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As we were leaving Arkansas, my mother decided to take a detour to the first Walmart opened by Sam Walton. It was very interesting. After traveling over the border into Missouri, Christopher tuned into the weather radio to check out the black clouds. TORNADO activity--lots of it right where we were driving--Joplin, Missouri. Plans were changed, mom called my aunt for weater updates, used weather.com to guide us in between the heavy cells. We camped for the next 2 nights at Weston Bend State Park north of Kansas City, Missouri on the river. The next day we went to Cabela's and a jazz festival in Topeka, Kansas. We got to meet Sam Rivers and talk to him. Sunday we had a filled day--Jesse James home, a bank he robbed just before he was killed, President Truman's home and library, The American Jazz Museum (very impressive), and then a local BBQ spot. After eating Christopher noticed ALOT of black clouds and we ran for the weather radio and the car. Expected-- 70 mph winds, hail, and tornadoes. Problem, we had nowhere to go. We were driiiving on the road to Oklahoma. We got in the car and my mother kept driving to get out of it before it got bad. Her friend Terri got on weather.com and tried to help her escape, but told her she was stuck in it. She kept driving until the rain and wind got too bad. We stopped at a hotel for the night in Ottawa, Kansas. Next morning very rainy and cold !!! We drove on to Oklahoma City. The bombing memorial and the capitol buiding were so impressive. Capitol better than Tallahassee !! We also visited with my sisters friends and they took us on a boat on the lake. My mother met up with a friend she had not seen in 30 years. It was like they were best friends. The next day it was off to the wheatfields of Kansas. Had a wheatfield tour in Wichita--very educational-learned alot. Everyday is windy here in Kansas. Today happens to be 40 mph winds, can't even stand at times and this is normal for these people. Dodge City was next for some western adventure and then a LONG drive to Denver, CO. This drive was lonely, not one gas staion, house, or light in sight. Storms started brewing in the north and east of us, and they looked bad. Mom went faster to outrun the storms coming. After hours, we had beat them. They were all behind us. (the next day we would find out about all the tornadoes that spun out of this storm to cause damage and loss of life--we are counting our blessings). As we approached the Colorado border, the temperature was dropping fast. We had left Wichita, KS at 96 and 5 hours later it was 38 degrees. Slept in the car this night with blankets. We are in Auroa, Colorado right now and staying at a friends house that use to live by us in West Palm Beach. Yesterday we went to the Denver Mint, the capitol building , and the Coors Brewery. Today we went to Colorado Springs area to The Manitou Cliff Dwellings, and a gold mine, which was really fun. The miners work in it in the winter and it is open to the public in the summer. We went 1000 feet down in a miners elevator to walk in the underground miners tunnels. This mine was 2/3 of the way up to Pikes Peak. We also toured the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs. Tomorrow we are going on a tour of Celestial Seasonings Tea factory, Honey Winery, a farmers market, the Natioanl Center for Atmospheric Research, and the Rocky Mountains National Park. There are still 8 foot drifts in the Rocky Mountains, so to all the Floridians we know we want you to know we hope to be playing in the snow in JUNE !!! My dad flies in tomorrow night at 11pm and then we leave Colorado on Sunday morning and head to the Grand Canyon. By the way, it has been windy here too and temperatures have ranged from 38-70. In JUNE !!! |
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