This water tower featuring a smiley face and bowtie is along US 51 south of Carbondale. It drew comparisons to a Wal-Mart ad campaign and the sun in the "Just Think! No Conservatives!" banner.

IL 146 uses Vienna Street in Anna. One aspect of the town of Anna's history is very unfortunate, but I won't get into it here.

In downtown Anna, IL 146 jogs onto Main Street. Here we're crossing Davie Street.

Anna is bordered by the much smaller Jonesboro, which is centered on this roundabout. To go south, we had to go north, but we were actually going west. In other words, buy a road atlas (as a wise man once said).

Fighting the guardians of the once-unassailable road hierarchy even more, this is Union Street in Jonesboro. We've earned this thanks to the confusion the traffic circle brang us.

Still in Jonesboro, looking north on Elm Street towards the Union County Courthouse.

"All the right farts in all the right faces..." Remember that NAPA jingle? And how can there be a such thing as a wrong fart? We were behind this NAPA truck for miles! This is going south on IL 3 near Reynoldsville.

IL 146 branches off again and forms the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, which looms ahead. This span over the Mississippi River to Cape Girardeau, MO, opened in 2003 - replacing an earlier bridge (now demolished). When it crosses the state line, it becomes MO 34/74.

Yes! A shoulder! Also, the NAPA truck is pulling further ahead as we cross the bridge.

A view of Cape Girardeau from the bridge. Cape Girardeau is the hometown of singer Billy Swan, golfer Johnny Pott, and has-been radio commentator Rush Limbaugh.

Bippin' westward on the bridge into Cape Girardeau.

At the end of a ramp off I-55 on the north side of Cape Girardeau. Yes, there's a state name Interstate shield, but this is notable for one other thing (and I don't mean all the 5's). I'm talking about the Incident By-Pass Route. Back in my day, an incident meant the act of soiling one's pants. This created much amusement when Paul Simon released his song about "incidents and accidents." So I guess this road is for bypassing soiled pants.

Southwest on MO 34/51 in Marble Hill. This part of town was the separate town of Lutesville before merging with Marble Hill in 1985.

This would probably be west on MO 34 near Clubb.

This has to be north on US 67 near Coldwater. US 67 runs to the St. Louis area, then to Davenport, IA, and beyond.

US 67 is shown in the process of being expanded to a divided highway.

US 67 near Fredericktown. I've determined that the road on the right is probably SEC 275, which could have very well once been US 67. If so, it would have been a bypass just as the current US 67 is.

South on SEC 275, with US 67 on the right.