Days 35 & 36--July 7th & 8th--Lincoln, NE, to Mt. Vernon, IL, to Asheville, NC

 This is what the sky looked like as we left Lincoln, NE, headed for Iowa. 

Before we left out hotel we found out the ALL the roads that would take us the direction we were headed looked like this.  Yep, under water.

Therefore every which way we turned we encountered this:

The Missouri River had overflowed its banks and caused major flooding throughout the area.

It looked like we were not going to get to our last state to complete our visits of the contiguous United States.  But you know Paul and his computer maps!

 Through a little bit of Kansas, and a lot of Missouri, we finally made it
to Iowa!                                        

Most of our driving was through heavy rain, as if this area needed more, huh?  If you look at all the pictures in the album for these days, you'll see what a hard job Paul had. This picture is just an example of how bad it was.  The little bit of light you see is actually headlights from an oncoming car.  The wipers were working as hard as they      could, but they just couldn't keep up with the rain.

Driving around St. Louis was terrible!

Today started out much like yesterday.  The only difference was the states that we went through.

While we were with Pat and Marcia we tried to find a place to go white-water rafting.  We couldn't find a trip that fit into our schedule.  After yesterday and today driving through so much heavy rain, I got my wish.  Thankfully, we did not hydroplane across the highway!

It was raining so hard that we barely saw the North Carolina sign as we crossed the state line.  You can see the state flag if you look closely.

We stopped at the welcome center to get a better shot.

We're in Asheville now, spending our last night on the road.  We'll be home tomorrow afternoon.

It's been a very good trip, but we're ready to be still for awhile.

"I like calling North Carolina home!"