Another Day of Driving

This morning the weather channel predicted severe rain and thunder storms along the route we were taking, so we started out with a little trepidation. But the day turned out to be sunny and warm - go figure!

We drove North on Hwy 65 towards Springfield, then took smaller roads - East on 60 and then North on 63 - until we joined Interstate 44. The scenery continues to be low rolling hills covered in green prairie grass and lots of trees. The area is dotted with small towns, houses and farms. We drove quickly through St. Louis without stopping since we've been there twice before, transitioned to Hwy 64 and across the Mississippi River into Illinois.

I snapped these photos from the freeway as we passed the Gateway Arch . . .

and crossed over the mighty Mississippi into Illinois . . .

In Illinois, the landscape flattened out. We were still passing farmhouses, silos and an occasional oil well. Everything is really green, and there are little streams and ponds everywhere.

The rain finally caught up with us - or we caught up with it - but we drove through it fairly quickly. I think it has caught us again - as I am typing this, I can hear thunder coming from outside the window of our motel room.

We passed many fields of yellow flowers. We were guessing they might be mustard plants, but I looked on the Internet and the description of mustard doesn't fit what we saw. So I have no idea what they are growing in the fields, but it looks like this . . .

Here's a close-up of the flower . . . Any ideas? (It sort of looks like a daisy, but it isn't)

We crossed over the Wabash River and into Indiana, where we are now in a little town called Dale, which is in the southern part of Indiana, a little less than half way across the state. We stopped here because Abraham Lincoln spent part of his childhood in this area, and we want to visit the National Memorial tomorrow (we arrived too late to see it today). It's beginning to feel like a vacation now, I think we will be able to stop the marathon driving soon and start being tourists! I'm definitely ready for that!!!