Caddie Woodlawn

As we left Minnesota, we headed toward Wisconsin to the place I'd secretly been navigating us toward for a day or so.

Marie is a HUGE fan of Caddie Woodlawn books and when I realized her childhood home was open to the public, I wanted to try to get there. 

It was too quiet…

And I’m no novice.  I should have known.

Kansas. Not a drive-thru state!

Since we first started sharing with people that we’d be traversing the country we’ve been treated to much commentary.  One of the things we heard repeatedly was how boring Kansas would be.  “Just miles and miles of corn,”  “Vast expanses of nuthin,” and “Watch out for tornados.”

If we saw corn, it was not yet knee high to any insects.
And they’ve done a really good job of covering up the expanses of nothing with buildings, animals, and businesses.
And we are grateful God saw fit to spare us any tornados.

I’ll be honest.  In my research of things to do between Kansas City, MO, and Colorado Springs, CO, I did not turn up a ton of prospects.  But one thing suggested by TripAdvisor was something called Monument Rocks, and/or Chalk Rocks.  Now, this place doesn’t have any real website… and details on arriving at the destination are sketchy.  Mapquest and GoogleMaps don’t recognize the request, and no address exists to punch into the GPS.  But if you are willing to deviate off of the most direct route from A to B, use a Paper Map, and foray down 7 miles of rutted dirt roads, you will be rewarded.

No more words. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an amazing thing... 
The kids BEGGED to stay.  When we first tried to leave, I literally heard begging and pleading.
Rocks.  Free rocks.
No admission fee.
No princess meet and greets.

No FastPass.

Rocks.

Now, maybe it was because it was compared to more van time.  But it was nice. 

 

 

 

2 Peter 3:5 -

For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,

The “I Forgot” Game

Marie:  I forgot my camera.

Tabitha: I forgot the charger for my camera.

Stacy:  I forgot the license plate game board

Stacy:  I forgot my visor

Stacy:  I forgot sunscreen

Stacy:  I forgot swim diapers

John:  I forgot all the printouts of safe places to eat

And just in case I wasn’t already in the running as the winner…

Stacy:  I forgot my wedding band.

Really…

Actually – it stopped being funny midday Saturday.  I’m not some novice traveler.  I can pack in my sleep.  I’ve got my go-to Florida Packing List down to a science and can tell you our minute-by-minute, meal-by-meal, outfit-by-outfit plan from every trip for the last one-and-a-half decades!  “I’ve got this.”

Road Trip 2015 – I’m a big loser.

Details… I missed so many details.  Sure, I made sure we booked hotels that accommodated our party of 8 in such a way that I wouldn’t have to tiptoe around with a flash light to make my early A.M. hot Dark Chocolate Sensation.  But then I packed the hot chocolate that requires MILK, not water.  Oh – and the instant coffee packets I picked up to make it My Way… left them at home.

I’m not being funny.  I’m not being melodramatic.  I blew this.  I sincerely enjoy traveling and all the planning and prep that go with it normally enhance my experience.  This trip… I just keep being reminded of all the ways I didn’t measure up. 

The worst part (so far!) is that both Stewart and Marie have written projects they wanted me to proof-read.  I’ve been putting them off and told them I’d read them whilst I had all that down time in the van on our road trip.  Friday, Stewart put his screenplay, “The Monster Among Us,” and Marie’s book, “The Return of the Jaminns,” on my new laptop.

You know – the one I NEVER INSTALLED OFFICE ON!

So – instead I am typing another blog entry.  (Into the now user-interface-less Windows Live Writer that I will have to cut and paste into Blogger into the hotel room.  If I remember to bring my mouse in from the van.)

At least we slept well?

Okay – I’ll type a blog about the hotel.  It rocked.

