6.2.09

It was a long night but we ended up getting about 6 hours of sleep. I tried lying down but because I’m a Slayman, I could not sleep in the heat (and it was Florida hot). After attempting to crack windows, we finally decided to head back into Wal-Mart to make a battery fan purchase; the best decision of the trip yet. Our next morning started off by packing up our ‘house on wheels’ and heading out west but just as we got the car loaded Steveo hesitated to start it up, he lost the keys somewhere in our repacking party. But after only a few minutes they were found; he’s lucky, it could have ended his trip. (kidding) We headed off to make our first stop in St. Louis to check out the arch. It was awesome, really amazing; we both were not expecting it to be that huge. You could tell we were tourists as we parked the car and snapped a bunch of pictures. We are no city people but we really liked the feel of St. Louis because of all the people running, walking their dogs, and of course Steveo’s favorite, fishing. We then headed off to Kansas City for some bbq but before we could get there we decided to take the ‘scenic’ route instead of the Interstate. Steveo’s mom gave us a book about America ’s most scenic routes so we took a stroll through wine vineyard country. Good thing we aren’t wine drinkers or we would have never made it out of their. The roads were filled with vineyards, nurseries, bike riders, hikers and tractors. Not to mention very hilly and curvy; not my favorite type of ride in a car. We got back onto the Interstate and headed to Kansas City for some good ol’ barbecue. But on our way, we happened to pass a Bass Pro Shop sign so we made another pit stop to grab a few fuel cans for the Jetboil. It started pouring on our way out and of course my first thought was Kansas City and black skies equal tornadoes. Lucky for us it was just a few minutes of hard rain, what a relief. Our first food stop was to Gates but they did not have pork, and the workers were mean so we went for plan B to Arthur Bryant’s. That couldn’t have been a worse decision; they were even meaner, super expensive and the beans were so bad I could not even finish ‘em. Mind you, I’m a barbecue kind of girl so for me to not finish any kind of barbecue, before I’m full, is a big deal. But the pork was good and Steveo got his sweet tea, so it was all good. I think my problem is that Dad has spoiled me with his pulled pork and baked beans that I don’t care for any other barbecue. As for the big cities, we have just come to the conclusion that they need a little sun, Son and sand in their life. Thank God for small towns, family and barbecue. Speaking of big cities, we are heading over to Denver, via I-70, as I write. It is beautiful out here in the country. We passed a massive wind power field so we were both very excited to see that Kansas has some sense. And we admired the old farm houses piled with tractors, trucks, cows and horses. (I won’t tell you about my blonde moment with the cows.) I drove for a few hours to give Steveo a break so I passed the time singing praise and worship songs at the top of my lungs, I know poor Steveo but we have been driving for about 15 hours now and I need to keep myself entertained. Our plan for the night is to hop off onto a rest area about 30 miles east of Denver, watch ‘Mall Cop’, take a snooze and get up early to finish our drive to Moab, Utah where we will camp for a few nights, our first destination!!!

Approximately 950 Miles

Marion, Illinois to Denver, Colorado