a - Effingham, Illinois

 

Last night we packed, sorted and packed some more, rested a bit and started again.  It felt as if we were packing up the whole house!  I made lists as things to remember and pack popped into my head and then crossed them off, only to add some other things.  The doglets knew there was something going on and seemed super hyper all evening. 

 

After a really good sleep we left Soddy Daisy around 8.30am this morning. It still did not seem real as life has been really hectic for the past few months and this trip sort of crept up on us, only to pounce these past two days.  

Steven surprised us by stopping in quickly before work to give and get a goodbye hug - that really made a good start to the day :)  Thanks Steven!  Lisa and Joleen also called today wanting updates and to let us know that they (Joleen and Billy) had arrived back home in California safely.  Aaarrrggh - I miss her already!

And so we headed north with two doglets firmly under the table wondering what the heck was going on but not worrying too much.  Allie did her normal "tongue out and shaking" thing for most of the way but Sophie just lay down and snoozed between happily emptying the food bowl without competition.  Generally its much easier with two of them and makes me feel less guilty as well. Them being under the table is out of my sight which is also good.

We drove up the 111, aiming for the Interstate 40, but took a wrong turn and ended up tootling around farmlands and tiny, winding little roads.  They are really lovely to drive - until you find a tractor in front of you going at around 6 miles per hour......We drove rather smartly east of Nashville, through Kentucky, Indiana and are now in Illinois - yup, in Effingham, with no effing (s'cuse me!) internet!

There is not much exciting on the roads this way and my camera rested at ready for most of the day.  Doglets got lit up with the flash a good few times, simply because of a lack of outside interesting stuff to snap at.  The gas is already 40c/gal more expensive here than it was in Soddy!

We are now at a campground deep inside the farmlands of Illinois, with huge rolled up bales of hay around us and an emergency airfield in front of us.  Its wonderful to have water and electricity and air conditioner.  Frank cooked a lovely meal again and now we are both off to bed early.  The crickets are cricketing outside as if its new year or something and the dogs are already asleep.

On a much sadder note - Katie called me today to let me know that Adrian from "Baldy's Blog" http://baldyblog.freshblogs.co.uk/   died last night.  I did not have a chance to check his blog this morning before leaving and so did not know and its terribly frustrating not to be able to get through to Kay because of no internet today!    My heart hurts at the thought of losing a child and Adrian was a really special young man who had an incredible impact on so many people, me included.  I cannot imagine the ache his family and friends must be feeling.  I know the pain for Adrian is over, but the gaping space left by him has got to be really rough, to say the very least.  Kay, Keith and Carrie - I am sending you tons of love and a really big hug.  

Tomorrow we will be heading north some more and no doubt quite a bit west too.  We want to head for the Badlands, but if something looks interesting along the way - then we will stop too.  We are not going to rush the start to tomorrow and will first stop in town to find a place to send these emails.

Love and light

especially U3

Annie

ps:  Ken - thanks for the bread!  It's deelish......

       

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http://livingwithcml.blogspot.com