Day 17 Columbia, MO to Paducah, KY 295 Miles
A day without wearing rain paints is like a …good day!

This is a most amazing country that we live in. In the past 17 days I have seen Hill Country in Texas, Red Rock landscapes in New Mexico, Snow capped Rocky Mountains in Colorado, Wide open spaces in Montana, the rolling Plaines of Nebraska and Iowa. I’ve crossed the Mississippi River twice, The Missouri River twice. The Rio Grand, the Pearl, the Santa Fe, the Crow and the Lodge Pole rivers. I’ve seen shuttered towns that time has past by. I’ve seen thriving small towns where people are born, grow up, marry, raise families and die without ever traveling 100 miles from home. I’ve seen cities like Santa Fe where everyone is from some where else except the natives and I mean the natives, Native Americans who have taken on the American entrepreneurial spirit with gusto. I’ve been in 12 states and I’m not home yet.

Today it was farm lands of Missouri, St. Louis and the Great Arch and the farm lands of Illinois. It was a good day.

Tomorrow I’m off the Nashville and Chattanooga.