One Day, Four States

I made it to Wichita!

I'm staying at a motel in Wichita tonight, and decided to call it a night and not go on all the way to Oklahoma City until morning. The fact that I was up until 3:30am last night had something to do with that decision!

Today I have been in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and now Kansas. I'm feeling pretty good about the amount of states for one day! When I'm on road trips, it's important to me to not just drive through a state, but get out and do something. If time is an issue, though, sometimes that means even just a quick stop, like filling up my car or grabbing a bite to eat. I would prefer to do more of an activity of some kind, but sometimes it's just not an option...

So, today in Minnesota I woke up, finished gathering all my stuff together and took off by mid-morning. Aimee called while I was still in Lakeville (only minutes down the road!), and we chatted all the way past Owatonna. Great way to pass the time!

In Iowa, I crossed the border and came upon these windmills to the east. You can see what a cloudy and gray day it was!

I made a quick stop for lunch in a little town named Story City and was wishing I could find out what their story was! I decided not to play the license plate game this trip, since all the cars I was seeing belonged to the state I was in, or was going to drive through next. Instead, I tried to pay attenion to vehicles that had words on the side, and where they were from. It turns out, there are a LOT of Iowa DNR cars -an unusually large amount of them between the MN-IA border and Des Moines. Maybe there was some meeting in the area? Obviously, you can tell how exciting my trip was!

When I got to Des Moines, the sky opened up, the sun came out, and I was reminded of how beautiful that area is! Our family used to go to Des Moines to visit my mom's aunt and uncle that lived there, and I've driven through a few other times, but it's been a few years. There are rolling hills and it's also where I noticed that the grass was green, no longer brown. With the sun shining down, it changed my whole drive!

I stopped for gas at the exit near Indianola, got back on the road, and a cousin who lives in Great Falls, MT called me. We chatted all the way to Cameron, Missouri, and had so much fun catching up! Thanks again for calling, Krista! You really brightened my whole day!

I got to Kansas City, MO right around evening rush hour, and knowing I would cross into Kansas meant I still wanted to DO something in Missouri. I decided to go with my dad's suggestion for a restaurant. He had eaten at Jess and Jim's before, which is this great steakhouse in Kansas City, and highly recommended it. He had specifically mentioned the steak soup, and since I didn't want a big meal, decided to give it a try. Well, the soup and salad I had was delicious, and filled me right up! If you're ever in Kansas City looking for a good meal, give Jess and Jim's a try! It doesn't look the most promising from the outside (in fact, I had to call and ask if this was really where he wanted his daughter to eat!) but it's warm and cozy inside, and is nationally recognized as one of the best steakhouses in America. I'd like to go back when I'm more hungry sometime!

After Jess and Jim's, I got back on the road, crossing into Kansas. About 90 miles after Kansas City I hit the toll road, and it was smooth sailing all the way to Wichita! At the motel I'm staying at, I'm parked next to a tree that has buds on it! I was so excited for the sign of spring! This picture is especially for my northern MN friends with too much snow -I thought you might like to see that spring really does exist!

I'm going to work on a few online computer classes I've been having problems with (not that the classes have been hard, but the host's server has been down and not letting me complete them...) then head to bed. I'll head to Oklahoma City in the morning and then turn west and stay in Albuquerque tomorrow night.

Thanks for all your prayers for a safe trip, keep it up!