Day 9: The Journey's End

RaeRay is grateful for kind cops. We had not been stopped for the entire 4,000-plus miles across the country and back. Of course, speed limits of 75 and 80 mph leave little need for breaking the law. Besides, a little blue Honda Civic is moving plenty fast at 80.

In the suburbs of St. Louis, though, 72 is too fast, especially in a 55-mile-per-hour zone. That’s what officers guarding I-70 say. One of their finest hailed down RaeRay to discuss the subject. He suggested Morgan may have seen speed limit signs before in Alabama and should be watching for
them in Missouri. We had unknowingly passed several since leaving our hotel, the officer said. He took our registration and insurance information to his car and spent a few minutes studying his computer. We doubted he was reading our blog. When he came back, he explained that a speeding ticket costs $302, and we should have noticed the double-fine signs along the way. But he was going to help us out a little. “Actually, a lot,” he added. Although he praised Morgan for
wearing a seatbelt, he said he was ticketing us for not wearing it. That would be a $10 fine instead of $300 or more. We thanked him over and over again, and resumed our journey home – at the speed limit.

The last day of driving was the shortest of all. We had stayed on the west side of St. Louis hoping today to stop at the state line and make photos from both Illinois and Missouri. The policeman suggested it would not be safe to stop in St. Louis, and moments later we realized why. The
state line is on a bridge, and parking would be impossible. We continued on our way. Illinois’ southern border posed a similar problem, although we were able to get a fuzzy photo in front of the Kentucky welcome sign. That left us without our souvenir photos from either Missouri or Illinois. We were able to take a quick break at the Tennessee line, but we hardly looked to the sides as we hurried through Nashville. We made two final stops for an Alabama welcome photo and a final tank of gas as we arrived in Huntsville.

The driving had ended. RaeRay covered 4,880 miles in nine days, touching 15 states. It was an experience that a father and daughter will remember forever. We’re not finished, though. RaeRay will continue blogging for several days as memories gel. We still marvel at the sights and sensations as we go through photos and videos from our travels. We’ll recall the scares and disappointments, although they failed to dampen our mood. We’ll reveal our favorite memories, and we plan to summarize the price we paid for this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

Thanks for joining us,

Morgan Rae and Michael Ray Kaylor