Friday, June 26

This morning we started our day in La Junta, CO, at 9:30 a.m. and it was already 96 degrees. We were headed for Canon City, CO, to the Royal Canon Bridge. After driving about 20 miles, we were able to see the Rocky Mountains. They truly are beautiful. What was interesting was how peaked they are. Our Appalachian Mountains are much older, and therefore have been worn down over the years by the weather to nice rounded mountain tops which these definitely are not!

The Royal Canon Bridge is a steel bridge that was built to cross the canyon pictured in the top right and bottom right.. Those pictures were taken on the bridge looking down the canyon.  The picture on the lower

left is the bridge we walked across. The wind was blowing, so the bridge was shaking slightly, and Brooke and I were walking quite slowly!

After we walked across the bridge, there was a small settlers museum we looked around. There we saw the worst actors we had ever seen perform a medicine man's short skit. Then we walked back across the bridge and by then, storm clouds had moved in and the wind was really blowing. Brooke and I ran into the visitor's center, while Jerry, Blair and Molly got on a AeroCar to go across the gorge. As soon as they got to the other side, a huge bolt of lightening cracked right over the gorge. Brooke was scared to death, the aerocar closed, and Jerry, Blair and Molly were stuck on the other side of the bridge. So they started walking back a little before it starting raining so hard it was even hailing. So they waited in one of those settler museums until they could catch a tram over to the visitor's center. When the rain calmed down to a drizzle, we went out to ride the "steepest railway in the world" to the bottom of the canyon to the river. But Molly and Blair were wet, the 

storm had dropped the temperature to the 60s, and there was a line to ride the railway, so we decided we'd had enough and we headed out. We actually used the heater in the car for a little while, which was amazing considering we started the day at 96 degrees at 9:30! 

Then we went to Bishop's Castle which was about an hour's drive south of the canyon. We found out about this castle from the restaurant owner in Dodge City. Bishop's Castle is being built by one man, who is an individual. The castle is open to the public and you can walk throughout the castle and in all of the little torrents. You have to goggle Bishops Castle. There is even a youtube video. Words can not really describe it!

Since 1955, Jim Bishop has been getting rock nearby and building this castle by himself one truckload of stones at a time. We climbed through the castle and Jerry, Molly and Blair even went into the circular iron part at the top of the the above picture.  Jerry also went to the top of the front where he said the wind was crazy, but you could see the plains. This is one of the girls favorite spots so far. It really was unique!

Then we drove on. We ended up driving a total of 294 miles before we stopped for the night at Alamosa, CO. Before we got to Alamosa, we drove past Blanca Peak, one of the mountains in the Rockys and the sign said that the elevation was over 14,000! The summit of the mountain was lost in clouds. Incredible!

Thursday, June 25

We headed for Dodge City, Kansas this morning. We started at the visitor's center and decided to go to the Boot Hill Museum which is a 1870s street front with lots of history about Dodge City. There is a huge US map in the visitor's center and people put stickpins in the cities that they're from. No one had put a pin in Frederick yet, so Brooke was very excited to do that.

We entered the museum in the hotel entrance which was also a gift store. Then we walked through all of the different stores. We had a sarsaparilla drink from the saloon while listening to pianist, we watched a shoot-out in the front grassy ares where the girls are standing in the picture. Then we decided to dress up in costume and have our picture taken.  The real period style picture may be our Christmas card this year! Of course the girls chose the saloon style!

At the visitor's center, I asked the workers about a local restaurant that would give the feeling of Dodge City, and they told us to go to Casey's, which was a local steakhouse. The local steaks were good, and the owner, Mike, even sat with us for the first half of our meal. Then before we left, he took us into his office and showed us local places to visit and even showed us where they were on the map. He told us how Dodge City is growing and adding casinos, and how half of the town was for it, and half of the town was against it, and how he was involved. It was nice to really talk to a local person. Everywhere we have gone, the people have been very nice.

Then we headed to Colorado. It's been really interesting driving through the prairie and the plains. Jerry's big quote for the day was, "People who say the world is crowded have never been out here!" It cracked me up.

As we were driving Jerry and I would see big white grain elevators and we would guess how far off they where. For the first one, Jerry guessed 6 miles and I guessed 3 miles. It was actually 12 miles away! We got a little better as we went, but it is amazing how far you can see.

