IA / IL Convertible Trip; Day 1; Shawnee to Ft Madison

Chris' brother, Gary, and his wife, Allison, have a Mercedes convertible so we decided to take this trip for some top-down travel to visit relatives and friends.

We started in Lenexa, KS at 10:30. It was cloudy and 75 degrees - perfect for top-down driving. Our route was intended to be I-35 north into Missouri, 36 east at Cameron, 11 north at Brookfield, 15 north, 136 east at Memphis, 27 north at Wayland into Iowa, J62 east, 61 north to Ft Madison.

We hit a snag on Hwy 11 however. First off, we had a close encounter with a deer that ran across the highway right in front of us. We had flashbacks to our collision with a deer near Memphis, MO last year. A while later Hwy 11 was closed due to bridge construction. We ended up on 129, county roads H, FF, and BB, 149 (where another deer darted across the highway), 6 east, 63 north and 136 east.

We had a fast food lunch at McDonalds in Brookfield. We stopped for an extended visit with Deb & Tim near Montrose, IA.

Our day ended at a hotel in Ft Madison, IA after 312 miles of driving.

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