Monday, October 7th

Today was another LONG travel day.  We hope to not have too many of these on the trip.  We left Jamie and Dave's at O'Fallon, IL, (basically St. Louis) and headed north.  All the way to the U.P.  ---  That's Upper Peninsula for those who don't know.  "Yooper" is really what it's called.  So if any of you have thought Jeff talks funny, it's because he's from the U.P.  Eh?!?!?!  We stopped in Springfield, Illinois, to have breakfast with Connie and Larry that worked for us a couple years ago.  It was nice to see them.  Then all the way straight north.  We had to jump over and around all the thistles to get to the sign to take the state picture today.  It was worth it--great picture!  I enjoyed the scenery as it reminded me of being a farm girl growing up in Iowa.  Lots of corn and bean fields and farms along the way in Illinois and Wisconsin.  It was a beautiful day for traveling. **Sara