Miss Terry is still feeling pretty bad, so I wasn’t sure if she was up to traveling yesterday. But when we woke up she said that maybe her problem is not a cold, but rather allergies, and she wanted to get out of the area to see if that made any difference.

So we left Ray Behrens Corps of Engineers Campground about 9:30 a.m., drove north a few miles to U.S. Highway 36 and took it east to Hannibal. We crossed the Mississippi River and the road became Interstate 72 on the Illinois side of the river.

The weather had predicted scattered thunderstorms, and we had a few sprinkles as we were leaving Missouri, but they soon disappeared. Traffic was light and the bus was running good, so it was a great day for traveling.

We had talked about stopping in Springfield, Illinois to see the Abraham Lincoln Home National Historic Site, but Terry was feeling so bad that about an hour into our trip she went back to the bedroom and laid down. She was still asleep when we reached Springfield and I didn’t want to wake her, so I just kept driving. Terry woke up about 160 miles down the highway, as we were passing by Rantoul, Illinois on Interstate 57.

We try to avoid driving anywhere near Chicago whenever we can, so at Gilman, Illinois we took U.S. Highway 24 east into Indiana and turned north again on U.S. Highway 41 and followed it until we came to U.S. 30, drove east again for ten miles, then got onto Interstate 65. It was a short jog north again to Interstate 80, and we followed it all the way to Elkhart.

Except for one short stop for a late lunch/early dinner at one of the service plazas on the Indiana Toll Road, we just kept on rolling, putting about 450 miles behind us. This is more than most RVers like to travel in a day, but sometimes we get out there on the open road and the miles just keep going by effortlessly.

It is always nice to pull into Elkhart Campground, which feels like home to us because we have been coming here so many years. We know all of the regular visitors here, and got lots of waves as we drove past. As soon as I stopped the bus in front of our regular site several fellows came by to say hello.

It always takes a while to get the bus set up when we arrive at a new location, and I told Terry to just let it go until she got to feeling better, but she likes things in order, so she insisted on getting organized while I hooked up our utilities.

After more than a week of very slow National Access service on our Verizon air card, it’s great to have four full bars of EVDO high speed internet again. We’ll be here for much of the summer, with some trips out to visit family members in Michigan, and maybe to a few RV rallies in the region. It’s good to be home again.

Thought For The Day – When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

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We visited Louisiana yesterday! No, we didn’t take a quick trip to the land of Cajuns and crawfish, we drove to the picturesque Mississippi River town of Louisiana, Missouri.

We love small towns, and historic Louisiana, settled in 1817, has much to offer any visitor. One claim to fame for Louisiana is that the Delicious apple was developed here, and the Stark nurseries, which brought them to the world, are a major employer and famous around the globe.

Louisiana was an important stop for pioneers headed west, and a major river port in the glory days of riverboat transportation. Many riverboat captains and steamboat owners made their homes in Louisiana.

Louisiana’s prosperous past is reflected in the beautiful old houses lining its residential streets, including the beautiful gingerbread Victorian built in 1891 that was home to Missouri Governor Lloyd C. Stark.

There are also many handsome commercial buildings in the small downtown business district, including this one, home to the popular Eagle’s Nest Restaurant, and the neat stone building housing the Carnegie Library, built in 1905.

Folks in Louisiana are friendly, and justifiably proud of their town. Many said hello as they passed us on the sidewalks, or waved as we drove past. Louisiana is also known for its murals. More than 20 murals decorate buildings in town, depicting community and regional history. 

Many years ago we crossed the Mississippi River at Louisiana on the high, narrow Champ Clark Bridge, a five span truss bridge that carries U.S. Highway 54 across the river to Illinois. The bridge was built in 1928, and one trip across was enough for me! I scraped the exhaust pipe of our first motorhome trying to get over far enough for an oncoming eighteen wheeler to pass, which he did with inches to spare between our mirrors. In subsequent visits to the region, I have made it a point to travel the 30 or so miles north to Hannibal to cross the river on the wider four lane U.S. Highway 36 bridge.

State Route 79 goes from Louisiana to Hannibal, and if you’re in a big rig, it will test your nerves in a few places as it winds its way uphill and downhill as it follows the course of the river. Several pullouts lead to great views of the Mighty Mississippi, but they are not suitable for large RVs. But in our van yesterday it was a piece of cake.

We stopped at Mark Twain Cave and Campground to meet Ed and Marilyn Dray, longtime blog readers who spend their summers at the RV park, where Ed leads tours and Marilyn keeps the local hummingbird population busy at her feeders. It’s always nice to put faces with the names of the people we hear from, and Ed and Marilyn made us feel welcome as we sat under their awning and got acquainted. Be sure to check out their blog, The Happy Wanderers. It was a great day for playing tourist, and we had a wonderful time sightseeing in time in small town America.

Thought For The Day – A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.

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