DRIVING PRACTICE

We've traveled from Indiana approximately 250 miles north then west to Hamilton, Illinois as we press homeward. North for cooler weather and West headed back to California. It was the perfect day for a driving lesson for me since I've only driven the motor home once. The traffic was helpfully light on Highway 10 and  136 West.

The corn harvesters were moving from field to field and I was grateful, as I drove, that I was meeting them instead of being stuck behind them. They are huge and hard to see around.

At times there were several of them in a row rolling to the next field where they work in crews and get in the ethanol corn. The soybean fields are beginning to ripen, but not quite ready for harvest yet.

 Illinois is quite flat and I drove in a heavy, broadside wind for my three hours behind the wheel. I got much needed  practice navigating stop signs, curves, uphill and down, and several left and right turns. I stopped twice, once for a snack and water break; Another stop for Jim to get on the computer and find us a place to stay for the night.It isn't as difficult to drive one of these big rigs as I thought. Of course, practice helps.

Only one "narrow" hazzard, which happened after Jim took the wheel. And he also met a harvester in front of us. You can see how much of the road they use. We expect we'll see more of them across Missouri.

Looking back, a week or more, at a place in Indiana, I saw a sign for a historic marker in the Land Of The Limberlost. We couldn't stop, but this morning I looked it up on-line and found out what it is. If you are curious, as I was, check the link to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limberlost_Swamp