James says:


Day 1. Left on schedule and headed out toward St. Louis. Ran into some rain just about at Winston Salem, and it stuck with us on and off through the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia.

It made the driving a bit frustrating as well as ruining any scenic opportunities. West Virginia will be remembered for their toll booths every 10 miles or so. $2, $2, $2...really?
The weather had cleared by the time we reached Kentucky and we took in the scenery of massive horse farms and even more massive cornfields. We stopped for the night in Shiloh, Illinois about 30 miles from St. Louis. Dinner at Outback and off to sleep.

Day 2. Great nights sleep. Headed for the Gateway Arch at about 7:30, was there by 8:15. Keley and I rode to the top (Roger had already been) and were thrilled by the view. The Arch is more impressive then I had thought.

There is a nice museum at the base and we enjoyed some time there. 

Back on the road, headed for Lebanon, Kansas, the geographic center of the lower 48. Yeah, it's not much, but really, Kansas only has so much to offer. We thought it would be nice to take some of the back roads, those long straight 2 lanes that you've probably seen. Yeah, that was good for about 20 miles, but damn, those things go on forever.

The cornfields in Kentucky have nothing on the monsters in Kansas. We did see a large group of massive wind turbines, but aside from that, the state seems to be just a rather large field. We were still about 60 miles away when we decided to put Lebanon off until tomorrow. A slightly extended search brought us to Concordia, Kansas. Now let's see if we can find something to eat..