Tennessee to Missouri 4/12/22

The thunderstorms raged as we gathered the animals and headed towards Kentucky.  We knew there were reports of tornadoes, but we did not have to alter our course to avoid the most dangerous spots.  Kentucky highways were more sedate and relaxing than Tennessee’s many emotional outbursts on signs and billboards.  As we headed towards the Mississippi River, the storm abated and changed into a normal, cloudy day.  The roads in southern Illinois were rough on that brief stretch before crossing into Missouri.  We saw the St. Louis arch as we crossed the big river.  That same river would never be that far away for the rest of our journey.  I felt more at home in the Midwest than I ever did in the South.  It felt good to be on the right side of the Mississippi (which is technically the left side).  

Our planned stop was north of St Louis, in Mark Twain’s hometown of Hannibal, (we enjoy many of his writings).  However, we changed plans based mostly on my husband’s electric car charging requirements.  We pushed through all the way to Kirksville, Missouri that evening.  With our son’s help, we made calls on the road and arranged overnight stabling and boarding for the animals.  We were on the road for much longer than originally planned, but it made for a shorter drive the next morning to finish up the trip.  The sky cleared up west of St. Louis, but a fierce, frigid wind followed the strong storms.  The wind chilled the animals in the open style trailer.  We had canvas sides made for the trailer, but they forgot a hole where the gate latch is on the side, so we couldn’t attach them.  At the dog boarding facility for Zeke, the farm owners offered to shelter the large animals in their barn.  This was perfect, so we cancelled the other overnight stable.  The animals were already cold and the extra time to take them to the other farm would just chill them even more.  I helped move some panels to create two temporary stalls.  One for the goats and donkey and the other for the cow and pony.  We couldn’t find a place to board the three cats, so we rented a second hotel room for them.  We settled back at the hotel and the temperatures dropped to below freezing overnight.  We didn’t anticipate this, and our poor little Cuban tree frogs, who were tucked away in the truck in a temporary cage with plenty of food and water, succumbed to the cold.