At approximately 8 o’clock my Impala set course to Nashville to pick up Guillermo, Nina, and Jose at Nina’s home. I arrived at about 2:30 to a meal prepared by Nina’s mother. After the meal, we began to pack the Impala; worried after seeing Nina’s two large luggage bags by the door. We got the lot in the car by filling up the back left seat with two guitars and all the odds and ends.

It was about then that it began to rain. We finished packing and crammed into the car that would be our home base for the next five days. Immediately, we took the wrong highway ramp and travel 20 minutes in the wrong direction before turning around. “Great start!”, we thought to ourselves. Once we affirmed that we were actually getting CLOSER to Portland, the dread and melancholy of leaving home began to give way to excitement.

We passed the time with an assortment of games until we stopped for refueling at a tourist shop in Western Kentucky. Shortly thereafter, I suggested that we visit a small region in Southeast Missouri with wich I was very familiar. We set a new course for Fredericktown Missouri and planned to stay in the Marble Creek Campground aff HWY E. On the way we crossed the Mississippi River. We had dinner at the Pizza Hut in Fredericktown and stocked up on groceries at the local Wal-Mart.

Missouri Sunset

We arrived at the campground well after dark and set up our tents. Jose and I struggled to get a fire started with the damp twigs while Guillermo and Nina set up our tents using the car’s headlights to see. No fire tonight.

The biggest the fire ever got.

I had dreams of waking up to a crackling campfire. I awoke to a damp pillow and cool air.