Westward We Go

---

DAY 12 - Friday, July 8, 2016

Covington, KY to to Cincinnati, Oh to Indianapolis, IN to Hampton, IL (near Rock Island)



We maximized our hotel stay until they kicked us out at noon. Back in Spirit and back on the road. Crossing the Ohio River into Cincinnati the entire sky turned dark - heavy rains and lightning started - it was kind of eerie. Because of bad weather and heavy traffic we missed our exit onto Highway 74 West so we made a detour around and eventually headed west toward Indianapolis. At some point we gained an hour - back to Central Time Zone (Thanks, Brenda Fletcher!) 😊 and back to corn fields - this time they were both on the righthand side and the lefthand side! Getting crazy! So in one day we were in the states of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. We camped along the Mississippi River on the Illinois side but we were just a minute or two from Iowa. Geoff calls the Mighty Mississippi the “Muddy” Mississippi - there was mud all around our campground and fireflies too! Driving in almost 5 states in one day - we don’t do that back home!



When Jaedon co-piloted for me last week he discovered that each state of the United States of America has a state motto. Here are the state mottos of all the states we’ve visited in our trip:

~Kentucky “United we stand, divided we fall”

~Ohio “With God all things are possible”

~Indiana “The crossroads of America”

~Illinois “State sovereignty - National unity”

~Wisconsin “Forward”

~Minnesota “The star of the North”

~Iowa “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain”

~Nebraska “Equality before the law”

~South Dakota “Under God the people rule”

~Wyoming “Equal rights”

~Montana “Gold and Silver”

~Idaho “It is perpetual”

~Washington “By and By”



In Kentucky we were close to the Bible belt and lots of cars had “One nation under God” on their license plates. They were nice reminders of how our country started - what made America great - our Creator God and a united people’s belief in Him.





The bulk of today was driving West. Originally from Hebron, KY we had planned to head southwest to St. Louis and Branson, Missouri but when Spirit needed a little TLC Geoff and I prayed and God rerouted us. So due West it is - toward Great Aunt Mary Glass and our cousin, Diane, in Wayne, Nebraska and “Chicken Days” weekend! In honor of our home state’s motto “May the circle be unbroken, by and by Lord, by and by!”

---