It is 7:45 AM, the odometer reads 103,844.7 miles and I am OFF!

As usual on leaving on an a extended trip I have the feeling I've forgotten something as I walk out the door. It could be some critical or convenient piece of camping gear or a final errand I was supposed to take care of like, paying a bill that is coming due, or securing or disconnecting something. None of these has ever turned out to be TRUE, but that does not prevent the thought of them occupying my mind. It is a bit like an engineering project. You work on something in abstract terms in great detail till you, almost, become obsessed with the abstract model in your head and find it hard to move on to the real world and actually build the thing.

I made it into the "real world" at 7:45 AM EDT with overcast skies and somewhat cool weather. In fact, the weather was cool enough that it felt good to wear jeans and a sweatshirt rather than shorts and a T-shirt. The T-shirt and shorts did, however come along with me as I moved west and, as the weather improved, I chanced into them.

Being Memorial Day there was very little traffic on the road and I managed to go right through the heart of Columbus Ohio just before noon with no problem. This saved me the extra time and miles of having to use the "ring road".

Who ever is in charge of road maintenance for the part of I-70 in central Ohio must have an adventurous sprit or a brother-in-law in the paint business. The local roads that are carried over I-70 here have bridges painted in various strong primary colors. I've seen yellow, blue and red, though no orange, purple or mixed color schemes.

Passed a serious wreck. A car in a ditch on it's roof with a bunch of people standing around watching as the tow truck crew was, evidently, trying to figure how to get it out.

Made it to Bridgeton Missouri ( NW of St. Louis) at 5:30 CDT. With the odometer at 104,491.8 miles, that works out to ~60 MPH including all stops. Not bad.