March 25, 2010

6:00 A.M. it's pouring cats and dogs and Jimmy has to unhook the RV from the electric and water and hook up the car to the tow bar. He got soaked and it took all day for his coat to dry.
7:35 St. Louis here we come to see the Gateway Arch to the West and the Mississippi River.
8:41 Kentucky line and the roads are terrible. For over an hour now the RV has been shaking really bad! Found out it was our levelers in the RV, so we learned something else and how to avoid it from occurring again. The RV is now riding smoothly. Now the only problem is the deluge of rain.
12:51 We are driving down the streets of Paducah, Kentucky instead of the expressway. On 615 Jefferson Street they have the National Quilt Museum, a three floor collection of the most unimaginable quilts. The talents of the creators are amazing. Jan, dream away! While Daddy ate tuna fish, I walked 1 1/2 blocks in the rain to the Quilt Alley, a store that sells all quilt supplies and other sewing paraphernalia. What a great way to de-stress!
1:11 crossed the state line to Illinois, the Ohio River and casinos. We are 1 1/2 hours(supposedly) from St. Louis and the wind is blowing us all over the highway. The gusts must be 30 - 40 miles per hour.
3:34 Just passing Shiloh and a pick-up truck with a cannon in the truck bed.

6:38 pulled into the campground in East St. Louis- full of mud and it's still raining! There was some confusion about the map and where we should pull in. The woman is yelling at us from her car. Daddy told her "I don't like you or your services. Refund my money!"

7:00 we are pulling into WalMart shopping center. We're staying here for the night;at least it isn't muddy. It's 36 and raining and very windy outside. Talk about cold! But at least we can stop driving. The highlight of the day is the casserole I put in the oven from Costco. Delicious! Oh! On the very bumpy ride one of the bottles of merlot wrapped inside the quilt under the bed broke. Now the carpet and quilt are purple and the bedroom smells like merlot! We clean it up and now will wash the quilt at a later time. IT was the good Cuvaison Merlot that we bought in Napa maybe 6 years ago that broke, what a shame such a good bottle of wine is gone.
The RV generator kept the RV nice and warm all night, we tuned in the satellite TV and watched "Criminal Minds" but Jan was very tired and went to bed early. It was a long day with all of the weather and the wind blowing the trucks and our RV back and forth put us both on edge. Glad that drive is over.