Debbie's "Excellent Adventure", Part 2

Leg two of the journey:
After 5 nights and 4 wonderful days with Barb and Chuck it was time to pack up and move further west. 

Who would want to leave meals like this....out on the porch.....with hummingbirds serenading us....and the breeze rustling thru the trees?   Chuck, thanks for making my eggs every morning...what a treat to have my breakfast made for me!   Barb, thanks for all the fun memories and for sharing your Sweet Home Alabama with me.    I'll be back!

Many miles to go:

I left Alabama behind and drove thru the rolling hills across northern Mississippi.

Then I hit the most southwestern corner of Tennessee and went thru Memphis.   Wish I had time to stop and check out the city, but many miles lay ahead of me, so I pushed onward.

Now the land was really flat and I started driving north thru the northeastern corner of Arkansas.   And it was very sparsely populated and appeared to be mainly an agricultural area.

Oh, finally!   Missouri!   Ha, little did I know how many more hours I still had to drive, even though I was now in Missouri.  Let's just say I could have used a couple of cappuccinos, but there were most definitely no Starbuck's to be found on this long, lonely, desolate interstate.  I believe it took me most of 5 hours to get up to St. Louis after crossing the state line. 

The land became rolling hills as I approached St. Louis and the traffic became much heavier while looping around the city.   An hour later I emerged on the west side of St. Louis and felt confident that the last leg of the day's drive was all that lay in front of me.  By now my windshield was getting pretty buggy, if you know what I mean.   Even though I cleaned it off several times, the bugs just kept coming.

Hit The Brakes: Just a little Sidetrip:
Ok, I need to back up here a bit.   Over the last 2 years my friend Susan Marie has been telling me about this great place to get boots.   And, yes, it's close to Kansas City.   I got it in my mind a while back that I wanted a certain color of boots to wear with jeans but haven't been able to find them in Florida.   She kept telling me this store, Kleinschmidt's, had an enormous selection and I wouldn't be disappointed.  

Alrighty, fast forward to my drive across Missouri.   I've got Kleinschmidt's address and phone number in my hand and realize if I wait to visit the store while in Kansas City, I'll have to GET BACK IN MY CAR and drive an hour out of the city to go there.   I do NOT want to drive anymore, so, I call to see how late they are open.   The sun is starting to hang low in the sky and I'm thinking I'm going to have to drive out there again.   But wait!   They're open until 7pm.  Woo-hoo!

I whipped in there at 6:10 and started trying on boots.   Didn't get the color I went in there for, but I did find the most comfortable boots and added a cowgirl hat to top it all off.   Needless to say, I closed the place down.  I walked back to my car, giggling all the way, and dropped my new purchases on the front seat.

Almost there:
It was 8pm by the time I pulled into Lynn and Lee's driveway in Kansas.   Yes, I said Kansas.  One more state....but it's not as bad as you think.   Kansas City is split in two between Missouri and Kansas and they just happen to live on the Kansas side of the city.   The last time I saw their house was 3 weeks after they purchased it 22 years ago!  What a welcome sight.


We sat around the kitchen table eating chicken while they introduced me to their nephew who was in town from (uh-oh!   Can't remember for sure...) either S. Dakota or Nebraska.   Hey, my brain was a little fried at that point.  Lynn pointed me in the direction of a cozy bed which I gladly flopped onto.

Now the real adventure begins:

How to pull off a backyard wedding....more tomorrow,

Debbie