Day 8 - Monday, 7/31/2023: Manhattan to Nashville

Gassing up just down the street from the hotel, I knew yesterday's YOLO was going to make today's drive a long one. I was not wrong. As I rolled down 70 headed east again, I saw off to either side a bazillion road cuts I had not seen on Day 2 because I had avoided 70. I even made note of a few roads for any future visit I might make. Courtesy of my toll-road-aphobia, Waze routed me off the beaten path to avoid the Kansas Turnpike, and it began to rain. Back on the interstate system in Kansas City, I crept through a ton of traffic and a veritable deluge which did not let up until I was about halfway through Missouri. What would likely have been two and a half hours of dry driving had stretched to three-plus hours of wet roads and semi spray. Crossing into Illinois and down I-57, some dick in a red pickup truck decided it would be fun to ride my ass in heavy traffic at 70 miles an hour. I finally ditched him and the congestion (those wide open Kansas freeways had spoiled me) ten or so miles south, and the rest of the drive was more or less a straight shot home. I pulled into the driveway at 5:10 p.m., a little over 9 hours since I'd started the day's drive. Barry had rolled 2,819 miles beneath his wheels when I parked him in the garage, and though I'm very glad we had this adventure, we were equally glad we had made it home with a cab full of memories and a bed full of rocks.