Our track for today is straight south on I-57 to I-55; precisely along the line where cold front and warm wet air from the south collide. Oh goody.
It is cold breaking camp but no snow yet. Three brightly feathered pheasants emerge to see us off then scurry back into the culvert they had been hiding in. No hiding for us though, here we go.
It is windy but roads have been treated and are dry for now. The view out my window is telling me I’m down south, clusters of palmetto send spikes into the sky, kudzu vines drape across everything in their path, and fluffs of cotton bunch and swirl along the road edge. But wait, that white stuff is not all cotton. We have found the snow. Roads are wet now and the temperature is bouncing between 29 and 30 as the weather channel warns of freezing bridges. Kent is focused on driving and I am a bit white knuckled; it has been a long time since we had the rig in snow. Betsy, our Garman, reports one to two hours delay and a road closure in Memphis, 50+ miles ahead. We hope it clears and keep on going.
Road conditions kind of level off and I get back to the scenery. Nearly all the cotton has been harvested and fields are edged with long rows of giant marshmallows wrapped in yellow plastic. Why yellow not white like hay bales? Hmm, Now there are pink marshmallows everywhere. I just had to know so I googled it. It is a breast cancer awareness campaign set in motion by a farmer in this county whose wife is battling/has battled breast cancer. Everyone along this stretch of 55 is definitely thinking pink.
There is snow in Memphis but the delay Betsy had foretold never came to be and the final 50 miles to our stop at Enid Lake are uneventful. We know it has been cold though; the motorhome engine is still in fast idle when we finish out the day at 381miles.

The Corp Campground at Enid is nice with big level sites and great lake views. The lake is low right now and rocky shores will keep us from ever beaching the boat at the site but that isn’t a deal breaker. It is just an overnight this time but we will have to stop back some time to explore this place further.

Kent’s school buddy introduced us to this place. Thank you, Gary and Carole. It is in a tiny little farm community but this place could hold its own anywhere. We started with a St Louis area specialty, toasted ravioli. It is a great twist on a yummy standard that got even better with the jalapeño aioli. The onion rings were huge and pretty spectacular too. Entrees on the menu sounded great plus there were 8 specials tonight, a Tuesday night. I went for one of the specials, pork chop cordon bleu. The sauce was amazing. Kent’s tenderloin medallions demi-glace was spectacular too. We have enough leftovers for another whole meal since we boxed nearly half of it to allow room for snickers cheesecake. We are stuffed but we are happy! Check this place out if you can.

South of the Mason Dixson line by November 1. We are just east of St. Louis. They broke a hundred-year-old record getting over an inch of snow yesterday and there is more forecast. We are grabbing dinner with one of Kent’s high school classmates tonight then it looks like tomorrow will be a full day drive south.
I saw a Roseate Spoonbill while we were driving yesterday. He’s a Gulf Coast bird and most certainly is regretting some wrong turn he made!