The Rest of the Story

Here it is... the rest of our vacation story...

Big Trip 2... Day 28... July 26, 2007... Thursday

0615 Up and time to start packing while downloading pictures from my camera to Ron’s computer.

0743 Leave hotel.

0756 Walmart done. Picked up 2 CD players and 3 bottles of water. Total $45.

0805 Stop at McD’s for breakfast. Get gas. $2.95/gallon. Weather: 62 degrees.

0817 Arrive at Dad’s apartment.

0842 Leaving Dad’s place, heading eastward and homeward bound.

0954 Lots of lightning near Limon.

1111 KANSAS and time change which makes it 12:11 p.m.

1:32 p.m. Stop in Colby for gas and lunch at Sonic. Felisa fell asleep right before we arrived and she won’t wake up. I order something for her to eat later. Ryan spilled his drink in the car while I was in the bathroom. It is 92 degrees in Colby. Once we get back on the road, it is movie time. Now showing… Night at the Museum

3:22 p.m. Stop in Phillipsburg to Felisa can go potty. Next movie Magic School Bus


6:11 p.m. Leaving Marysville where we stopped to play on a very cool wooden playground.

6:23 p.m. “I can’t hear because I have my sunglasses on.” Felisa says. Stop for gas in Marysville - $2.89/gallon. Temperature is a steamy 92 degrees. Back to the humidity already. Yuck!

6:30 p.m. Stop at Hardees on the other side of Marysville – everyone is hungry. Finally getting back on the open road.

7:25 p.m. Taking an inventory of the crops we see as we drive.

7:50 p.m. Movie time yet again. Now showing Chicken Little

8:10 p.m. Crossing the Missouri River and into MISSOURI.
9:00 p.m. Stop at hotel in Cameron, MO. This hotel has a pool with a slide. Yea, fun!



Big Trip 2... Day 29... July 27, 2007... Friday

0807 Leave hotel after breakfast.

1100 – 12:30 p.m. As promised, we stop at Mark Twain’s Cave. Last year we walked around Hannibal and saw the buildings (Tom Sawyer’s house, Becky Thatcher’s house, the white-washed fence…) and I promised when we came back through Hannibal again, we would see the cave. So, here we are…

Favorite Parts of the Cave:
Ryan – Stories from the book that the guide shared with us on the tour
Bella – Yogi Bear (rock formation)
Felisa – Horses in the gift shop
Grandpa F – the cool darkness
Sheila – the stories

After the tour we cross the Mississippi River into ILLINOIS!

1:00 p.m. Stop for lunch at Fazoli’s. Bella ate about a million garlic breadsticks. How that girl lives on bread and water alone I will never know.

3:00 p.m. Arrive at Great-Grandma’s house

5:30 p.m. Dinner. Beef and Noodles!!! YUM YUM YUM!!!

8:00 p.m. Walk around the block. We let the kids go check out the railroad tracks and so we end up at the park. How did that happen?!

9:30 p.m. The kids are in bed and I get to watch Psych



Big Trip 2... Day 30... July 28, 2007... Saturday

0715 Wake up.

Uncle Ron stops by with Teegan. Donna swings by as well. Teegan had fun coloring and playing with the kids.

12:00 p.m. Lunch. Grandma’s chicken salad – YUM!

1:45 p.m. Walmart

3:00 p.m. Stop at Dairy Queen with Grandpa. I’m not sure we’re going to be hungry in time for dinner though. Those were some very big sundaes! Grandpa and Grandma F used to bring Shannon and I here for ice cream cones when we visited in the summer.

After we get back, Felisa and Grandpa played cards. Felisa is becoming quite the card shark. She was playing a combination of Go Fish and Old Maid. At one point Dad asked her why he had more cards than she did and she told him “Because you’re going to lose!” Okay then – as long as we all understand the game plan!

6:20 p.m. Dinner of leftovers

7:30 p.m. Walk to the park. Play on the merry go round and the see saws. Dad and I even got on the see saw to play!

Back home… Get ready for bed… Do a little pre-packing. Refill the snack box (it’s almost empty!!!).



Big Trip 2... Day 31... July 29, 2007... Sunday


1030 All packed, loaded, photographed, and ready to hit the road.

1045 Stop at the Bushnell Highway Café for breakfast with Great Grandma. After breakfast, we say good-bye to Grandma. She heads back home and we try to navigate our way through the cornfields towards Peoria.

