Fear and Trepidation

I will say this lovingly, but John was getting a little testy about doing all of the driving and I can understand that. However, and this is a big however, I was not so sure I wanted to drive, towing a pop-up camper along roads unfamiliar to me. Surely, a testy John, tired and wan, is better than a bobbing and weaving Paula, no matter how sunny her disposition? As we left Cave City, KY on Thursday, John got into the passenger seat, leaving only the driver's seat and I knew the moment had come. Without any real practice, I was driving to St Louis and everyone on the road had better look out! Beautiful blue skies once again, great vistas all around, made the journey very pleasant and once I got over the fear that I would kill us all, it was not so bad. The roads in Kentucky are quite good and even where construction was underway, they were in good shape, very well marked and exits labeled nicely. We passed Bill Monroe's birthplace and being Charles Mason's daughter, I wanted to stop, but the rest of the gang would have been bored stiff. Bill Monroe who????

Crossing the Ohio River was a neat experience and I felt really proud of myself that the family had lived to see Indiana. We were entering flat land, the heartland of America, and I have to say that I was very excited. They boys were sharing in my excitement, but were trying to hide it by playing video games. Huge flat farms, row after row of corn and what we think might have been soy beans, lay green all around us. Nowhere in Virginia, except maybe the Tidewater region, have I seen farms that large...hills, valleys, mountains, suburbs, tend to get in the way of big farming.

John kept saying we were going on the "Autobahn" parkway or that's what I kept hearing. Fear struck me, as I remembered being 16 years old, in Germany on an exchange program, careening down the Autobahn at mach speed, imagining death in a fiery crash. Well, my fear was for nothing, as the "Autobahn" I was hearing turned out to be the John James Audobon Parkway, named for the speed demon of a birdwatcher. At a liesurely pace of 55 mph, we trundled along a two lane road, rolling through towns no bigger than postage stamps, and the most harrowing thing to happen was being squirted by a field irrigation system. I'm sure I held everyone enthralled by my original conversation, "look boys at that huge field", or, "look boys at that big irrigation system"(they were everywhere), or "this is the heartland of America". I began to sing "Oh beautiful for spacious skies..." but had to end it suddenly due to overall crabbiness.

Back on interstate 64, still alive and kicking, we sailed along, heading for St Louis. Interestingly enough, we had forgotten about Illinois (sorry Illinois) and were moderately happy to be able to include another state under our belts for the day. Traffic was not bad at all and a little Penske rent a truck followed us the entire way, being our highway buddy. I had told John I would not drive in St. Louis, absolutely no way no how, and so I pulled over with 20 miles to go. Just in time, I may add, because as soon as we got back on the highway, traffic really stepped up and then we were in the thick of it. The city, as we approached, looked quite a bit like Balitmore, except for that huge arch thing sticking up out of nowhere.
For our younger readers, here is a link for some more information
http://www.gatewayarch.com/Arch/info/arch.aspx
and another question.....What is the river that flows alongside the city of St Louis? I'm sure you can figure that one out.

St Louis deserves its own post, so that's all for now folks. Tune in later to the continuing saga of THE KELLERS ROLL WESTWARD

Lessons learned:
1. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.(I kept telling myself that as I drove the trailer)
2. John is a wonderful husband who pushes me to be my best, even when I want to wimp out on him.