KOA, Nashville, TN, to St. Louis:  Actually got going early this morning—just before 8:00.  Took Briley Parkway around to I24 north through rural Tennessee and Kentucky.  Stopped around Ft. Campbell, KY, and had some breakfast.  Ft. Campbell is home of the 101^st Airborne and the restaurant was full of these guys. Lots of testosterone in that place.  Mike took over driving and we stopped just before Paducah and topped off the tank.  We’re thinking—this is great, we’ll be home by 3:00 or so.  Shortly after that we blew a tire on the fifth wheel.  Just north of Marion, IL.  Here we are on the shoulder with all this traffic whipping by us and buffeting us like crazy.  We spent over an hour on the phone with RV Road Help and then finally they found someone that would be able to come out and change the tire.  We sat there for two hours and not one law enforcement person passed by in either direction.  Finally, a state trooper did stop. He couldn’t help us, but he did suggest we move up a little ways where the shoulder was wider and we could get more off the road, especially since the blown tire was on the highway side.  So he stayed behind us with his lights on while we moved up.  The tow truck guy finally showed up around 4:00, changed the tire, and we were on our way by 5:00.  Didn’t get home until 7:30.  Spent 11-1/2 hours in the truck.  At least we made it home in one piece.  Now we get to go through 5 months of mail.

It's great to be home!