Thursday (St Teresa of Avila)

Met Bishop Elias and Lucy for breakfast at 9:00; gassed up and headed south on I-57 an hour later. At 11:00, we met Fr James and Jane Muriuki at Redeemer, Cairo, and spent a delightful three hours with them looking around the church and the town and having lunch at the inimitable Shemwell's BBQ. They both speak Swahili, so it was a joy to see Lucy light up when she heard a familiar language being spoken. Then it was on to Belleville, by way of Carbondale. We arrived at St George's at 4:45, and had an hour or so to relax there. Then, from 6:00 to 7:30, we pulled off a reprise of last night's event in Mt Vernon. We headed for Jacksonville afterward, arriving at the Hampton Inn just before 10:00. Over 300 miles on the odometer today.

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