Day One - The Longest Drive

August 6, 2010

What: Tyler and Mary Beth's Western Camping Expedition

Traveling by ...that's right...our mighty little Honda Accord (packed to the gills:)

Camping Expedition

     Tyler and I are finally on our westward ho vacation! We have been looking forward to this for two years. Tyler planned it...and might I say he was very good at it! He began planning in earnest several months ago and has amassed what amounts to a book of maps, dining sites, wi-fi connections, campgrounds, and points of interest.

     We made great time, leaving home just before 6:00 a.m. today and getting to Highland, Ill. At around 10:30 central time. We went to a place called Blue Spring Cafe in Highland and had lunch while using their wi-fi connection to get on the internet so I could finish up my last BGSU assignment. We left Highland bragging about what good time we had made as we were just 30 miles or so out of St. Louis. Then...you guessed it...we ran into construction traffic and crawled along in a traffic jam for about 45 minutes and 4 miles.

     Not long after that we came to the mighty Mississippi and the St. Louis Arch where we stopped to marvel and take pictures. The park surrounding the arch itself was very pretty with tree-lined walkways that somehow softened the approach to the arch and the river. I remembered my grandmother telling me about her visit to the arch back in the 1960s and thought the park must have looked much different then as the trees would have been much smaller, giving less shade. There were lots of visitors...many families with small children hopping around on the trail.

     After leaving St. Louis behind we crossed the Missouri River twice during our trek across Missouri's rolling hills (much like southwestern Ohio around Cincinnati and Oxford). The weather was warm but the skies were blue and dotted by only a few puffy clouds.

     We drove on and arrived in Kansas City at around 5:30. I had always pictured KC as a very flat city and it was quite the opposite. It was hilly almost like Cincinnati.   

     We drove on to Lawrence and ate at a GREAT restaurant called Free State Brewery.  After that we came to the campsite and went to bed! The tent was actually quite comfortable for those of you who are wondering:)