Day 1

Huntsville Alabama to Nashville, Tennessee   -   128 miles.

First fill up with petrol cost $203.00. Petrol (gas here) cost $3.13 a gallon. It was to be the cheapest fuel for a while. We left Huntsville about 10.30am headed for Nashville.  Very exciting! We knew our way out of town as we had done some running around in Huntsville over the last few days. But it was still stressful and concentration plus. The motor home did not come equipped with a GPS and we were going with the faithful Rand McNally road atlas. Although the main roads are well shown there is no assistance with lane directions approaching exits. Until we became  familiar with the road system we would find ourselves driving in a lane that must exit!  Shit ...shit ...shit....!
We traveled on I65 driving at about 50mph waiting for the confidence to grow.
After 2 hours we exited I65 at Columbia in Tennessee to get some fruit and fresh provisions.  Big mistake.
There wasn't any such store and we couldn't find a place to turn around to get back on the highway.  So we had a drive in the country for several miles.  We have a year ...  what's half an hour?

The traffic became very heavy approaching Nashville.  More lanes of traffic; lanes narrowed; so many direction signs.  Chocolate helped ... and then we were on the other side of Nashville looking for our exit. We had booked in to an RV park in Goodletsville which, on the map, looked easy to find. It still took 2 phone calls to the RV park for directions off I65.  But we made it!!  A full hookup - water, sewer, power and cable - and it was a pull through which meant no backing up. By way of celebration we ordered in pizza!
It seemed impossible that we were in Nashville and not going to explore the Grand Ole Opry or Country Music Hall of Fame but we will be back. We had decided on the drive to Nashville that our priority was to get to South Dakota, some 1400 miles northwest (approx 2250 kms).  We have very good friends in Rapid City SD.  Our plan had always been to head to SD first.  We just didn't know that it would be from Alabama! We had about 5 days of driving ahead of us.

Day 2

Nashville Tennessee to St Louis, Missouri  -  310 miles.

Our first breakfast in the truck then we were off, headed the other side of St Louis.  Our route would take us northwest into Kentucky on I24, then west over the border in to the bottom south east corner of Illinois then north to Mt Vernon and west across Illinois on I64 to St Louis just over the border in Missouri - 4 states in one day!
We did not book an RV park ahead. We were not quite sure where we would end.
When we crossed into Kentucky we came onto a concrete highway a bit like driving on a rail track. It quickly reverted back to a smooth surface.  Around noon we ran into light rain; the temperature was about 90 degrees. Kentucky is very picturesque, lots of rural pastures. It reminded us of our hikes on the Appalachian trail all those years ago. We hiked approximately 600 miles over 3 trips to the states, each time completing 200 miles (2 weeks) then travelling to other parts always ending up in the Black Hills in SD.
Kentucky was the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln ( in Hodgenville). It is known as the whiskey-making centre of the US - Jim Beam and it is also the original home of Kentucky Fried Chicken!
Another state to return to explore.

We were headed for the other side of St Louis, Missouri. In mid afternoon we stopped for some provisions - we are yearning for fresh fruit and vegetables - a regular meal. Not that they are not available just that we are on the road in a large vehicle and getting off a highway takes some planning!! We stopped at new Baden and found a treasure trove - a Krugers store with everything we could possibly want. The cost of food including meat, fruit and vegetables is so much cheaper. we are well stocked!

The approach to St Louis was scary. After many miles of open country and small rural towns we were suddenly back into busy highways with exits going off everywhere.  We don't know where we are going to stop.  RV parks are not available like hotels or motels; they tend to be a bit off the beaten track and we realised we had not seen many/any signs for RV parks on I 64.
We stopped at a shopping mall on the west side of St Louis and asked for directions. The girls in a Starbucks coffee shop were very helpful.  I think they could sense some urgency in my voice when I asked for directions; it was 7.30 and while still very light we definitely had to find a place to stop soon.

So a further 40 miles west now on I70 and we found a place to stop for the night - the Kan-Do Campground on Highway TT. We were exhausted.  It was now 9.00pm.  Cold pizza, cracker biscuits and a beer were the order of the day!