Last night JR, Heather, Lexi, and Landon arrived on the heels of Ben and Terrie to wish us a happy, fun trip. It’s always a treat to see them and last night was no exception. Heather and the kids surprised us with a big bag of treats for the road. Woo hoo!

We put 485 miles behind us today. The weather was warm and sunny. First stop was all of two miles down the road when we grabbed McMuffins and hot beverages. Less than an hour and a half later we took a potty break before, believe it or not, christening the treat bag. Shameful!

Our route took us north out of Rogers into Missouri on 49. The Californians would say The 49 but the locals are happy with plain ole 49. Third stop was to capture a picture of the Welcome to Missouri sign. Hokey but necessary. As we worked our way to Kansas City we passed the George Washington Carver Museum, Precious Moments Chapel, Truman Library, Brown vs. Board of Education Historic Site, Russel Stover outlet, and others stops that were calling my name. Our timetable dictates I save them for another time, however. We drove by towns with spunky names like Neosho, Jane, and Peculiar. Just south of Kansas City we crossed into Kansas. Traffic would not allow the obligatory Welcome to Kansas sign, so I was forced to snap it as Cyd zipped by at a respectable clip.

Sidebar: Dan and I lived at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, just outside Kansas City, from the summer of 1984 to the spring of 1985. Murphy was in first grade and Matt in second. No time to stop for a stroll down memory lane though.

We zipped past the Leavenworth exit and headed west on I-70 before stopping at the first rest stop to enjoy the delicious lunch Cyd, the good sister, had packed for us. It was nice to take a break. We changed drivers and continued west. It was hard to pass, as you can well imagine, the exits for the Agriculture Hall of Fame, Bob Dole’s birthplace, Oz (as in Wizard of…) Museum, Oz Winery, Eisenhower Library, etc., but I stayed strong even at the turnoffs for cowboy outlaw historic sites.

We stopped for the night in Hays, got some dinner, and tucked Mother in at 8:00.