Good morning from Clarksville, Tn!

We arrived late last night due to no hotels being available in Nashville. We decided to push on through another hour to this hotel!

We had a leisurely start to the morning, we left Tennessee and passed through Kentucky. Right before we crossed into Illinois the tire pressure light came on. It was so nerve racking to watch the pressure go down, down, down as we drove to the nearest rest area. Thankfully it was only two miles away and we were

able to pull in, find a shady spot and access the damage.

When Alan was in high school he worked at a tire shop, so my anxiety was low knowing he could handle whatever he discovered. What he found was a slashed tire, no fixing that, so we unloaded part of the back to reach the release for the spare which thankfully was under the car!

After the spare was on, now to find a new tire! Low and behold there were 8, right at this particular exit.

Alan knew the kind of tire he wanted and the place he picked had them in stock so he knew it was the place to be!

They let us know of a BBQ place right next door where we could grab lunch while they fixed up the car.

Bill’s was delicious and we were soon back to the car and ready to head off, but not before we realized where we were!!

Metropolis, Illinois the home of Superman!

So we made a quick visit to town and then were off to St. Louis

Alan found a phone booth!

Thankfully we traveled to St. Louis without incident!! When we arrived the city was very busy and as we exited our car to head to the arch we heard a loud roar! It was the crowd at the Cardinals game!! 🤣 The cardinals had just scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead!!

It registered 100° in the car when we got out and boy was it stifling!!!

We walked through the city to the park and enjoyed the air conditioned visitor center and museum. The trams to the top of the arch were sold out by this time. Not that I was going anywhere near that thing! So tiny!!!

We walked around outside and took pics, the last time we were all here was in Jan. of 2008. Bree wasn’t even a year old and we propped her up against the arch with Ry holding her. I wish I had that pic but it’s in the cloud somewhere!

Here they are now, enjoying the shade of the arch.

We also took a pic with the mighty Mississippi and some river boats!

Alan found the perfect place for family pics!

After finding our car and getting out of the city we headed west towards Kansas City! We arrived only to find our cooler plug had busted and the ice water had leaked all over the back of the car. 🤦🏻‍♀️

We dried it up as best we could, and got some deserved sleep…we’ll tackle this in the morning!

It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters!