We are doing fairly well on our race northeast to Indiana. The Hensley hitch certainly got a good trial. I didn’t realize as we were heading north on I-35 that we had a strong tailwind, until we opened the Nissan doors and practically had them yanked out of our hands! It was the kind of wind that makes the truck and trailer rock while parked. We picked up an extra 2 MPG just from the push it gave us!

The tailwind turned into a crosswind when we picked up I-44 heading east. We got buffeted and shoved constantly. Normally I’d have to slow down quite a bit to keep the rig on track, but I found with the Hensley that we could maintain a decent speed. That was impressive. So far, so good.

At one point the wind was so fierce that it blew one of the bikes out of position in the roof rack. We had to stop and re-assemble part of the rack to make it tighter. Opening the door of the Airstream was a challenge too — it took two hands and a firm grip to keep it from flying back and slamming into the trailer’s side.

But even with the wind, we managed to get as far as Springfield MO, where we are once again Wal-Marting it. If I’d had time to do some research in advance we might have had courtesy parking, but we’ve been flying without much of a plan lately.

Springfield is a town well known to us, because last year it was the site of the International Rally. It’s strange how it feels familiar. This was the first place we went after we sold our house and became full-timers last June. It’s best known for Lambert’s restaurant (home of the “throwed rolls”) and things like Fantastic Cave and the gigantic Bass Pro Shop. Not a bad place, but we won’t be spending any time on this visit. Tomorrow is another day to head east, and since we are expecting some rain along the way, I think we’ll make fewer miles.