On our drive from Missouri to Tennessee today, all of the cities, towns and homesteads were beautiful and the varied landscapes were spectacular. Sponsoring this delightful scenery was the month of October, offering its brilliant sunshine, clear, cool air and colorful foliage.
In addition to the autumn splendor we encountered other sightings that made the road trip especially pleasant. Among these were five major river crossings (Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers), plenty of rustic barns, placid livestock (free of summer insects), hundreds of turkey vultures soaring in the deep blue skies and a lone osprey hunting on Rend Lake (in southern Illinois).
We climbed onto the Appalachian Plateau (locally known as the Cumberland Plateau) east of Nashville and will spend the night in Crossville, Tennessee. Hiking and more travel in the coming days.
