Kansas

I suppose this is the official beginning of our westward journey (no more relations to see, just driving). It was sad to say goodbye to our wonderful grandparents, but also exciting. Well, that’s not quite the right word. I was trying to be excited about driving through Kansas, but somehow knew it wouldn’t be... um... stimulating.



Granted, the first couple hours driving through MO and into Kansas were very pleasant, scenic and cool. Trevor didn’t want to stop anywhere at all ever, I wanted to stop at every attraction we passed. So would go the whole trip! Luckily, he was pretty accommodating and I convinced him the National Prairie Preserve would be totally awesome. Actually, I could have spent more time there. It was such a beautiful day and there were all the exibits and tours of old houses and stuff, but in the end we just settled for a buggy ride. It was cool, the horses were freakishly large and driving through the grass lands was really bumpy and uncomfortable. No wonder they mostly walked! I can’t imagine my ancestors having to do that, ick!



The rest of the afternoon it got hot. Really hot. And to save on gas, we decided not to turn on the air conditioning at all. But don't worry, as uncomfortable as it seemed all cramed into my little car, which was even more crowded now that we ditched the roof bag, it would just get hotter and sweaty-er the further west we went. I'm trying not to think about that at this point... And oh man, was it ever windy once we got the the flatest of flat places ever (though I think locals prefer the term "level"). THis killed our mileage too.



We managed to drive almost across the entire state though and made it to Dodge City to camp. Maybe the only cool thing about getting there is that we followed the Santa Fe Trail--that's where the cowboys use to heard cows & stuff. THey too would rest in Dodge City and give it it's rough reputation. These days though, it's pretty dull. When we go to our campsite, there was this little lake. Awesome! So we get into our suits and hop in, only to find the whole thing is only about 3 feet deep, mostly mud, and smelled like duck poop. Yeah, gross. Luckily, the campers next to us had left-over fire works and we had some big beers, so the night passed pleasantly enough. Ha!

Missouri

So the drive the Ozark's was beautiful, however our mileage was terrible. My poor little car had gained an extra ton or two with all my junk squeezed in the back on the roof! Alas, the roof bag I pained over buy for so long would prove to be more of a hindrance than a help. Read on... (ha).



Just as we were nearing the AR/MO border, we hit some nasty weather. Only a few weeks prior Missouri had experienced some of the worst flooding off the Mississippi in awhile and all these little towns like Joplin and Hannible (Mark Twain's home town!) were totally flooded out. I was well aware of the fact, but didn't think this would effect our trip. How wrong I was! As I said, we hit a total downpour. I'm talking sheets of water, cats and dogs, heavens opening up, etc. I had to go into second gear just to keep from sliding off the road which I could barley see to begin with. It's about at this time, me hunched over the steering wheel squinting to see out the front window, that Trevor notices the leaks. Yes, that's plural. The nylon straps that held the bag onto the roof looped through the inside of the car by means of the doors, thereby pressing back the rubber insulation in the door frame, thereby allowing streams of water to flow into the car onto it's occupants and contents. Ahhh! I'm unable to do anything since I'm just barely managing to drive, so Trev is scrambling to cover up our stuff in the back seat and plug up the leaks. It's somewhere in this confusion that I drive up a steep hill and on the way down, for some reason, can no longer make out the road. I slow to a stop not 20 feet from a lake. Not a natural lake mind you, but one that has overflowed the banks of some finger of the Mississippi. The road simply disappears into it!



I had to back up slowly (all the water is just pouring down the hill, it's ridiculous) and, being wet, confused and at a loss of what to do next, pull under a large tree. Trev and I figure out how to divert the water from the straps into plastic baggies and try to soak up some of the water from the roof lining. It wasn't too difficult to find an alternate route around the washed out road, and wouldn't you know as soon as we leave that flooded little town the weather just clears up. I think MO is notorious for it's crazy weather actually... Anyhow, we make it to our grandparents house in Nixa around 7 or 8... only three hours after we anticipated! ha! We decide to go ahead and spend an extra day–the 4th–and have a barbeque and small firework show. So the holiday was really pleasant, we just sort of walked around and talked with grandma and grandpa, ate a lot of food and relaxed after our near-death experience in the Ozarks. Well, seemingly anyway... That night Trev and I got in a fight about my chosen route. He wanted to get to CA by the 8th whereas I wanted to take my time and see as much as possible. I had gone though all these pains to find campgrounds along the way and map out the whole trip and he wanted to do something completely different. So I got all frustrated and took a long shower. When I came down, still pretty angry, Trev had unpacked the stupid roof bag, dried out the car, and managed to make everything fit in the back seat. I was so pleasantly surprised, I decided to just go with it for the rest of the trip and wouldn’t you know everything worked out for the best after that! Trevor can just be such a stubborn jerk sometimes, but then he ends up making up for it one way or another.