We have also seen a lot of windmills. 

Brooke gets a little scared sometimes as we are driving, because you can see where it is raining miles away. She also is missing Duncan. I think part of it is that we are all going to sleep and waking at the same time. So today we stopped at Walmart and got Brooke an eye mask that will block out the light in hopes that she will fall asleep even if we are still reading with the lights on. 

We stopped and got gas today at a little place called, Kinsley, KS. Their claim to fame is that they are midway, USA. So it was neat to think that we were in the middle of the U.S.

Today we traveled 292 miles. We have travelled a total of 1832 miles in 6 days. Now that we are in Colorado, I think that we will be able to not travel so much each day, since there are so many neat things to see. The girls have traveled well, we have seen some neat thing, and we have met some nice people.

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!

Thursday, June 25

We made it to La Junta, CO, to a Holiday Inn Express. We're not in Kansas anymore! I did get a new camera yesterday; one for Brooke also! So tonight I uploaded pictures and added them to earlier posts. In the morning before we leave, I'll try to write about the last two days. It's been nice to hear from some of you. Thanks!! Can you believe Michael Jackson and Farrah died. Poor Farrah. Her news got pushed to the side as soon as the news of Michael hit.

Wednesday, June 24

Made it to Great Bend, KS. Made a bad choice of hotels after driving over 350 miles today. Can't wait to get to Dodge City tomorrow, look around, and then find a nice hotel. It's amazing how icky a bad hotel can make you feel. No more DaysInn for us. I'm missing you guys. Post a comment, and let me know how things are going, or email me @ bdonald128@yahoo.com.

Tuesday, June 23

We started today on a little slower pace. We slept in a little, ate breakfast, updated emails and blog, and Brooke went swimming. Around 10:00 a.m. we left the hotel in Mt. Vernon, IL,  and the temperature was already 97 degrees. 

We arrived at the St. Louis Arch around 11:30, and the temperature was already near 100. The first thing that we did was ride to the top of the arch in this tiny little capsule that had room for 5. The capsule was so tiny that it may have been 4 ft. high and 4 ft. across with 5 chairs. I sat down in this thing, realized how small it was and started to leave, thinking I can't travel in this tiny capsule for 4 mins. to the top. Jerry grabbed me by hand and wouldn't let me out the door. And it wasn't actually too bad. The door had two little windows and I could see that stairs were available if we got stuck. At the top of the arch, we looked out the little windows and we could see 30 miles of the Mississippi River on one side and St. Louis on the other. 

While we were getting ready to board the capsule to the top of the Arch, Jerry walked right past Joe Manchin, who is the governor of West Virginia. Jerry stopped and said, "Joe Manchin. I'm from Maryland and my wife is from West Virginia." So Manchin shook our hands and asked if we got to WV often. While I was talking to him, I didn't realize that I was near a step, so I stumbled down the first step, and Manchin grabbed my arm and told me to watch my step. I always make the best impressions! We got a good laugh that 

even the Governor of WV had to tell me to watch my step!

Then at the top of the arch, Brooke and I got our picture taken with him. So yesterday we were 267 feet under ground and today we were 690 feet about ground. 

After the Arch, we went on a cruise on the Mississippi River. It's as brown and muddy as the stories say. The tour guide on the cruise told us that it's not recommended that people eat the catfish from the river because of all of the pollutants in the river, but if you do, you should eat only one pound a week! I would think that you would have to be pretty hungry to fish in the Mississippi.

It was so hot on the cruise that we stayed in the restaurant part of the boat. It was cooler and you could still see the view of both sides of the river.

After the cruise, we walked back into the bottom of the Arch and went through the museum there about travel to the west, and we bought souvenirs.

Then we went to Dressel's Pub in St. Louis. The owner of the pub was the supervisor of the group of students that Jerry was a part of when he went to school in Wales. Jerry didn't get to see him as he only comes in the pub at 11:30 on Saturday nights. But the food was good. They slice and fry fresh potato chips, and they were really tasty.

Then we headed west again. We got stuck in rush hour traffic outside of St. Louis which wasn't good planning on our part. We didn't even think of it. We drove until about 8:00 p.m. and got a hotel in Boonville, MO. We travelled 232 miles today.

