We woke up Wednesday morning, gathered up our belongings, and got in the car. The plan was to make it to Kansas, stop for the night, and leisurely drive the last few hours on Thursday morning, but we wanted to make a quick stop at REI on our way out of town to get Mr. 9 and Mr. 7 some new Keen sandals. They had out-grown last summer's sandals and we realized that no other sandals really hold up when tested by our boys love of rocks and rivers. In fact, last year's sandals are still in great shape and ready for further adventures when younger brothers are ready. However, there is not really such a thing as a quick trip anywhere with 4 kids so it was noon before we were on the road.
We made it into Iowa before stopping at a rest area with a great wooden climbing structure. Mr. 3 managed to get some rather impressive splinters that needed removing and then he needed some M&Ms for being brave. Mr. 7 and Mr. 9 spent each stop involved in a rather complicated game of live action Super Mario Bros with Mr. 9 as Mario and Mr. 7 as Luigi. We made good time until about 4pm when Mr. 3 had to poop, Mr. 0 needed to eat, Mr. 7 had to go to the bathroom, and Mr. 3 peed in his car seat. Of course that all occurred in 4 stops, not 1. So we clearly were not going to make it to Kansas. We found a decent hotel with a pool and stopped for the night in Missouri. The pool was heated and all of us, even Mr. 0, enjoyed a quick swim. Mr. 9 even got in some good front crawl practice.
The next morning, we were up and on the road early and were in Kansas before lunch. It was fun to introduce the boys to the Great Plains and you could imagine being on a covered wagon and going weeks seeing nothing but rippling grass. Our crowd was in high spirits and we made it with a minimum of stops to Witchita. Mr. 9 declared the area even more rural than basic rural as we left the city behind to find our friends farm. We were excited to see our friend J and her kids waving to us from the yard.
Welcome to Iowa
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