The work gods smiled upon me and I was able to slip out of work a bit early and we hit the road today (Friday) rather than tomorrow morning.  It was a perfect day for a drive -warm and a bit overcast so we weren’t baked by the sun.  The top was down, the bags were loaded and we were on our way

It took an hour to go the first 23 miles, but after that, with a couple of exceptions, we were cruising along in the mid-80s….speed that is, because the temps were in the 90s and topped out at one point at 100.  We trundled down 294 to 55 and followed that all the way to St Louis.  We skirted south of the city to avoid passing by Busch Stadium and the Cards/Cubs game onto 255 and then south again on 44…all the way to Rolla, Mo.  Not a bad first day – 415 miles (and lots of singing in the wind).