Stage Five Cape Girardeau to Owensboro

Sleep in today! Darrin and Sam both looked refreshed and ready to go.

Paul and I are doing laundry.  We did some running around as well.  We had left a block of wood at a previous stop that would go under the trailer.  The block has an angle cut on it that acts as a jack.  The manager at Lowes gave us three pieces of wood to use for this purpose.

Then we went to do laundry. Paul had his done and I did my own.

We traveled the backroads of the midwest today.  I navigated (not the best thing for me to do) Paul drove. We only had to turn around once.  

We arrived at our destination and checked in and dropped the trailer. 

The corn shimmers in the wind

Interesting churchinteresting ascend towns

We found our way to the finish line about a half hour before the cars were scheduled to arrive.  We walked the riverfront and played with the adventure app.  They had a memorial to all wars, water fountains and the coolest kids park.

The cars began to come in and not many people were there but as the cars came so did the people. Before you knew it the place was packed. You could hardly see the cars.

We had a little less ground to cover today, so the route featured lots of turns, speed changes and maneuvers compared to previous days. But before we reached the hosted stops, we saw beautiful farm land and we actually crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois on our way to lunch. It was a surprise for our racers, as we had not publicized our small taste of Illinois in any of our marketing materials. Another special surprise consisted of a quick photo opp in front of the giant Superman statue in downtown Metropolis, Illinois. After that, we went across the Irvin S Cobb bridge, crossing the Ohio River, to enter Paducah, Kentucky for our lunch stop.

Before we got back on the clock, we crossed the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River. The scenery was wonderful this afternoon with a mixture of rolling hills and flat farmland. We rolled into Owensboro, Kentucky with high expectations after our last several nights of huge turnouts. And, when we rounded the corner on Veterans Boulevard, it was a major shock! One of the largest Great Race crowds we’ve ever seen welcomed the cars and drivers to town. Thousand of people surrounded the cars, and we all enjoyed live music, delicious food and fellowship with the awesome car-crazy community in Owensboro. 

I sat with Peter Lamountain's navigators wife and talked about the Great Race.  The boys had a good day.  The had a 1 second leg. Darrin figured out the tranny and how to make it work. 

After a little time hanging with the car we all headed to the park for dinner of pulled pork, mutton and chicken.  While eating the band started up.  I left the boys and walked to see all the cars.  Paul headed out to the part store and back to the hotel.  Darrin rewired the brake lights at the show.  

I rode back to the  hotel in Big Red.  Darrin changed spark plugs and we called it an early night.