Pat Bean's blog

            “Every day is a good day to be alive, whether the sun’s shining or not,” – Marty Robbins

This barge was going down the Mississippi River at about the same time I was going over the river on the Mark Twain Bridge. –Photo by Pat Bean

Adventures with Pepper: Day 18

            Finally, after three days of Mrs. Sky’s weeping, Mr. Sun made his bright warm appearance again.

It’s a rare occasion that I don’t make it to where I’m headed. But Springfield traffic and a traffic accident right in front of me convinced me that I would rather visit Lincoln’s Tomb as an armchair traveler. — Wikipedia photo

I got up early, leisurely drank my cream-laced coffee while posting my blog, took Pepper for a long walk, and then took to the road as happy as the robins dining on worms brought to the surface by the rain.

Soon I was crossing the Mississippi River over the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge. A huge barge was passing below, on the Missouri side of the river, I noted, passing a sign in the middle of the bridge that welcomed me to Illinois. The state border here goes through the middle of the Mighty Mississippi.

On the other side of the bridge, I came across a series of roadside signs like the old Burma Shave ones. Anybody else out there remember those?

This one was more indicative of today, and made me laugh. “I’m on hold/I wish I had/the gun I sold,” They said. Perhaps it made me laugh because I recently was on hold for an hour trying to find out why my Amazon account wouldn’t let me sign on to order a book.

But I’m sorry I didn’t get to rub Honest Abe’s nose for luck. Note how shiny it is. It’s been rubbed a lot. — Wikipedia photo

My plan for the day, meanwhile, was to stop in Springfield, Illinois, pat Lincoln’s nose for good luck, than check into the Double J Campground down the road in Chatham.  I didn’t realize just how big a city Springfield was. I got caught in an early afternoon traffic jam, and then a nasty accident took place right in front of me, blocking my way.

Police eventually came and cleared the road enough so I could travel on, but by that time I wanted to get out of Springfield and park my RV under a shady tree and take Pepper for a brisk walk. And so I did a U-turn and made that happen — at the Double J RV Campground  seven miles south of too-chaotic-for-me-big-city.

Book Report: I got up early to drive the Skyline Trail in Shenandoah National Park — Yes I know my blog is trailing behind me. I’ll do better tomorrow. I’m staying put for the day.

Bean’s Pat: Sunday Morning http://tinyurl.com/8qmm77p A rabbit, cat and beetle are what make this morning special. What I love best is the ordinariness of it.