, a few patches here and there but good overall. Missouri roads were a bit rough in places but again, after a while they smoothed out. Illinois roads started off pretty rough and were rough overall in most places until just a while before we stopped. The Missouri welcome centre was fabulous, 20 miles inside the state line but it is huge, tons of parking places with spaces wide enough to put slides out. The first rest area in Illinois was closed, it looks like for quite a long time, but the second was open. Lots of folks parked for the solar eclipse event in the rest areas and currently at the Walmart as well. The parking areas are ringed with cars and people.
We touched three states today, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois, we travelled on I-55 and I-57. Tomorrow we will arrive at a campground for a stay of 4 days. It is sunny, a bit on the coolish side at about 70 F/21C. The eclipse has been underway for approximately an hour and while it is getting darker outside, it is not a night time dark as I write this post up.
The eclipse has ended, it was an eerie twilight, that lasted a minute at most. No we didn’t look up but I did snap pics. Almost all of the watchers have left, within 5 minutes they were gone. Enjoy.
Until next time……
Take care, stay safe,
Deb
