Date: 2014-04-28
From: Bland

To: Newport, VA
Miles today: 84.1
Weather: light rain

Day 47: Monday, 28 April 2014 Bland, VA (586.9) to Newport (671.0)I had left a message for Buffalo yesterday and earlier today. He called at about 5pm his time. At the time, he said that he was at Mile 666 but was planning to get to Newport, VA, at Mile 671.It was difficult to hear him with our road noise in the car, and we got disconnected three times. Finally, we pulled into a rest stop and I could hear him just fine.I asked about weather, given the tornado/thunderstorms/flash flood warnings in the south. He said that today, he ate lunch in a shelter to get out of the rain, but it tapered off afterwards. He said it's not been too bad so far.When he picked up his box in Bland, some other hikers commented, "You'll be able to go all the way to Maine with that!" Sounds like it's all gone!!! He said that he's been eating a lot! He did comment that he needs to figure out a sleep and/or eatinng schedule. Seems like earlier in the hike, he was able to do 27-30 mile days without a problem. Now, 25 miles is a struggle. He did take a nap and feels good now. (Maybe that's what he needs to do, especially with hotter, humid weather coming.)We spent a good portion of the conversation figuring out where and maybe when we'd meet each other. He's not going to make it to the KOA near Lynchburg, unfortunnately. He said the KOA is mentioned in the data book, so after we leave, if he wants to stay there, he'll have to pay!I am looking forward to meeting up with him. Wish I could bake a vegan pie for him but not sure how I'd pull that off, traveling across the country!Watching the Weather Channel last night, we weren't sure we should head out to St. Louis, MO. There were thunderstorms, flashflooding, and hail, not to mention the tornado, warnings for Alabama and parts north and east. Not sure we wanted to be on the road, only to run into some rough weather. When we got up in the morning, it didn't sound quite as bad for the area that we'd be in (Salina, KS to southeast of St. Louis- Mount Vernon, Illinois). We decided to head out. After all, we're not the only stupid people on the road!It started out windy and very cloudy, that low-hanging, thick, gloppy, grey cloud cover for most of the day. But then we saw in the distance, a hint of blue up there! We left that grey cloud cover in Kansas and going across Missouri was rather pleasant, with blue skies annd white fluffly clouds. About halfway across Missouri, we saw, da, da, da, a thick, hazy band on the horizon. The blue that we were enjoying, meshed way out in the distance with this blue-grey band. As we got closer, that grey band also had those frothy, thunder clouds coming out of it. We were heading directly into it, just didn't know WHEN we'd meet.Where I-64 peels off of I-70, west of St. Louis, we caught up to the ominous cloud. It hung over St. Louis. We drove through the western suburbs of St. Louis and got to see the light contrast on the buildings of the city - the sun shining from the west, lighting up the faces of the buildings with the dark sky in the background. We got through the city, but in East St. Louis in Illinois, It dumped. Fortunately, we got through the worst of the traffic before the buckets of rain started coming down. Cars were pulling off to the side, especially under bridges, to wait out the deluge. We slowed way down, with wipers going as fast as they could, we crept along the highway along with all the others. Marty kept a death grip on the steering wheel, and I kept telling him to just go slow and we'll make it. About 10-15 minutes of that, the rain started tapering off and we started seeing glimpses of blue sky again! WOW! that was like driving through the car wash without the soap application! And we had clear skies to our destination-Mt. Vernon, IL.On to the Nashville area tomorrow, to visit Marty's brother John and his wife.The adventure continues!The Mum and FAHthur of.....