Adventure! Day 9 - Are We Still in Kansas?
Up at 6 and out by 7. Pretty amazing. We’ve been on the road for 2.5 hours-stopping in the next hour for gas. Eli is driving and he is so calm and easy in himself.
One time we hosted a family from Germany that was on a month-long holiday in the US and the 3 year old kept asking to get back in the car. I get it. This bus is starting to feel like home.
The weather has indeed been rainy, and when we got on the road at 7 our chosen route had flood warnings and I think the Mississippi is likely going to flood in Missouri today. So while Tara searched local weather alerts for that route, I called Damien (who was headed to work) and asked his opinion about our three route options. We hung up and a few minutes later he texted me that he thought we should take the route that added 2 more hours to our already estimated 13 hour trip. Ugh. At the same time Tara was saying she thought we should take an alt route. So it was decided then - and now we are on an even longer path for our longest planned drive of the trip. Technology is cool though and we can watch our original route and see that it’s becoming longer, so now really we are likely on the shortest path (hahaha wahhh).
We got on the road in record time and I don’t think we forgot anything. Sherri made us to-go cups of coffee. Addiction is hard on roadtrips. Also hard on roadtrips is trying to hydrate for increases in elevation. This bus only stops for gas, and we have a huge gas tank.
Tara has been on Zillow. Pretty expensive houses along our route in Arkansas. Everyone is still writing in our travel log.
Arkansas is an area of the USA that we only know from reading books like Little House on the Prairie. We are playing the crossword and listening to our roadtrip playlist. Stella is crocheting.
Ok, I drove for about 3 hours. I ended up driving in a bigish city- kinda like Atlanta with lots of quick changes and lanes of traffic. I got us to Kansas and drove through Oklahoma. Now Alivia is driving and Torie is navigating. Alivia will drive for about 2 hours. Then we will put Liam in for the longest stretch of highway which I think is about 350 miles. Then Eli will do the last 2 hours and I think that will be the mountain driving (and in the dark). I have the normal amount of concerns about that. After this trip he will be all set to drive anything anywhere anytime.
Everyone is snacking. I ate a leftover burger from last night which was pretty darn good. I don’t think we will eat a real meal today.
Our arrival should be around 10. So today is drive and drive and buy gas and drive some more.
We are now on the Liam leg of the trip. Tanner is navigating. I was wrong when I guessed arrival at 10. We are now looking at after 11. It’s ok because Eli is napping now and Liam is settling in for a long drive. He’s got a good focus for the long drive and will not fall asleep. We got his mirror adjusted well and as long as it stays, he says he’s unstoppable. I told him to act like it was still broken.
Toto, we are still in Kansas. Stella prefers this drive above all others. She feels safest on wide flat land and she loves the windmill farms.
The last half hour of Liam’s drive the road was in bad shape and we thought we might pop our tires. Stopped for gas and put in 31 gallons-it’s more expensive in Colorado- we got less for more but we’ve also paid more for less. So I guess that’s just fine.
We have finally arrived at the last leg of this long day of travel. Eli is in the drivers seat and Tara is navigating. We have about 2.5 hours left according to the map but I’m guessing we will drive slower than expected once we get to the mountains. I’m hoping we will get in by one. We’ve had a time change so we’ve been on the road longer than the clock says we have. I think in the end we will have been driving this bus for 19 hours today. Good old Miss America.
30 minutes to go. It’s midnight.
