We said goodbye to our little lake cabin and headed back to St Louis, going over the same bridge we went under yesterday.

As we made our way from southwest Missouri over to St Louis on the eastern border, we saw a hodgepodge of sights: an Amish buggy, a hitching post outside a convenience store (with horses getting water and food), and roads so hilly we thought we were on a roller coaster.🤢

But we found a Mom’s Cafe serving a little of everything… mini sandwiches on hawaiian rolls, one cheeseburger and salads (basically whatever was left in the cooler).

As we drove, we had one more stop we hoped to see from Aerial America – Elephant Rock State Park. From above, the huge boulders look like circus elephants lined up. These boulders were buried deep beneath the earth’s surface until erosion, shifting plates and time brought them to the surface. There are trails, picnic tables and playgrounds all around and best of all, you can climb on all the rocks.

The rocks were a little slick due to the rain, but we made our way around and to the top.

Never to be without some dash of adventure… As we were climbing, Leo’s croc slipped off and became wedged just far enough and high enough that we couldn’t reach. We tried branches and anything else we could find but no luck. Score: Elephant Park 1, Leo 0

As he climbed down, we texted Mike who saved the day and brought the shoes they bought for white water rafting, which have actually turned out to be pretty comfortable. No need keeping one croc…

We hit the road for our last ride into St Louis. We are staying tonight at the Hilton beside the airport since our flight is at 10am. Our plan was to check in drop off bags, go to dinner, return the car tonight and grab an Uber back to the hotel. Thankfully, the good Lord fixed our plan…

When we asked the front desk to recommend somewhere close by for dinner, he said the best place in this area was the restaurant in the hotel. So we unloaded, the boys and I took luggage to the room while Mike stayed with the car. Once we unloaded the luggage cart, the boys stayed in room and Mike and I took the car back to Budget rental, which was literally the parking lot beside the hotel. Thank you Lord for the re-plan, because the car rental return was a nightmare! 20+ people waiting 2-3 folks working… I say 2-3 because really only 2 were working the other was just present. Anyway… 90 minutes later, we got the receipt that car was returned. Can you imagine if the boys had been with us and waiting all that time!?!?

Back at the hotel, the front desk was right! The hotel restaurant was pretty good, and the service was great. Afterwards, we came back to the room to repack and adjust to make the cooler into a suitcase. And got one more beautiful sunset. Finally finished repacking, we played one more whole game of garbage (that’s 10 hands) and are packed and ready for one more day of travel.

This time tomorrow, we’ll be back in North Carolina!

Today was another one of those days that Mike and I will talk about when the boys are grown and out of the house. One of the best days ever! It will rank up there with the day that Leo met Captain America, when Michael researched and found Moss Beach, like the day we spent on Lake Payette in Idaho, or white water rafted in Glacier National Park on the 4th of July and a Bald Eagle flew by.. It was just the best day.

The boys have been looking forward to this day for the entire vaction, and when I initially looked at Friday’s weather, I was ready to cry. Originally, it was a little rainy… then it switched to isolated thunderstorms… then it was thunderstorms all day with “some severe”… then it was rainy… and then it was scattered rain, and when we woke up Friday morning… Thank you Lord for hearing our very specific prayers… Partly cloudy with possible rain after dark! Hallelujah!

We have rented a pontoon boat on Table Rock Lake for the day. The tubes and lilly pads are first come first serve, so the boys made sure we were AT the marina at 11am (when pick up started). We thought we would have a grill on the boat, but there was a bit of miscommunication, so we grabbed a bag of ice to keep the patties cool, and off we went. With a photo of our dock, so we could remember later, Capt. Brown was ready to roll!

Table Rock Lake is HUGE – 43,000 acres! We took of photo of the map, but eventually needed to use GPS later in the day…

This boat is awesome! It has an upper deck – only for use when not moving – with a slide! Sometimes we used the slide and sometimes, there were just bodies flying over the edge 🤣

The lake was beautiful and the temperature was perfect – like just slightly warm bathwater… cool enough to cool off but not so cold you didn’t want to jump in. And the color – it was like green-blue. Boys described it best, it was the color of Mountain Dew’s Baja Blast drink.

