6-30-17  moving on---again!

We had debated on staying another week, then going straight to Knoxville to pet sit while the "kids" went on their overnight Appalachian hiking trip, but we ended up heading back to Georgia instead.  Guess Ken got tired of watching tv with a digital antenna and not having very good internet.  Or was he afraid he'd have to do more yard work?!  While I trimmed the lilac bush, he was busy edging and transplanted an azalea bush to my fountain garden, as well as trimming up a couple trees in the front yard.  So the 10 hour drive was a nice restful event.  I, of course, took pictures along the way.  We even stopped in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, and met David and Jane there for breakfast.  Adds another 1-2 hours to the trip, but worth it to visit with them some more.
Back to taking pictures of the midwest farms.

love the character of all the old barns

 Love the door on this barn

 also enjoyed seeing all the wild flowers along the side of the highway.

 Leaving the farmlands and entering the mountains of Eastern Tennessee.

 The weather forecast predicted rain, but it was another beautiful day---especially the cloud cover.

 ok, there are farmlands in the mountains, too.

 I always wonder what happens if a truck need to use those runaway ramps.  Do they bull doze all the cars on the left side of the road?  Hopefully we'll never find out!

 Still admiring the clouds and mountains.

 This bridge always catches my attention.  It is really high!

 more barns

 more wild flowers.

 Right before Chattanooga, we took a detour.   Google maps was showing traffic through Chattanooga as solid red for about 15 miles.  So we decided to go around it to the south.  That's where we saw this misshap.  At least it looked like everyone was ok and our traffic wasn't slowed.

 This new route took us around Look Out mountain and right past Cloudland Canyon.  We did drive into the park, but didn't see anything right away, so decided to continue on and check it out on the internet for a possible later date.

 The bypass route took us through a lot more farmlands.  It was a pretty ride.

 After about 1 1/2 hours, we connected up with I-75 in Georgia.  Not sure if it saved us any time, but it seemed to be as fast as if we had stayed on I-24 and gone through Chattanooga without any traffic.  It certainly was prettier.

 We were only on 75 about 20 miles, then we headed East on SR 20.  Again, not any faster then going all the way to I-285 to I-85 and back up if traffic is flowing, but that's a big "if"!  At least going SR20 is less traffic and more scenic.

 almost as many churches as barns going this way.

 Even came across a couple old fire engines in Cumming giving rides to the community.

Nice that sunset is so late now!  We were able to get to the apartment before dark.  Another trip to St. Louis over.  Not a vacation.  We had a lot to take care of this time:  attend a class for Property leasers in Florissant, go to our Dr. check ups (me--- 4, including my heart Dr., endocrinologist, lab technician, and sleep Dr.; Ken---his internist), get the Escape fixed, buy a new vehicle, run to the DMV a couple times, run to Prudential a couple times, do a bunch of yard work, see family and friends, and even manage a trip to the botanical gardens.  It was a fun filled busy 2 weeks.