First, let me answer the question that I know is on all of your lips: yes, Marie and I approved of Princess Kate's dress. Absolutely perfect!
Second, let me admit to my ignorance of U.S. geography. Last night I said we'd be traveling through Indiana, Missouri and Kansas today. Imagine my surprise when I saw billboards for Lincoln's birthplace. "I thought Lincoln was born in ... OMG, we're in Illinois! My apologies to any Illini out there.
On a more sobering note, today was a long and humbling day, with horrific traffic accidents, massive flooding and tornado damage in plain sight. Near the Indiana/Illinois border, I looked to my left and marveled at what appeared to be one of those segmented farm sprinklers in the middle of a lake. Upon closer inspection, I realized I was looking at a flooded field. For miles and miles on either side of the highway, we saw floodwaters. At times it seemed as though we were driving in the Florida Keys.
This flooding was from the Wabash and Little Wabash rivers. A little further down the road, we drove off the highway into Mill Shoals, Illinois and saw significant flooding.
A few hours later we came upon a majestic, though man made, sight - the St. Louis Arch. Our friend Janet told us it was bigger than she expected, and she was right!
On the other side of the city, I pointed out the runways of the St. Louis airport to Marie. We both marveled at the absence of any planes taking off or landing, Then I saw a blue tarp on a nearby house, then another, then a subdivision with shear devastation, and suddenly remembered the tornado that hit there last Sunday.
Next in our day of disasters came as we entered Kansas City on I-70. Traffic came to an abrupt stop (from 70 mph), then crept along, eventually narrowing from three lanes to one as we passed the accident scene. A pickup truck going westbound had gone out of control, torn through the concrete barriers, flipped and rolled into the eastbound lanes, hitting a pickup and a tractor trailer. The driver was thrown from the vehicle and critically injured; his toddler, secured in a car seat, was only slightly injured. To see the condition of the vehicle, it's amazing anyone survived. Once through the backup, we flew along, only to stop again on the far side of Kansas City. This time the culprit was a burned out minivan.
What's next, a plague of locusts? No, just winds gusting to sixty miles an hour. Near Lawrence, Kansas, we were almost blown off our feet when we stopped for gas. Needless to say, we were happy and grateful to arrive safe and sound in Salina, KS, where we'll be spending the night. Tomorrow, we'll traverse the rest of Kansas and pass into Colorado, ending up in the small town of Salida, west of Pueblo. The forecast there calls for snow showers tomorrow; tonight, the surrounding mountains are expecting 4-8 inches of snow. Should be interesting!
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