Monday 7/24/06 - Back to Bama

We left the Wyndham Hotel in Overland Park, Kansas at about 9:05 a.m. We had a long drive ahead of us to get to Huntsville, AL. Joe rode in the front at first. David read Joe's book about Davy Crocket. Matt took a nap and played with toys. Joe read the KC newspaper some. We got six coupons for kids to eat free at Bob Evans restaurant when we went to the Royals game. The boys were disappointed when I passed the first two Bob Evans restaurants because they thought we wouldn't see another one. Actually, going east on I-70 through Missouri, there are no Bob Evans restaurants between 30 minutes outside KC and Columbia, MO. I turned it into a joke. Every time there was an exit I said, "Bob Evans, this exit." They caught on and we had a lot of fun with that. When we finally saw the Bob Evans billboard heading into Columbia we all got excited. In fact we had a loud chant going as we approached the exit, "Bob Evans, Bob Evans, etc." I had egg beaters and link sausage and the boys all had the french toast. We stopped from 11-11:45.We then continued eastward toward St. Louis. I listened to Rush Limbaugh talk about the current state of affairs in the Middle East; in particular the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah factions in southern Lebanon. Rush has taken a lot of hits. He refuses to be politically correct and he makes himself a target of the liberal media. But pull away all of the hype and the criticism and you will still find that he is a brilliant man. Anyone who can think on his feet that well for three hours a day deserves some respect, whether you agree with him or not. Anyway, I digress.We traveled on through Missouri and bypassed St Louis. We got to Festus, MO, south of St. Louis on I-55 at 2 p.m. It was time for another stop at Bob Evans. The boys were given free meal tickets in KC, but they each found a second coupon on the ground in the stadium. Therefore we stopped at Bob Evans again. This time I had the potato soup. Joe had fruit and strawberry yogurt dip. David and Matt had grilled cheese and a fruit bowl. We ate until 2;40, then continued south.We drove to Cape Girardeau and stopped there at the river walk by the Mississippi River. They have constructed a flood wall along the river and painted a mural along the wall that tells the history of the town . If you are ever near there it is certainly worth a look. I placed a quarter on the railroad track for Matthew to see how it could be flattened by a train.We then crossed the bridge over the Mississippi into Illinois. We traveled along the river to Cairo, IL, then to Paducah, KY, where we hopped on I-24. Other than a Frosty stop at Wendys in Kentucky, it was non-stop driving until we arrived in Huntsville at my parent's house at 10:45. We had all kinds of fun, listening to ball games, Radio Disney on XM Radio, and David's Shania Twain CD. We actually got a little silly and I really made the boys laugh when I was bobbing up and down in my seat to the music. We hung out with my mom awhile and kind of unwound. Unfortunately, she had just undergone some unpleasant dental work, but she was a good sport and glad to see us. After nearly 14 hours in the car, a lot of fun, a few fights, some good food, music, and laughs, we finally made it. Not a bad ending to an awesome vacation!