Oak Trees!

Today we drove from Effingham, Illinois all the way to Joplin, Missouri. This covered 396 miles of really beautiful terrain -- hilly for the eastern leg, and then flatter for the rest of the ride. The hills here are thick with oak trees, and the leaves were shiny and red-orange against the chilly blue sky.

The roads were great, too! Missouri really should tell the rest of the country how to maintain roads. I-44, in particular, was in splendid shape. There were a few places where we were shuttled into one lane each direction, but these places didn't last long and there were workers busily repairing the road so that we could continue to enjoy it.

Michael handled the navigation very competently, having no difficulties with mileages and road numbers. :)

We stopped for diesel in Effingham, before we got started. 7.7 miles per gallon, but that includes some generator time in the driveway over the past couple of months.

We stopped for lunch at a Rest Area, and at a couple of others along the way, just to get out and walk around a little. Though it's warming a little, it's still quite cool - 30's-40's, and Michael bought a pair of lightweight gloves at the Flying J.

When we got in here, we leveled and unhooked the car. Then we took Maddy for a walk around the campground. We'd been here before, back on March 25 on our way back from Tucson! They didn't remember us, but that was ok, because we remembered them!