An invitation to a wedding in Kansas City presented an opportunity for a vacation in America's heartland. That, and the opportunity to bag six new states. The girls proved to be road warriors as we prefaced the wedding by driving a two-day, 800-mile, figure-eight through parched cornfields and dusty farmland. Starting and ending each day in the hotel swimming pool was a key to keeping the girls happy throughout our peregrinations on the road.
We were very concerned that this trip wouldn't get off the ground, literally, because of Erin's new fear of flying. As we learned from our last flights, she is most afraid of the plane crashing into the sea (apparently all large forms of transportation are like the Titanic). We explained countless times that planes never crash in the water (bird strikes aside) and we even showed her on the map that Kansas is just about as far from the ocean as you can get. We promised her the ultimate, top-of-the-heap reward once she boarded the plane, a lollipop and exclusive use of the iPad. Once at the airport, it was all good until 15 minutes before boarding. Then came the anxiety-induced meltdown, screaming and pleading to go home. Thankfully, or maybe thanks to the Benadryl in her system, the poor thing ran out of steam after 10 minutes and Mom was able to carry her onto the plane as a whimpering lump. A lump she remained through take-off but, to her credit or perhaps due to the promised enticements she rallied and watched movies on the iPad for the rest of the flight. Landing, which truly is frightening once you think about it, was no problem. Mission accomplished. Thank you Erin, for conquering your fear, and apologies in advance for the additional dozens of panic attacks that our frequent flyer lifestyle will inflict upon you.
Is this our route? No, it's a map of railroads and pioneer trails. Quick, type POW to shoot the bison!
To officially record a state one must take a photo and buy a postcard.
For the purposes of this trip, baby he-she, as we call him-her, will be grandfathered in utero. Here's Nebraska and a replica of Lewis and Clark's keelboat at a Missouri River overlook point.
Iowa = corn
Children of the corn
Who knew that in Missouri they give roads letters for names?
We made a special stop in Leavenworth, Kansas, not to see the infamous pen, but to go to their carousel museum. Erin could not be cajoled into riding one. Merry-go-rounds don't crash into the sea!
The museum claims to house the oldest carousel in the world. Here it is, made in the 1840s and operated by hand-crank.
Leavenworth had a beautiful park right on the banks of the Big Muddy.
Another road sign? I'm sorry, but I had to laugh at this one. Growing up I learned that New York City streets have numbers, so that big-city things like buses know where to stop. Street numbers in NYC go all the way up to 271st St. And here we are 30 miles outside Kansas City, in the middle of nowhere, approaching 399th street. Thank goodness the urban planners drew the grid out here. Maybe in 3000 years there will be a need.
When bagging states, stops at National Parks, Monuments, Historic Sites,
etc are encouraged. Fort Scott National Historic Site had a replica of
an 1840s frontier fort. We saw where they garrisoned dragoons!
And we had our first encounter with officially sanctioned tall-grass prairie.
The next day we headed south from Fort Scott. On our way we were tempted to visit the Smokin' Mo-Kan Dragway, but instead chose a more kid-friendly stop at the George Washington Carver National Historic Site in Diamond Grove, Missour-uh. The one-room schoolhouse replica was the best we've ever seen.
Teacher's pets
What's in northwest Arkansas? Bentonville, home of the world's largest retailer. We stopped at the Wal-Mart visitor center, which is Sam Walton's original store. There was supposed to be an old-fashioned penny candy store and there was candy to buy, but as in a real Wal-Mart the goods were too cheap and not really what we wanted. The rest of the center was a creepy shrine to Sam Walton covered in corporate propaganda glorifying Wal-Mart's rise to world domination. We got out of there fast.
Planning the trip we knew that Oklahoma could present a problem. We could only graze the northeast corner of the state, crossing through the ancestral home of the Miami native American tribe.
Talk about being off the grid. This dusty, dirt road is our Oklahoma memory. We did luck out on a postcard from a pharmacy in the town of Miami.
The coolest destination of the whole trip - the original site of the Little House on the Prairie in Independence, Kansas. Even today, it is a remote place, in the middle of miles of grassland without another house in sight. Unfortunately, it was closed when we arrived. Both girls had to pee and proudly squatted behind a nearby tree. As they said, it's what Laura would have done.
The Ingalls have us beat. They bagged seven states by covered wagon.
Back in Fort Scott for dinner at famous Chicken Annie's
We drove up to Kansas City the next day for Marie and Jerry's wedding. In the morning they set up an elaborate Treasure Hunt at Shawnee Mission Park. Marie, a friend of Heather's from her post-doc lab, grew up in Kansas.
(We forgot our camera for the wedding and reception. It was a small affair, held outdoors in a relaxed atmosphere, and a heck of a lot of fun. We were touched by Marie's acknowledgment of us during her toast as the inspiration to catalyze her and Jerry's intra-lab romance. For the reception, they took care to provide activities for kids and the girls partied with Mom & Dad well into the night.)
Everyone had a great time on this trip!