We would ride, and tube, ride and rube, ride and tube…

Even Mike and I tried the slide and swam for a while.

Then we noticed the sides of lake. We think it was limestone, but more importantly, we saw folks jumping off of it… Cliff Jumping? Heck Yea!

We took a break for a bit, and opened Mom’s Cafe @ Table Rock Lake. But then, it was back in the water. I wish I knew how many miles they covered on this tube. 😊

We would take a break and ride a bit, and then toss the tube in and take off!

We went under bridges and snacked. We found more cliffs to jump off. Some even had ropes for swinging! I’m not sure who put this rope WAY UP in that tree, but you sure made two boys from North Carolina happy!

Even I got in on the cliff jumping… although once was enough for me. Climbing the rocks was scary going up!

The boys admitted that that was one was a little scary because of the climb.

We tubed some more, and Mike got really good at bouncing them in the air.

We stayed on the lake for 9 hours 😁 finally bringing the boat in at 8pm. The sunset on the lake was perfect end to perfect day!

We headed back to our little cabin and started laundry while the burgers cooked and wings warmed up. This was one hungry bunch!

I looked up as I was typing this, and discovered that genetics run much deeper than just features, eyes and hair color… apparently, it controls body positioning too.🤣

Two hands of garbage was all we could make it through until we were just too tired to stay up any longer. Best capstone to a great vacation! Tomorrow, we have one more travel day back to St Louis before we head home.

Today was about as lazy as we can get on vacation. We slept in, enjoyed coffee and chocolate milk in our little Lake Cabin, and were just lazy… like didn’t get dressed until after 12pm lazy. And it was wonderful!

Finally, we decided to get dressed and headed down to the lake for a little swimming and exploring. Table Rock Lake is absolutely beautiful. It is a reservoir lake created by Table Rock Dam. It’s not a traditional circular lake. The lake is more snakelike covering 43,000 acres! The beach and swimming area are right down the road from the cabin and these two liked trying to sink the swimming lane floats. While Mike and I found seashells and rocks with seashells fossils imprinted on them. Pretty cool to find seashells in Missouri.

After the lake, the boys found another basketball court and ball behind the cabins, so we spent another hour playing parents vs. boys… It didn’t seem really hot when we started but good gracious, after playing the boys, it was hot!

After showers, we headed to Branson for dinner and the Queen Esther performance at the Sight & Sound Theater. The roads between Table Rock Lake and Branson are really curvy, so Leo took the front seat to reduce any car sickness.

The boys suggested Japanese for dinner, but we didn’t really want to go to a restaurant where the cook at the table since it always makes your clothes smell like dinner for the rest of the night… a few Yelp searches later, and we found our place, Mitsu Neko Fusion. Absolutely nothing to look at outside, but fantastic service and food!

Even saw the biggest Chicken we’ve ever seen. 🤣

We made it to the Sight & Sound Theater. This is the second Sight & Sound theater, the first being in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We loved the outside statues and buildings. The theater itself is HUGE!

We had to make the photo that everyone seemed to be making. One poor lady was waiting on her husband to park the car, and had gotten caught making everyone’s picture. But she was really good at photography 🤣

Inside the theater was amazing! It is really hard to explain the sets – they are breathtaking! Three dimensional with turning sets that move and change. And the costumes and voices were just incredible. The story of Queen Esther is one of my favorites in the Bible and this production brought it all to life.

At the end, the actors didn’t come out to applause and standing ovations, instead they came out and offered the plan of salvation for anyone who didn’t know Jesus or offered prayer for anyone who requested. It was definitely not what we expected but it was so sweet to see.

After we left the theater, we were headed home when 🚔🚨 Busted! Just kidding – no issue with driving, instead it was the license plate. The car we rented was new and didn’t have a license plate – instead it had a paper temporary license plate taped to the back window. At night with our dirty back window, you couldn’t see the temporary license plate, so we looked like an unlicensed SUV rolling down the road. The officers (oh yea, they called for backup so we had 2 police cars with lights) were very nice and after the ran Mike’s license to make sure he didn’t have any warrants, we were on our way.

