David's parents are wonderful grandparents but it was with no little fear and trepidation that I was convinced to take my active boys on a loonnnnng road trip with grandparents who are not accustomed to having children around.
But they insisted that we bring the boys and David and I couldn't imagine being away from them for too long so we loaded into a gas-guzzling conversion van (preferred because of much needed s p a c e) and began our trip on Monday, June 16. We left late in the afternoon that Monday and only went as far as Peoria, IL, to spend the first night. Interstate 80 was closed in Iowa due to the extreme flooding so we began our trip west by going southeast! We had breakfast together at the motel the next morning and headed west making it all the way to Kansas City.
North Central Kansas was our intended first stop to visit many places of family significance. From parsonage and farmhouse, Don and Glenda came respectively, and we enjoyed every moment of retracing these steps. The house where Glenda was born is no longer standing nor is the house where she lived as a young girl. Some of the schools have only a sign marking their one-time existence. We stopped at the neatest little midwest parks and had picnic lunches. We stopped for gas. We stopped for restrooms breaks. We stopped for gas. We stopped for bottom spanking. We stopped for gas. We stopped for memory making. We stopped and stopped. So, some days there were not a lot of miles between us and the night before but oh, what memories!
I have only been to Kansas three times but I never remembered it so beautiful. The corn was a deep beautiful green and the wheat fields alive with golden color. It was delightful to see David's parents come alive with memories of places and people of days long since past.
(the pictures have notations if you click on the slide show above)
more to come
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