June 6, 2001

Nothing but driving, accompanied by John Cougar Mellencamp as we drove through the Midwest. It was great to be able to get in the car and just drive. No checkpoints, no putting khaffiyes on and taking khaffiyes off of the dashboard, just driving and listening to the radio while America whizzed by.

Midwest flooding.

Apparently some kind of weather pattern got stuck over the Midwest, so the flood plains are at it again - so much so that we were detoured early in the morning off the interstate, but the waters were lapping up to the edge of the road for much of Illinois and Missouri.

The Gateway Arch.

The St. Louis arch let us know we were miles and miles away from Lubbock, Texas, Elizabeth's home, where we arrived (alternating car naps) at 3:00 AM. There seems to be a pattern of sleep deprivation here...