Good lesson for the boys to be kind and respectful to the officers just doing their job… and also to not have outstanding warrants and wash your car windows 🤣

After we got home, we decided to play a little garbage, even though someone would only play 2 hands before he needed to go to bed.

Tomorrow we’ll have to get up and moving before noon because we have an adventure out on Table Rock Lake planned.

We woke up in Hot Springs, Arkansas and it absolutely lived up to its name. Good gracious! 90+° by 10am! All exploring today will be from A/C area to A/C area.

The hotel breakfast left much to be desired, like bones of an antelope after the lions finished eating… apparently arriving at 9:16am when the breakfast buffet ends at 10am is not a good idea. So, we decided to pack the car, explore and grab something on the way out of town.

Hot Springs National Park is one of the only National Parks in the middle of a city. It’s quite different from other National Parks where there is so much to see over so much land. Hot Springs is in a very concentrated area, which is a nice way of saying overcrowded. We started our exploring in the Fordyce Bathhouse and Visitors’ Center. The Springs have been around for years, at least as far back as Native American Tribes who believed in the healing properties of the waters.

Scientists believe that it take 4,000 to 7,500 years for rainwater of today to soak into ground and through limestone and then back up into the hot springs. Of course, I’m not sure how you test that theory, but that’s what the plague said, so it’s gotta be true.

The Fordyce was one of the original bathhouses, built around these springs.

People traveled from all over the country to have daily soaks and then steam treatment from the Springs. Doctors even wrote prescriptions for people to travel to the Springs for treatments. Even our military believed this, building a huge Army/Navy Hospital in Hot Springs.

They had rooms for folks who were paralyzed with a systems of pulleys, ropes and gurneys to move them to the pools for treatments. People believed that soaking in the Hot Springs could cure paralysis, and diseases like Polio. FDR even came for treatments.

Many modern physical therapy equipment had its rudimentary beginnings in Hot Springs.

After soaks, visitors would rest in the parlor or their private rooms – rented just to allow you time to rest/recuperate after your soak. (These people sure got tired easy… they needed a nap after soaking in water? 🥴)

If they weren’t too exhausted from soaking, they would go for a workout or massage or maybe to get their hair and makeup done 🤣 or again to lounge in their parlors

All jokes aside, the architecture in the buildings and tile work were beautiful! And the craftsmanship in the wood work was timeless… clearly since it is still in use 60 years later.

Outside the visitors center, we explored one of the hot springs ourselves. Coming straight out of the ground, the water is 140° degrees. Michael said “can you imagine walking along and bending down for a sip of cool water, and get this!”

Hot Springs National Park was definitely worth a stop but in hindsight this should have been a stop on the way somewhere else instead of an overnight stay. We covered the majority of the park in couple of hours and even if weather permitted a long hike, I still would have used as a layover stop… oh well, live and learn.

We left Hot Springs, grabbed a quick “brunch” at Starbucks and off we went to LIttle Rock, Arkansas. The keeping with our tradition, we grapped a photo in front of the Capital Building. We also went by Little Rock Central High School, the first integrated high school in the nation. It is amazing that the school is still in use, and while they have kept the front of the school as it looked in 1957, the back of the school is clearly a functioning school.

As we traveled from Little Rock to North Arkansas, we passed an outpost for the Civilian Conservation Corp that was still in operation. Normally, this is something you see back in the depression to give people jobs and to build National Parks and other areas. Honestly, I don’t think we realized that were still in operation until today.

The drive was really pretty but the roads were twisty turny from Little Rock to Eureka Springs because we, of course, were traveling on the Pig Trail Scenic Byway 🐷🐖. Thankfully our backseat passengers weren’t too effected by the turns 🤣

We were traveling to Eureka Springs to see the Thorncrown Chapel, a beautiful chapel in the woods that we read about and saw in tourism magazine. However (ugh!) when we arrived the Chapel was closed to the public due to a wedding… we (I) tried to walk up and get a closer but didn’t want to effect the wedding so we only got so close.

