We made it to Missouri!

Whew, finally! After 5 days on the road we made it to Kansas City. The days leading up to our departure were spent finishing up various projects, and saying farewell for now to family and friends.

Adam fabricated brackets, and welded them directly to the frame of our "toad". Then purchased and assembled a tow bar and lights all for under $250. After the 1500 mile test ride Mister Safety is very proud of himself for a job well done, and I'm happy we didn't spend an arm and a leg.

Mom and I bought all the stuff needed to make self contained garden boxes, including power tools! We spent a few days making a mess in her garage, sawing, drilling, and dremeling. Until we finally had a half dozen fully assembled boxes, despite our lack of directions or math skills. We even made a few upside down tomato planters, though sadly my mater plant was the only thing that didn't survive the trip. Now I just need some soil (and a new mater) so I can plant my seeds and start my portable garden.

We got a late start on Friday, our first travel day. Only making it to Dublin GA, we spent the night at a rest stop. Proving that tired enough we can sleep anywhere. Saturday, after a nice talk with good ole Henry Foxx. Who has worked as an attendant for the past 25 years at the rest area near Montgomery AL, and takes great pride in his work. We pushed on to Birmingham AL, then decided to splurge and stay in a campground for the night. Even before we were completely hooked up, our neighbor was telling us how they were supposed to leave that morning but couldn't due to engine trouble. Adam stopped what he was doing, went to the truck grabbed a few tools, and had his rig running in under 5 minutes. (Mechanics come in very handy, I highly recommend not traveling without one) The grateful family gave him $20 bucks so we ended up only spending $21 on the campsite. The next day, Sunday was a very windy travel day. We stopped at the Mississippi welcome center (another very nice and well maintained facility) for lunch and a break. Then drove through Tupelo, to Memphis TN. Staying at a Flying J's for the night. The road noise from the trucks never died down, but we slept well none the less. Monday we blew through Arkansas, until we hit the Ozarks. (Who put those there anyway?) Navigating through the mountains was... interesting. I hit the phantom breaks more then once when I thought we were about to drive right off the edge. Not that Adam was speeding, cause he wasn't. We've just spent too many years living and driving at sea level. We stopped for the night at a KOA outside of Springfield MO. Wanting to get a jump on the next day and arrive at our destination by noon. Unfortunately no one told our jacks that. We've had an on going problem with our automatic jacks ever since we bought our RV. There's a loose wire somewhere, that so far no one has been able to find. But not to worry, my handy mechanic changed out of his polo and jeans, and into his Dickie's. Then got to work under the RV putting the jacks up by hand. So needles to say we didn't leave as early as we wanted, and when we did get on the road we meet the windiest day yet. But we still managed to make it to Kansas City by 3pm even after that damn British lady in our GPS tried to get us lost 10 miles from the park.

So we're finally here and getting settled in. Seems we brought the warmth with us, as it got up to 80 degrees today. We spent today exploring the trails of the 73 acre park with our dogs. Knuckles has never seemed happier, running up hills and barking at fallen trees. But he's still not sure what to make of the cows that graze in the neighboring fields. I start work tomorrow getting the cabins ready for summer guests again, and Adam will be helping the guys in landscaping.