On The Road Again ... After Way Too Long

So we're headed out west at a very leisurely pace, or so I thought. We planned on leaving Michigan on Christmas morning but then there was snow on the roads and lots of SALT!! So we checked the weather and saw that Friday was our best bet for a 'dry' getaway. Best of intentions - it was still wet and a dusting of snow, but too bad we weren't waiting any longer. We had been packing for the last week or so and only had the motorcycle to do that morning plus the last of the incidentals that had to wait til the day of departure. We were on our way by 10:30 and cringing when we thought of the salt getting on our 'clean' underbody. Oh well, better than sitting in the snow and cold all winter. We traveled US23 to M14 then I94 to I69. Interestingly enough there was a lot less snow already. We set our sites on Effingham IL for our first night thinking that wouldn't be too far. At Indianapolis we had our rude awakening with construction. It was an hour of stop and go before we picked up I70 and over to Effingham IL. We arrived at our first campground, Camp Lakeland about 7:30 p.m. our time or 6:30 IL time. Nice park and very quiet. We were exhausted after 457 miles and ready for a quick dinner and bed... so much for leisurely lol.

Woke up Saturday to another beautiful sunny day. Figuring we might be driving a lot again, we got in a walk before heading out at 10 a.m. At this point we just want to get to a warmer climate. On the way down yesterday it was so sunny that the temp on the dash was 91!! I think the outside temp got up to about 57 and it was beautifully sunny, but it's still questionable when it gets down to the high 30's at night. We picked up I57 south right out of Effingham all the way into Missouri. Just a short time in Missouri picking up I55 to go even deeper into the south lol. Tonight we are in West Memphis Arkansas at the Tom Sawyer's RV Park after driving 324 miles. The drive in was a little scary with steel gates on the front doors, come to find out there was another way in, but we didn't have those directions. We are parked right on the Mississippi River and watching lots of barges moving quickly down the river. We took a few pictures, but of course, I can't get Picasa to work lol. Still couldn't get Picasa to work, but somehow after about an hour of playing around I was able to upload these pictures. They were all taken at the Tom Sawyer Campground in West Memphis Arkansas on the Mississippi River.