But hey, we did get to see a big metal dragon in someone’s yard 🤣

We finally made it to Lampe, Missouri to our cabin for the next 3 nights on Table Rock Lake in the Ozarks. The cabin is so comfortable with a bedroom for boys (with thankfully 2 beds) and for us, a washer dryer and nice screened in porch.

We have a pool and playground right outside the Cabin, and are also within walking distance to Baxter Marina and swimming area in Table Rock Lake. After we put some chicken wings on to cook, we took a walk to check everything out.

Tomorrow, we having nothing to do until we head to Branson for a play later in the afternoon, so the plan is to sleep as late as we want to be lake lazy all day.

Happy 4th of July! 🇺🇸

We said goodbye to our downtown apartment and headed for Arkansas. One more long drive, but with a few stops in between. before we left Oklahoma City, the boys wanted to see the Paycom coliseum, home of the Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA). So…

We also saw what has to be one of the largest Bass Pro Shops. What could be more American than a big ol’ Bass Pro Shop on the 4th of July?

This place was HUGE – with buffalo and a fish tank larger than 5+ people!

As we left we saw Skydance Bridge (inspired by the Okalhoma State Bird , the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher)

We again stayed off the Interstates so we could see some of Oklahoma’s small towns. Like Shawnee, Oklahoma, who have a supersonic missle and helicopter in their town square and the main road named Kickapoo Road, which made us all giggle . We also noticed a LOT of damage to buildings and homes and after some research, we discovered that Shawnee was hit by tornados at the end of April this year. They are still trying to complete repairs city-wide.

As we drove on through Oklahoma, we found a Mom’s Cafe along the back roads… and even some ice cream sandwiches that were barely surviving in the cooler despite wrapping and ice.

We traveled through the Choctaw Nation, which was pretty impressive with their own Health Care Center and Community Centers. This was entirely different than some of the other reservations that we have traveled through on prior trips.

We do love a back road!

State Number 38! Hello Arkansas!

Great little small towns with their Flags waving for the 4th of July

The drive was beautiful – rolling hills and farmland. Arkansas is reminiscent of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia or the foothills in North Carolina

We finally made it to Hot Springs and after dropping off our luggage, we did a little exploring before dinner. We traveled up Hot Springs Mountain trail to check out the Mountain Tower. We were about to head up when we learned that it was $10 per person to go to the top. Now we maybe wanted to see it $5 worth, maybe $20 for the whole family, but not $10 per person… so instead, we took a picture in the bathtub, and found the free overlook 😁

Since we ate in both nights in Oklahoma City, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice steak dinner at 501 Prime. The steaks were delicious but the lighting in the restaurant was just weird 🥴

Back in the room, we played some more garbage, with sporadic bouts of wrestling.

These boys are getting really good at garbage. Michael bet Leo $10 that he couldn’t play the last 3 hands of garbage without talking (only words he could say were “may I” (which is part of the game). Not only did he make it the whole time, but he won all three hands! I told Leo I think we found the secret to his success 🤫 ♥️

Tomorrow we are exploring Hot Springs and maybe some hiking depending on the weather – it is supposed to be over 90° and very humid so we may drive stop to stop as we explore. We’ll see…

Good Morning Oklahoma! We all slept well in our downtown apartment, although when the dog groomer next door got going at 6:45am, we were a little grumpy… thankfully we were able to go back to sleep. After a lazy breakfast with our donuts and coffee from the grocery store yesterday, we headed out. We spent today on two ends of the vacation spectrum: Memorial/Museums and Waterparks.

Our apartment is only a 5-minute walk to the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum. The Museum is in the footprint and beside the former Alfred Murrah Federal Building. As we approached, there are 2 standing walls on opposite ends of the plaza one labeled 9:01am and 9:03am, the moments surrounding when the bomb was detonated with a peaceful reflecting pool in between.

