On the road Day 1 (06/27/2009)

We left Suwanee, Georgia today at 9:00 a.m. and drove for 688 miles in 11 hours and 30 minutes to Columbia, MO. Our girls wrote Empty Nesters on the back window and Alaska Bound on the front windshield. As people passed us, they would wave and smile and when we stopped at rest stops, it was a conversation starter. We went through part of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri. The weather was good all day and the traffic was light. We got a good view of the arch in St. Louis and enjoyed the rest of the scenery along the way. Our next planned stop is at Mount Rushmore. I do not think we will make it tomorrow but you never know after all we are staying at a Holiday Inn Express tonight. We have changed our route so we can go by Old Faithful and then head up into Canada and across the Alaskan Highway.