StL to Nashville, TN -- April 5th, Palm Sunday

I headed out from Marissa's about 3 pm, and drove through Southern Illinois, Southwest Kentucky, and into Tennessee. This was the first new scenery for me. I have only been as far East as St. Louis, this far South, and only as far East as Cleveland even up North. I have never been to the Southeast before.
Southern Illinois was absolutely beautiful, and this area was where Spring is right now. It's coming Omaha! Everything is turning green and there are buds on the trees. The most beautiful thing were the purple budding trees all along the way, I vowed to take my time the rest of the trip, so I pulled off at a rest stop that looked pretty in Illinois, an area called Rend Lake on I-57. Took some photos. It was nice. Then I stopped at Metropolis, Il, where they had, what else, a giant Superman Statue, in an area called Superman Square. That was cool. Then I went through Paducah, KY and got a couple photos of their "Historic Riverfront." Not as cool as advertised. But it is nice to see everything green and budding down here. I heard Omaha had a blizzard today. Ha Ha. And the farms on the side of the road all ahve nice looking green pastures with cows grazing. I know that Nebraska beef is good b/c we have corn fed cattle, but they all walk around in small areas of dirt and mud. This is definitely more pleasing to the eye on a road trip, grass fed cattle farms, that is.
My biggest pet peeve about driving is people that won't get over into the slow lane when you are coming up behind them going faster. I've noticed most of the time in town that the reason is they are foreign or on their cell phone. But I think there are some people that just don't know this rule of the road. I have only encountered one of the se people in the first 900 miles of my trip, it seems to be way better on the openb road between cities than between Omaha and Bellevue, where I become infuriated probably 75% of the time I go there at these drivers. Hopefully there won't be many more. I have been averaging between 78 mph and 85 mph most of the way with no scares, and last fill-up I got just over 24 mpg in my car. I have a 99 Subaru Outback and it gets about 4 mpg less than my old 01 Galant, but I have had no car problems and have been comfortable the whole time. I don't know how I lived without cruise control in that car. What an invention. Now if only the car would steer itself!!
My driving philosophy is that 10 over the speed limit is ok. I've been told by a few people now that the farther I go down South, the more the cops look for out-of-state "yankees" to pull over, so I think I'll slow down just a bit for awhile. Obvious goal: Don't get any tickets on this trip.
I am in Nashville now, arrived just after dark, and have checked into my first hotel along the way. It is great! I found it on expedia.com, it's the Sleep Inn in Nashville. 65 bucks after taxes for a room with fridge, microwave, tv, internet, ironing board, and king size bed. It doesn't smell, there are no visible stains, and the staff is friendly. Love it! I was thinking about finding a nice little blues bar and having a couple of beers, but it is midnight now and I want an early start tomorrow, so I think I'll just watch some tv and go to bed. I'll be including links to my exact map from now on, so enjoy that, and stay tuned! PS--Please post back, I'm going to be bored, and I love hearing from everyone. I want time alone to reflect, plan, and come up with ideas for my small business, but that won't take up all my alone time. Peace.