The lawn covers the exact footprint of the federal building and the chairs represent everyone killed in the explosion. The little chairs were the most heart wrenching because they represented a child killed in the explosion.

The museum itself is housed in the Journal Record Building, still showing damage from the blast.

The museum is extremely well done and starts with the mundane day that started like any other. One exhibit took you into the Water Resources Board who were recording their hearing on April 19, 1995. As the hearing goes on, there is a huge explosion and the chaos that ensuses is exactly what happened in real time to Oklahoma City.

Yesterday we had the boys do a little research on the bombing since it was long before they were born. And in a post-September 11th, it’s hard to remember how innocent we all were before the Oklahoma City bombing. We tried to explain how shocking this was – to have a bombing on US soil from a US citizen.

One of the exhibits we really liked was the community response. As rescuers needed something, like rain gear or size D batteries, local news would put out a request. Within 30 minutes so many of the items were received that that would need to be back on air and report that the need was meet.

We also loved the stories of the K-9 Search and Recue dogs, especially the story that when the news reported that the rescue dogs’ paws were getting cuts during rescues, people began delivering baby shoes for the dogs’ paws.

Mike and I both still remembered this photo from almost 30 years ago. The photo eventually would earn a Pulitzer Prize in Photography (and cause quite a debate because 2 photographers took the same photo). I remember thinking that photo summed up everything that day.

The view from the Musuem back onto the lawn was so serene, especially with the reflecting pool and Survivors Tree.

The Survivor Tree located right outside the museum. This Elm tree survived the bombing, and recovery/rescue efforts. It is interesting that there is also a similar Survivor Tree in New York from September 11th.

After the Memorial, we were all a little wiped, and decided to grab lunch at the apartment before headed to the other end of our vacation day – a Waterpark! Today, we are headed to Riversport OKC. Riversport OKC is a whitewater rafting park in the heart of Oklahoma City! We got there ready to ride around 1pm, and had reservation for 4pm whitewater rafting. We did one run of tubing and then Crack! ⚡️ lightning off in the distance. Due to park rules, we were land-locked for the next couple of hours until there were no lightning strikes with 10 miles of the park. They were prepared for this because they had a gaming room with Virtual Reality Rowing games, and entire computer gaming set-ups, as well as cornhole and plenty of chairs to just relax.

FINALLY, at 4pm we got the all clear and it became a mission to get our money’s worth in the next 2 hours. Over the next two hours, we did family tubing runs, whitewater rafted through the course, the giant slides and the basketball/trampoline court. I wouldn’t say we got our full money’s worth but we came close.

We were way too wiped to go home, shower get ready and go back out for dinner out so instead we went by a local Walmart for the ingredients for Chicken fettucine. 45 minutes later, we were showered, in PJs and ready to eat with some ice cream sandwiches for dessert 😁 After dinner, we finished another load of laundry and FINALLY finished a round of Garbage! ♠️♥️♣️♦️

We leave our little downtown apartment and head over to Hot Springs National Park and our 4th of July celebration! 🇺🇸♥️🎆

Remember how well you slept at your grandma’s house becuase you had played non-stop with cousins all day? Well that’s how we slept at Grandma Holt’s house last night. Thankfully, we didn’t have to check out until 11am, and we took advantage of every second of that. We were finally all loaded at 10:47am, and headed out of Kansas and on our way to Oklahoma!

Southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma are F-L-A-T! And it is full of wind turbines… I bet those suckers were spinning like tops in that storm the other night!

WooHoo, a plaque! Although Kansas Plaques all seem to be made of wood. This one is regarding the Big and Little Basins located nearby. Both were created by sinkholes or sinks. The Little Basin contains a pool of water called St Jacob’s Well, which has never gone dry.

We made it! State # 37 – Okalahoma!