Ecclesiastes 7:8
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Kansas City --- dinner and rockin’ hotel accommations

 

 

When you’ve been 630 feet in the air you work up an appetite.  We were pretty tired, had had a mighty breakfast, and really wanted to get to the hotel to swim.  We opted against lunch and just mowwed (is that a word? blogger says no) on muffins, cereal bars, juice boxes and cheese sticks.  The cranky-factor was high and we just worked on making time across the lovely state of MO.  (I think I could live here.  Looks like a flat version of NY.)

Around 4:00 P.M. CST we decided we needed to feed the animals nourish our family and I did a search for a KFC (which they’ll be delighted to hear some lady just associated with the word nourish).  We found one and because I have more time than sense I even did a TripAdvisor review of the place.  They had a BUFFET.  A KFC BUFFET.  I’m not a big fan of KFC, but I love buffets.  Why?  I’m glad you asked.  I’ve had WAY too many experiences in restaurants and at theme parks where you can talk to a kid about food choices, but because they can’t SEE exactly what you are talking about you don’t always know if they are really going to eat it when it gets on a table in front of them.  With a buffet you’ve more-or-less got a WYSIWYG situation.  Granted, after they taste it, they may balk… but you just GO GET SOMETHING ELSE.  Now, some folks counter with buffets being a hassle for parents because they have to get up and down and up and down many times and do not get to actually sit and enjoy their food.  I see this as a faulty argument.  I think of it as burning the calories as I eat them. 

 

 

 

OH – and the best part --- $8.49 for John, Stewart, and I, and $4.99 for the middle four.  Katriel was free.  AND drinks were included.  Less than $50 for 8 people.  Nice.

We stopped at Walmart (where they had a height restriction for vehicles entering the parking lot).  Apparently truckers are not wanted in Oak Grove Walmart.  Why did we stop at Walmart?  BECAUSE I FORGOT THINGS!

Our hotel was just 30 minutes away and, baby, did it rock.  The manager had emailed me on Friday with a question about our reservation.  It seemed their system had us down for TWO suites, each with a king-sized bedroom, a 2 queen bedroom, and sofa bed in the family room.  It seems they weren’t able to offer us two suites with exactly that set up and he had some suggestions to offer us instead.  Well, we are larger-than-life, but we don’t need quite that much space.  I contacted him and explained we only needed one suite that size.

When I checked in a lovely employee Lisa said, “I see you talked with Michael about the room changes.”  She went on to explain we have two connecting rooms.  One with a king bedroom, full-bath, and kitchen/livingroom, and another with a 2 queen bedroom, full bath, and kitchen/livingroom.  And because of our inconvenience  (???) HE TOOK 50% OFF our charges.  We ended up with plenty o’space for --- $97.00 USD.  Total.  Not each room.  Michael, dude, you rock.  

The hotel was beautiful.  And I hate hotels.  I’m sure I’ll explain why in one of these posts sometime.  My kids were loving the digs.  It was just a very nice place. 

 

 

 We lugged in only what we needed (which still required two trips) and donned swim suits.  Then our 8 road-weary bodies made merry in the salt-water pool and hot tub. (Okay – okay – I for sure did not get in the pool. It wasn’t freezing-freezing, but I require some pretty warm water temps or sunshine high in the sky to swim.)  But I found something I could get excited about. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAN we look TIRED!  LOL.

At 7:45 P.M. we called all out and as we needed to drip-dry, we circled some chaises and chairs around and did family bedtime prayers in the pool room.  We scooted back to our rooms and melted into the crazy-awesome beds. 

 

 

I woke at 5 A.M. (my body thought it slept in til 6 A.M.) and enjoyed some tea whilst John hit the showers.  At 6:15 A.M. we started waking the little ones and then moved on to the bigger ones a while later.  PBS provided the treat of broadcast television (a vacation-only indulgence) while we packed up our gear.

 

 

 

 

 

We headed down to the complimentary breakfast which pleased our hungry crew and provided me with ample exercise.

 

 

 

 

Check out those waffles.  Oh.  Yum. 

 

 

The littles got some more eye-candy while the biggies and Daddy loaded up the van.

 

Isaiah 40:28-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.