The sky over East Tennessee wept this morning as we headed West on our great adventure. For the first time in weeks, there was a steady hard rain. After topping up the tank on the way out of town ($2.37/gal), we jumped onto I40 headed West toward Nashville.

For the first 20 miles, we felt like we were on a bumper cars ride – saw several accidents and spinouts as people just seemed to go in all manner of crazy directions. We saw at least 5 cars that spun out of control in the rain. I considered heading home and going back to bed but we decided that we would just keep going. Breakfast in Cookville and the sun began to break through the clouds.

We headed North at Nashville – no signs of the flood damage there but we didn’t get off the interstate. Then we proceeded into Kentucky and crossed the Ohio River into Illinois at Metropolis where yours truly acheived brief “Superhero” status in Superman’s home town. We walked through the town and along the Ohio River, sat in a riverfront park and watched towboats shuffle barges.

50 miles north and we stopped in Marion to visit Richard’s Great Aunt Ivolene (89 1/2 years old and still going strong). We hadn’t been to Marion since the mid 1990’s and enjoyed driving around town and seeing places that tweaked my memory. On to West Frankfort (site of a terrible December 1951 coal mine disaster) for supper at a deli then an hour North to Mt. Vernon for the night.