We traveled on and stopped for gas in the town of Laverne, OK. Home of the Tigers AND Miss America 1967 Jane Jayroe! 👑 I love that 56 years later, they are still so proud of Jane Jayroe ♥️ As I turned around, I realized that we had stopped at Fat Daddy’s Corner Store, and these silhouettes were the best 🤣

As we rolled on along, we found a Mom’s Cafe in Oklahoma 😀

Finally, as we neared Geary, Oklahoma, we jumped on the famous Route 66. Out first stop was for dessert at the Cherokee Travel Mart. The Neon sign and Teepee were the best. And the random artwork and signs along the road made the better as we searched for it.

We decided to add 20 minutes to see the campus of Oklahoma University. OU is a beautiful campus, with lots of history and stories.

One of our favorite statutes was the Selmon Brothers. The Selmon were a large family from Eufaula, Oklahoms who had 3 sons who came to play for the Oklahoma Sooners! All were All-American and all went on the play in the NFL. Definitely a proud mama and papa there!

We passed Moore, Oklahoma – home to Topy Keith (I feel like this will be a trivia question one day)

We arrived at our Airbinb for the night, and if Grandma Holt’s was every grandma’s house as a kid, this apartment would be the exact opposite! Modern sleek and spacious with its own a private patio on the roof. It is the entire second floor of a law office that we are guessing is used for clients, experts, Christmas parties or maybe just a secondary income source.

It is perfect for us, and we thoroughly enjoyed just sittting this afternoon.

We had a delicious dinner of homemade fajitas and then a few rounds of Garbage. We’ve been so sleepy we have yet to make it through an entire 10-rounds game. Thankfully they are starting to enjoy playing cards, Unfortunately, they are getting pretty good at winnng. 🤣

garbage pic

Tomorrow is a full day of Oklahoma City history and whitewater rafting and Riversports!

Just one hour of driving today gave us a nice leisurely morning at the little Grain Bin.

These stairs gave 0% wiggle room for error!

It was really a cool AirBnB! They maximized every inch of space and make the most of everything. These blue chairs come together to make single bed.

It was a little tight with the 4 of us in here (especially since the boys have become man-child sized lately), but it was on only one night, and know we can say we slept in a grain bin … plus not a bad view for a cup of coffee especially when the chickens come to check out the new people.

We said goodbye to the Little Grain Bin Inn and headed off to Dodge City, formerly know as the wickedest little city in the world. Along the way, (thankfully the way was only an hour or so today), we drove through a lot of little towns with old school architecture.

It is hard to explain how flat it is out here – you can see for miles and miles.

After our 6+ hour driving days, this day was a breeze. Before we knew it, we were in Dodge City!

I had high hopes about seeing an old western town, cowboys in a gunfight, and Mrs. Kitty from Gunsmoke in Dodge City. We could see the outlines of the buildings and stopped in the Visitor’s Center to see how best to see everything. Turns out, the “old timey” town part is now gated inside the Old Boot Museum, so to see the gunfights and cowboys, we would have to each pay the $18 admission fee. We’re not $72 into Cowboy history, so we placed our pin in the map, said hello to Marshall Matt Dillion, climbed in the train, and walked around the City for a bit.

Leo challenged Marshall Matt Dillion to a game of Shadow boxing, but we’re not sure who won 🤣

Unfortunately, nothing else was very cowboy-ee in Dodge City, but we did find the first Teacher Hall of Fame in the United States.

We made our way over to the Dodge City Municipal Park, and found a pop-up Mom’s Cafe.

And guess what was right beside the park, the Long Branch Lagoon.

For almost the cost of one of us going to the Boot Museum, we all got into the Long Branch Lagoon, but we all didn’t get wet… wanna guess who opted for a quiet shady spot 😉

Someone may have gotten the fingers stuck for a minute in the tables…

We were really impressed with this little water park. It was clean, plenty of seating and the people were really nice. We didn’t see many families that didn’t inclde a mom and a dad at the waterpark.

Several hours later, waterlogged and tired, we left the Long Branch Lagoon, and checked in at our Next Airbnb, Grandma Holt’s House. This house was awesome. It was literally like going back in time and staying at your grandma’s house. You instantly felt at home. The furniture was comfortable but had a grandma feel – even had a picture of Grandma and Grandpa Holt on the table.

