Mood:
chillin'Now Playing: nothing - it's quiet!
Topic: family
We left outta here the morning of July 10th for the Midwest and visits with family. Two parents, two adult children, the grandson, and a dog! Traveling up 35 through Oklahoma and Kansas actually went by fast - as fast as 8 hours can go! Stopped in Emporia, KS (on the turnpike) at the McDonald's and service station for some lunch. As always when we stop, someone needs to stay with the dog. Got back on the road & headed toward Kansas City and then 2 hours beyond that to my in-law's farm. My father-in-law had tried to tell us about the bridge being out (about 20 minutes from their house) but then went on about 435 or 35 being closed in KC so we were a little confused. Hit Waverly, MO and over the Missouri River. When we got to Route 24 we saw the signs saying there was a detour. Unfortunately whoever posted those detour signs was a little confused as well. We were going to go 24 East. The detour sign was for 24 West. No - it was for both! So instead of going back to Waverly to detour, we went about an hour the other direction toward Chillicothe to get back toward where we needed to go. That was extra time we hadn't counted on.
Pulled into the farm in the early evening and had a wonderful short visit with the in-laws before heading out the door about 7 a.m. the next morning for Southwest Ohio. Let me tell you about Illinois. Seems when anything happens on a trip - it happens in Illinois. These are just a few of the past incidents: finding out our gas tank was leaking; leaving the gas cap on top of the van for hours between fill ups (& not losing it!), the fuel pump acting up and having to sit on the side of a very busy highway without a cell phone signal but getting through to the 911 operator who sent a patrolman out to make sure we were ok and wait with us until the van decided to get going again; NOT finding any gas stations when we needed to! This trip through Illinois went much better! Stopped in the Champaign-Urbana area for food. Pulled into Mom's carport about 7 p.m. her time (we lost an hour between Central and Eastern Daylight Savings Time).
Things we did while traveling: ate junk food (I'd packed beef jerky, Pringle singles, goldfish, snack packages of cookies and cheese or peanut butter crackers; drinking lots of water or coffee; read (wow, I actually was able to read part of a book while traveling!); play computer games on the laptop; text message friends; and sleep!
More from the Travels of '08 later!