1:00 p.m. Drop Grandpa F off at the Peoria Airport so he can fly back home to Colorado. We are officially on our own now as we head for home…

2:00 p.m. Talk to Allie for awhile as I drive. She’s coming to Vienna this week so we’ll get to see her. Yea!

2:40 p.m. Stop for Felisa – she lost her book.

3:00 p.m. Stop at McD’s for a play/potty/coffee break. I check my map and realize that once again we will miss the Christopher Columbus boat in Columbus since it is closed on Sunday and Monday. Grrr!!! How many times do I have to drive through Columbus before I get to see that ship!?!? Oh well – on to Plan C.

4:03 p.m. INDIANA!

4:38 p.m. Felisa and Ryan are asleep. Bella watches Minty Christmas with the headphones so I can listen to Toby Keith. He is one of my new long-term favorite Country singers.

4:59 p.m. Time change? I guess we already passed it because the cell phone says it is 5:59 p.m.

6:41 p.m. I am noticing LOTS more traffic since we have gotten back on the interstate today. No more lonely empty cornfield highways.

7:15 p.m. To drive all the way through or not to drive all the way through? Is there anything worth seeing between here and home? Could we actually make it all the way back home tonight or is it too far?

7:22 p.m. OHIO!

7:30 p.m. Talk to Shani.

9:20 p.m. Check in at the hotel on the eastern side of Columbus. Take the kids swimming. The guy at the desk said he’d keep the pool open for an extra hour so the kids could burn off a little energy.

10:30 p.m. I’m hungry. And a random snack from the car just isn’t going to cut it. So… load up the kids in their jammies and go out searching for a Taco Bell. We’re going to have a little “Fourth Meal” action tonight. And… the moon looks full. Could this be a full-moon adventure??? Perhaps…

11:30 p.m. Watching Shark Week on Discovery Channel. Our favorite sharks:
Bella – Angel shark
Ryan – Great White Shark and the Prehistoric Shark
Felisa – the baby sharks

And as long as we’re on the subject of favorites…

Best Part of This Vacation:
Felisa – Seth’s Birthday party
Bella – Going to the pool
Ryan – the whole trip (which I would not accept as an answer so he narrowed it down to the museums)

Favorite Part of Vacation in General:
Ryan – doing lots of things
Bella – seeing people
Felisa – coloring (really her answer is “no comment”)

What Do We Miss From Home While We Are Gone?
Felisa – My friend Cameron/My ponies
Bella – Grandma Duffield/my other pink poodle
Ryan – Friends/my teacher/alone time


Big Trip 2... Day 32... July 31, 2007... Monday

0545 Wake up. Shower and watch the news

0630 Wake up the kids

0700 Breakfast at the hotel – lots of business men around this morning. No other families.

0735 Stop for gas. $2.52/gallon which is the best price from the whole trip. Temperature 72 degrees. I fixed the broken door… the gas cap was open a little which is why the side door wouldn’t open last night. Duh!

0815 Zanesville. Stop to find stuff. Stuff that the kids have dropped onto the floor of the car. I’m getting a little cranky and am ready to be home again.

830 Gearing up my brain to not be on vacation anymore… starting to think about all the things I have to do at home.

0835 See a prairie dog in the median

0838 Girls are asleep

0842 Pass a minivan with 2 tricycles on top

0923 WEST VIRGINIA!

0924 I think we need a mountain house in WV to go with the beach house in NJ

0934 PENNSYLVANIA!

0949 Washingon, PA – we almost got lost! Almost ended up on the wrong highway. Oops!

1003 Ryan found a map of VA and WV so he can follow along as we drive.

1015 Feeling a bit of eco-guilt. I have begun to feel very consumptive by the end of the trip. Maybe next year I can try to address some areas in the pre-trip planning. I think it’s mostly the increased use of disposable items.

1021 WEST VIRGINIA (again)!

1038 Passing Cheat Lake and Fairchance Road. I love those names!

1040 Ron called to see where we are.

1058 MARYLAND!

1155 Leaving the Cumberland exit. We had stopped at Arby’s for lunch and potty break.

1:01 p.m. WEST VIRGINIA (again?!?!?)

1:22 p.m. VIRGINIA! Woo hoo! Finally!

1:57 p.m. The gas light is on. Uh oh!

2:13 p.m. Stop in Marshall, VA for gas.

2:50 p.m. Home sweet home. Total miles for this year: 6,750!