Today was scheduled as our longest day of driving.  As we were leaving Indianapolis the rain started and quickly turned into a torrential downpour. And it rained for hours.  Across Indiana and Illinois.  Sadly, we discovered the flaw with the cartop carrier.  In fair weather it works well.  It’s even good at keeping the rain out of the luggage.  But not so good at keeping the rain out of the car interior.  When the car stopped the rain ran down the straps that attach the carrier to the car.  And they wicked the rain in. The dog noticed it first. And then it started raining in on me. I thought I might need to wear a pancho in the car….But as we neared the Missouri state line the rain stopped and the sun came out.

And there it was ahead of us – the Mighty Mississippi.  When I was in college the seasonal rainfall determined where we could cross in the trips back and forth from New York to Arkansas.  Many of those trips took us through Hannibal, MO at night, though, and we couldn’t see much of the river.  One year the river had flooded so badly that we drove along side it for miles looking for a place to cross.  The only thing between the car and the river was a wall of sandbags with pumps in the road to keep the river from washing the road away.

The Mississippi today was high and wide and muddy.  We stopped in Hannibal and communed for awhile with Mark Twain.  Visited his house and saw a few places that were inspirations for his books. Watched a riverboat. We had lunch at the Mark Twain Dinette. House specialty was homemade root beer. Fried chicken with mashed potatoes and cream gravy. Not bad for a meal on the Mississippi.

Back on the road we drove across the state past miles of cornfields, a small town with major tornado damage and Chillicothe, MO – birthplace of sliced bread.  Really.  And there we were at last, crossing another river.  The Missouri. Into Kansas.

Just over the state line we found ourselves at the stables for the first Kansas Pony Express stop.  It was unplanned.  And perfect. As I was posting a picture of the stables on Facebook and went to tag the location, the Jesse James House and Museum popped up on the list of locations. So we turned around, crossed the river again into St. Joseph’s MO and played tourist.  How many times do you get to play tourist with a Genuine Outlaw of the Wild West?

And then we headed North. Through Missouri, Iowa, and into Nebraska. Tonight we are in Omaha.  We passed incredible “farms” today.  When they encompass thousands of acres, can you even call them that?  Corn and wheat.  Cattle and pigs. We passed a train of 100+ cars pulled by 6 engines and pushed by another.  We saw windmills, old and new. And I am astounded by the beauty of this country.

Steak tonight in Omaha and a walk around the Old Market.  This is a town the railroad built. And the railroad is still very much alive.

And one last thing before I close for the night….John said to tell you how awesome he is.  Because he wants the blog to stay factually accurate…..