Palm Springs Road Trip

We left at 9:25 for the first time and had to turn around 5 minutes later when April called to ask, “did you forget the pizza?”  Doh!  My friend Ed loves Lou Malnati’s pizza so there was no option but to turn around for it.  Luckily we wern’t far from home. After jamming the pizzas in the car we left for the second time at 9:38. We came very close to being forced to deploy the alternate transportation method (bikes) just north of Springfield after pushing the gas gauge to the red and beyond.

[2014-colorado]

Day 22: August 4th, 2014: Chase State Lake, KS to Rock Creek Campground, Iowa

A three state day!

Kansas, Missouri, and finally Iowa!

Spring Break March 23 – March 29th, 2014: Part 2

Wednesday

Brooke enjoying the warming sun early in the morning.

The Discovery Center in downtown Springfield, MO. We love this place!

Digging for fossils of a dilphosaurus

[2011 missouri ozarks]

Spring Break March 23 – March 29th, 2014 : Part 1

Sunday

We left home at 7:30am and drove until 5:30 pm.  We had been excitedly anticipating seeing our family friends for months!  We couldn’t wait to see them again!  After arriving and unloading we played with some toys, ate some pizza, and happily collapsed into bed.

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Day 6: June 22nd, 2013 : Last Day in Springfield, MO :-(

Our last full day in Springfield, MO.  Sigh.  It should be an incredible day though.

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Day 7: June 23, 2013 : Springfield, MO to Buffalo National River, AR

Scott had been up since 4:30.  I won’t name names, but someone took his usual pajamas in a quest to clean every last piece of laundry.  Thus, Scott woke up cold, and then neither of us had much more sleep.  I still managed to get out of bed around 6 in order to get in one last run with Kayla.  We ran four miles and were only a little lost for a little bit of the run. Other than wild animals, getting lost is my next biggest worry about venturing off and exercising by myself on the road.  I wasn’t concerned with Kayla, but my worrying might deter me from getting in as much exercise as I should on this trip.

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Day 4: June 20th, 2013 : Springfield, MO

The kids didn’t waste anytime getting to the toys.  They hopped up out of bed, dressed, and ran for the toys.  After we painted, created a giant disaster, and attempted to clean the Little Miss we are sharing toys with asked,

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Day 5: June 21st, 2013 - Springfield, MO

Happy Summer Solstice!

I had a hard time getting up and exercising this morning. I just wanted to snuggle.  None of us may get as much sleep as we are used to sleeping side by side, but we are getting in some tender quiet moments before we are jolted into our day.  I managed to get up and bike ride this morning.  The goal: thirty minute ride, without getting lost, and find a church.  Our host said I would have no trouble finding a church in this area.  In fact I came across five churches in the span of a five minutes.  I even came across an Immanuel Lutheran, the same name of the church where I was married almost twelve years ago in Crystal Lake.  The Immanuel Lutheran Church here is across the street from a favorite park we have been to before. I may have been called a “Jesus Junkie” a few times for mentioning that I want to go to church while on our trip, but as long as I don’t make anyone else go everyone is okay with me going.  I’m looking forward to a new experience.  The only drawback, I forgot to pack some dressy clothes, so jeans will have to be my dressy wear.  The good news is if I offend anyone I won’t have to see them again!

[2013-western-us]

Day 3: June 19th, 2013 : Bellville, IL to Springfield, MO

June 18th 10pm thoughts:

We have been so blessed so far to be able to stay in homes of friends.  We have had warm meals, even warmer company and conversations, showers, and air conditioning! During my shower this evening I was apparently reminding the Little Miss about being thankful for a nice clean and private shower too much.  She remembers some of our Alaska trip, but thankfully her memory has forgotten all of the not so fun shower memories: only cold water, showers that you had to run out of in public to hit a button to keep the water going after thirty seconds, showers where you became more dirty than you had been by using the facilities, showers where the water pressure was so high you could feel it peeling off multiple layers of your skin, showers where you couldn’t find enough change to rinse all the soap off in time…  Anyway I am thankful now because I know what may come.

[2011 missouri ozarks]

Day 9: Saturday, July 23rd: Springfield, MO to Home

We left our friends’ home at 7:30 this morning.  We weren’t sure if we were going to be able to make it all the way home, but the kids did a great job entertaining themselves today.  We are at nine and a half hours in the car and almost home and we are happy to report there have been no major meltdowns.  Scott timed the rest area breaks well and we even played briefly at a park after our lunchtime break at a McDonald’s play land.  Speaking of the play land.  We originally stopped at the McDonald’s in Litchfield.  Just in case you are headed that way, their play area is harder to get to than usual.  See pile below.