I don't believe we are in Kansas anymore Toto!

My goodness, what a looooong drive it was across Kansas. At over 415 miles of small valleys and lots and lots of flat land, we finally crossed the border into Colorado sometime after midnight CST (even though we crossed time zones about 20 miles or so from the CO border).

We stopped at a church just North of Springfield, MO yesterday on our way out of town. Since we are from the Lone Star State, we went to the Lone Star Baptist Church. It was a bigger church than our home church, but the people were very welcoming. I felt as comfortable there as I would on the pew at New Hope. The preacher brought a message from Genesis 3 about Adam and Eve and the Garden. It was titled the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

We were back on the road headed for Colorado at about 12:45 (after church). We stopped at a cheese store where there were free samples. Dakota had a blast, I think she thought it was an all you could eat cheese buffet. Back on the road again, we eventually made it to Kansas. I wasn't able to get a picture of the welcome sign because it was at the side of a major highway interchange in Kansas City. So I got a picture of the exit sign instead. We stopped in Wamego, KS and went to the Wizard of OZ museum. I didn't realize, but the kids didn't really understand what they were seeing. I didn't know that they hadn't already seen the movie. So I guess that is something I will see if we can do this summer.

We stayed in an old model motel in Limon, CO. It had a normal door knob with a key instead of a magnetic card entry. It was a nice large room and it had a small refrigerator. We paid less for this one than any of the others we stayed in.

I'm off for now, hopefully to post again not to long from now.

On the road again!

Originally we planned on leaving this afternoon to head to Colorado by way of New Mexico for our vacation. But sometimes you never know what to expect with us. Wednesday afternoon we decided to go to Colorado by way of Graceland. Yep, the one in Memphis, TN. So we started out Friday morning from home (in TX) and headed toward Memphis, stopping often along the way.

Let me just ask you, have you ever traveled any distance with 3 very energetic children. There is only so much sitting that a body and mind can take, and it's even less in kids. They say some of the funniest things. They notice things on the roadside that only a child would see. They perceive things so much differently than us adults. And I must add the inevitable question, "ARE WE THERE YET?" or the way they rephrase it when threatened of uttering those words again. My favorite, "How much farther?" like they have any real sense of distance at this age.

So, back to our itenerary. We really planned just to take it easy and have a good time. We can't check in to our campsite in Rocky Mountain National Park until Monday afternoon. That gives us the weekend to leisurely drive (and stop) across part of this great country. We stopped in Hot Springs, AR on Friday and visited the mountain tower. The kids were excited, but it was short lived. "Ok, we've seen it, can we go now!" We stayed in West Memphis, AR that night, and then Saturday we set out for Graceland. Now Gary and I had made this trip on our honeymoon 10 years ago, but things and places change, and I think we enjoyed it as much this time if not more because the kids were here with us. After seeing everything at Graceland, we turned back and headed toward Colorado. We stopped on the Mammoth Springs, on the border of Arkansas and Missouri, at a little park and took pictures in front of a very forceful and beautiful waterfall. It was amazing at the temperature difference. On the bank of the water source, it must have been 15 degrees cooler than it was 10 feet away from the edge. It was breath-takingly beautiful, and the sound of the rushing water is something I could listen to for hours.

Here it is, Sunday morning. I sit here in the motel, in Springfield, MO, journaling our trip on my blog. Everyone is still sleeping. I guess this is a vacation in and of itself. I don't normally get up before day-break, but I saw the sunrise this morning (ok, even if it was only through the curtain). It feels funny not being at home for church today, but we will stop somewhere along the way to worship. I was searching for a church to visit, but felt like maybe we should let God lead us where he wants us this morning.

Our plans are to continue toward Independece, MO. and then across Kansas into Colorado. I don't know how many more sights we will see, but I think the scenery has been great so far.