Seriously, the only way it could have been more “grandma” is if there were a candy dish on the coffee table with that really hard candy that all stuck together that every grandma kept out for company 🤣

We headed out to the local grocery store, Dillon’s, and came home to start the washng machine to get caught up on a week’s worth of laundry. As the washer and dryer ran, we decided to fully commit to the Grandma Holt experience, and go with a fried chicken dinner!

Bellies full and dishes washed, we continued with the Grandma experience, and almost feel asleep on the couch watching The Rifleman. 🤣

(which is why this post is done today instead of last night)

Hallelujah! We woke up to beautiful skies and sunshine so Toadstool Geological Park was a go… as soon as we could get these boys up and moving. Thankfully the Airbnb owner left us juice and homemade rhubarb scones, so we made coffee and had a nice breakfast before we packed up for another reeeaaallllyyy long driving day.

Once we packed the car with our bags and cooler, off we went to the Oglala National Grasslands. It was a beautiful drive with meadows that looked like a page from Little House on the Prairie. The Grasslands began to give way to sand and stone… we were nearing Toadstool Geological Park

Toadstool Geological is a lot like a Mini-Badlands National Park. We decided to do the interactive trail, since we were a little short of time trying to squeeze everything in today due to the rain. It was a beautiful hike and the temperature was perfect. Mike and I hiked, and the boys climbed over and on any available surface.

Even worked on a few optical illusion pics

We left Toadstool and headed to Fort Robinson. Fort Robinson has been used repeatedly by the US Government to detain folks. It was where Crazy Horse surrendered and then later died during of revolt against the leaders of Uniter States. The Fort later housed German prisoners of war during World War II. Since then, the Fort is used like destination for families in the summer and holidays.

We left Fort Robinson, and head for Carhenge. What is Carhenge? Exactly what it sounds like… Stonehenge made out of cars 🤣

It’s pretty weird to be driving along near Alliance, NE and then BAM! Painted cars buried in the ground 🤣🤷🏼‍♀️ but what better Roadside Attraction?!?

The boys wanted this picture of TowMater, and of course a dinosaur skeleton. And I thought the fish made from car parts was pretty cool.

Souvenir ornament purchased and pin placed in the map for Climax, NC,

We said goodbye to Carhenge and headed back into the town of Alliance for a little restocking (2nd loaf of bread and another pound of turkey). The Alliance Safeway must not get a lot of visitors before I felt like people were all staring like a telepathic message we sent out “new person in town” 🤣🤣 Anyway restocked and ready, Mom’s Cafe opened on the journey to Ness City, Kansas.

We have 5 hours ahead of us and initially, it seemed like a beautiful day for a drive…

We made it back into Kansas…

And then, the rains moved in…

The thunderstorms out here are no joke. Wind gusts up to 70mph and just sheets of rain with hail the size of quarters!

As we got to the end of the storm, the clouds were crazy. They looked like something out of a movie or the apocalypse

And then to watch it lighten as the storms would clear…

I have a whole new appreciation for the movie Twister now 🌪️

With the storms and threats of more, we decided to grab a pizza from Pizza Plus in Ness City and take back to our Airbnb for dinner. Ness City is small town about 70 miles north of Dodge City.

Pizza in hand we headed to our Airbnb – a renovated grain Silo! And of course, another dirt road…

We didn’t get many outside pictures due to storm but definitely will tomorrow. The inside was really cool. Almost like a camper with every bit of space maximized

We didn’t get any photos upstairs because once the rain started hitting the tin roof, the Browns were snoozing… which is also why Friday’s post isn’t posted until Saturday morning 🤣) Once we are up and going, it’s a short one hour drive to Dodge City! 🤠

We started today way in the southeast corner of Nebraska, and we went to sleep way in the northwest corner of Nebraska. We have covered the Cornhusker State from corner to corner. Traveling from Lincoln to Crawford is not for the faint of heart… 7+ hours. But we started with tractors and ended at a walk-up slice of Americana and a card game that allllll…most led to profanity, so it’s still been a great day in Nebraska!

