DAY 1: MINNESOTA, IOWA, MISSOURI, ILLINOIS

We pulled out of our driveway before seven this morning and headed east and south for the first part of our trip.  It was a beautiful morning, and I enjoyed taking some blurry pictures through the windshield.

This next one looks like a man made forest to me.  Kind of ugly, uh?

The energy photo:  the energy of the sun and the energy of the wind turbines.

Shortly after we cross into Iowa, we see this pretty scene off to the left of the road.  I always look forward to seeing this old church among the pines.

A bit further down the road is the "silo and smokestack heritage area" of the state.  Lots of interesting sights along the highway.  Especially on a cold winter morning when the smokestacks are really puffing away.

But soon our beautiful morning disappeared, and for almost three hours we drove through this:

and this.

We crossed into Missouri, and sun came out, and we stopped for a lunch of rice crackers, white cheddar cheese with cranberries in it, and a good old Minnesota Honey Crisp apple.  Nummy!

Soon the outside temperature reached a high of 64!  On February 2!

Crossing the wide Missouri near St. Louis.

By the end of our day we had driven 563 miles, at an average speed of 59 MPH (all freeway!) and our gas mileage was 50.3 MPG.  Yes, we stopped once to fill up.  It drank all of 8 gallons!

We are at an AFB in Illinois, heading to Montgomery, Alabama tomorrow night.  It was a good first day.