Back to Wednesday, June 24

We started the day in Boonsville, MO, and headed for Truman's Presidential Library in Independence, MO. No one was being punished; Jerry wanted to stop! Actually, we all enjoyed it, and Jerry got souvenirs for his classroom. He did tell the girls that if they weren't well behaved he would take them to Eisenhower's library in KS. Maybe that's why they appeared to enjoy it!

Truman's Library had a few interactive movies that generated some interesting conversations for us, such as civil liberties, election strategies, and what motivates a President to make decisions. Our children do suffer being the children of teachers.

Then we drove into Independence, MO, and using the GPS found a bank, Target, and BestBuy. It felt just like home! I got new cameras for Brooke and me, so now we're back in business.

Then we stopped at our second Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives spot, Grinders in Kansas City, MO. Again, the GPS helped us drive right to the restaurant. The decor was interesting and Brooke liked the bathroom because it had a chandelier and a pink toilet. Jerry and I had their grinders which was really just meatball or sausage subs, but they were really good. Our waitress really didn't know much about the show or what foods were featured, but we figured it out.

Then we headed out of KS around 4:30 p.m. I was afraid that we may hit rush hour, but we didn't have any trouble at all. We drove to our next hotel which was Days Inn in Great Bend, KO. The hotel was really a disappointment. There was no pool, and at first they put us in a smoking room and we had to contact priceline and the owner of the hotel to get moved to a non-smoking room. We met the owner the next day and he was really nice, but the room just seemed old and dirty. I was glad to move on.

We traveled 378 miles today.

Hotel observation: There are never enough plug-ins in hotels. At night we have to charge 2 cameras, camcorder, personal dvd, and four cell phone. So each night, we go around the hotel looking for electrical outlets to get everything plugged in!