This guy is really excited about today’s stop… The Larsen Tractor Test & Power Museum on the campus of the University of Nebraska.

So, here is the story of the Larsen Tractor Test Lab is you don’t know (which I did not until planning this trip): In the early 1900’s a company named the Ford Tractor Company of Minneapolis started making and selling tractors. They were not associated with the Ford Motor Company, but they definitely benefited from people believing they were. The Ford Tractor Company claimed their tractors were dependable, efficient, durable, powerful and easy to operate – they were not! In fact, the owner of the company, W. Baer Ewing was known to request a $75 down payment, and then refuse to deliver the tractor or return the deposit! $75 in 1915 is the equivalent of over $1,300 now. The tractors kept failing and injuring farmers, which led Nebraska State Representative Crozier to sponsor the Nebraska Tractor Test Law and Rules for Official Tractor Tests Law. The law required that advertised claims must be verified by 3 University of Nebraska engineers before being sold in Nebraska.

The museum is exactly what you would expect (small and quaint with the smell of rubber tires and diesel fuel) but it was so full of tractors and information that it had something for every level of tractor enthusiast.

These two are ready for combine driving school 😉

When I suggested taking Mike and boys’ picture inside the museum , I got tickled when Mike said “not in front of a green one” 🤣 You gotta pick your tractor – red, green or blue! It’s not something you’re wish washy about 🤣

But he did let me get one with green tractors to show the decorations.

The Test Lab and Museum were absolutely worth the stop!

After we left the Test Lab, we tried to see Cornhuskers’ Stadium, but due to construction, it was locked up tight… not that I tried to break in (I did)

Then we headed downtown to see the Nebraska State Capital, and got to see the Governor’s Mansion… He definitely isn’t missing work due to the commute (literally across the street)

After our stops in Lincoln, we hit the road because we have a whole lotta ground to cover today. We made a few stops along the way and found a few interesting sights and… a plaque!

Around noon, the serving bell rang at Mom’s Cafe, and the lunch rush was on!

Otherwise we spent the day just watching the scenery. It was beautiful and looked like something from a movie.

We did use our Roadside America App to find this restored 1922 gas station that now acts as the Visitors Center in Ogallala, Nebraska.

Mike found his dream home… think he wants solitude? 😆🤣

And we saw the coolest cloud… but we were torn whether it looks like a mom holding a baby; Jesus holding a child; or the little shepherd boy holding a sheep that comes with the nativity set?

We continued driving headed toward the Toadstool Geological Park for some weird rock formations and hiking. GPS said we would be there by 4:45, but we began hearing a repetitive weather warning about a severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. The clouds were a bit darker and we could see rain off in the distance

Then we also noticed that all the cows were herded together on the backside of all the hills, in every pasture…

According to the Weather Channel app, the storm was suppose to arrive in Toadstool Park at 4:50pm… 5 minutes behind us. This was not going to be just a drizzle.

So we changed plans and decided to check into our Airbnb, wait for storm to pass and then head on… The Airbnb is really cute – comfy and clean.

So we waited, and watched the rain, and waited, and watched the rain… and so on. Finally we decided with all this rain, hiking today was probably a bad idea, so instead we went to explore Crawford, Nebraska… and 5 minutes later, we were finished.

We decided to have dinner at the Frontier Bar and Grill. Not the fanciest place we have eaten, but not the worst. The food was tasty and we walked away with a dinner for 4 under $50. That’s definitely a rarity! We decided to check out a local take-out place for dessert, and they had to best signs/slogans, and a big chicken!

We found the American flag house that we read about on Roadside America, so we could check that off!

The sky was still pretty ominous, but we did get a beautiful sunset.

We ended back to our little place for some cards. We have finally gotten the boys to play cards with us, and it has definitely fueled some competitive words 🃏

So even though we didn’t get to see Toadstool Geological Park or Carhenge today, there’s always tomorrow. And if not then, maybe God’s giving us a reason to come back. 😉 It have still been another great day with my people! Tomorrow, we say goodbye to Nebraska and head back to discover the West side of Kansas.