The girls are traveling well so far. Blair stays plugged into her iPod listening to music. Molly has been listening to her books on tape, and Brooke talks to us. Yesterday we made a list of all of the states and she is marking the state off as she sees the license plate. That kept her busy for a while. Around 7:00 last night, I gave them all some yarn and they started playing cat's cradle and such for a while. Knitting comes in handy sometimes. Satellite radio is also helping. Last night I searched the Sirius schedule and wrote down some programs that I thought we may enjoy. But so far, we like the adventure, so the van drive is worth it. 

Monday, June 22

Today we woke up in a hotel at Mammoth Cave Kentucky National Park. We basically only slept in the room, so it didn't take long to getdressed and pack the van. We drove through the parking lot to get to the restaurant and cave tours. The biggest observation that we quickly made about Kentucky was that it was HOT! Maybe it's because our spring at home has been so wet and cool, but the heat and humidity here is unbearable! We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant, bought souvenirs at the gift shop and headed toward the place where the bus loads for the cave tour. Here is where I realized that I couldn't find my camera.I searched the van and even called Hillbilly Hotdogs, the last place I remember having used my camera, all to no avail. The girls each had her own camera and Jerry had the video, so I wasn't worried about it not being documented! So we loaded the bus to begin our 4 1/2 hour, 4 mile tour.

The bus ride to the cave entrance was four miles. The temperature outside was near 90, so we were all anxious to get into the 55 degree cave. To enter the cave, you walk down a flight of steep stairs to the begi

nning of the cave. The first part of the cave that we walked thro

ugh had huge rooms. There were no stalagmites or stalatites because the limestone roof of the cave was too waterproof. So walking through the cave is like walking though this huge underground tunnel. After walking one mile, which took about one hour, we arrived at the snowball dining room in the cave. They serve a boxed lunch or snacks, so we got snacks and sat on picnic tables

inside of this cave. 

 Then we continued on our walk and the cave became narrow and the ceiling was really high. As we walked, we would walk into large open rooms again, and then the cave would become really narrow in parts.  It's really hard to explain, but we walked 4 miles in this cave. It's the longest cave in the world, 370 miles of cave. 

During the last 20 minutes of the tour we did see beautiful stalagmites and stalactites because the ceiling of the cave was not as strong, so water had leaked through and they had formed. It wasn't an Wow! experience, but a interesting adventure to see the different features of our country. There are many tours of the cave to choose from, so the tour that we saw showed how big the cave was, but it really wasn't a pretty cave until the last 20 mins. There was a River Styx tour that the girls really wanted to go on so that they could get a t-shirt, but that tour was booked when I made the reservations.

After the tour, we boarded the bus, went back to the van and took off. We snacked on chips, hummus, pretzels, and grapes so that we could drive a little while before we stopped. We drove about 1 1/2 hours and then stopped to eat. Then we drove another 1 1/2 hours, and stopped for the night in Mt. Vernon, IL. The neat thing about this part of our traveling journey is my technological ability. (Brad, don't laugh.)

After we ate, I started looking at the map to see where we might want to spend the night, and I chose Mt. Vernon. Then I used the internet connection on my phone to look up hotels in Mt. Vernon on Priceline. I found a hotel and booked it using my phone. (Wendy, can you believe this!) Then I plugged in the address in the GPS, and we drove right to the hotel. I so impressed myself. Now I'm unstoppable!!! I can go anywhere.

I didn't post anything about the play, Hatfields and McCoys, that we saw Saturday night. TheaterWV is an outside amphitheater in the New River Gorge National park. The play included dancing and singing, but the second part of the play included much drama. In fact, in the end scene of Act I, the Hatfields killed 3 McCoy sons. After the drama of the killing, the lights popped on and an announcement was made that there would be a 15 min. intermission. It was very anti-climatic! The audience actually laughed at the abrubt change. Brooke actually walked out to the concession stand before the last scene in act 1 because we knew what was about to happen. There was a lot of gun shooting which was really loud. We really haven't seen too many dramas, and this told a story of southern history. 

Camera update: Jerry searched the van, and my camera seems to be gone. At least I had only about 10 pictures on it. Then I started using Brooke's camera in the cave, and while we were sitting at lunch, it fell out of my pocket onto the floor and it's not working this morning! So now we need to get Brooke a new camera. I don't think I'm going to replace mine, because I really don't seem to be responsible enough to have my own!