We left camp in the Smokies, driving through the are north, which was very green and beautiful. Along the sides of the highway, there were fields of wild daffodils, and many blossom trees – spring has only just started in this part of the US.
It was then back on the I-40, which we last left in the Texas Panhandle (north texas). All was good, we drove through Nashville Tennesse without dropping below 50 mph (80 kph), which tells you two things.
1. That the USA Interstates are very good at getting you through large cities with no congestion.
2. We are not country music fans.
Then it started to rain. In the 19 days we have been in the USA, we have seen two cold fronts sweep across the country. Both times there have been severe thunderstorms and tornados. Yesterday a tornado almost completely wiped out a town in Wisconsin. However this is just normal life in the US. They get severe storms and tornados often.
So we were on the I-24 heading north, and it rained more and more and more. The traffic slowed and slowed. It was hard to see the tail lights of the semi-trailer only 100 metres in front. It was very, very heavy rain. We heard on the radio, some areas received 3 inches of rain (75mm) in only an hour or two. There were tornado watch warnings for Tennesse and Kentucky, areas that we were driving through.
The rain continued on and off (although not so heavy) until we got to Paducah Kentucky.