5 States in a Day

Another day on the road is behind us. We woke up in Nashville, TN. Within an hour, we had crossed into Kentucky. From there, we cut across the lower tip in Illinois. The Mississippi River and the Gateway Arch met us as we entered Missouri. We spent the afternoon driving through Missouri and by dinnertime, we were in Kansas City, Kansas. In addition to the Mississippi, we crossed the Missouri River 3 times and the Ohio River once.

We will treasure those memories tomorrow as we spend the day on I-70 through Kansas and eastern Colorado. We don't expect to have much to look at to distinguish one corn field from another.

We are spending the night with my nephew, Eddie and his wife and kids. I had a terrific time playing with my great niece, Carmen, age 3. Carmen is a bit of a miracle because she was born very prematurely. She weighed less than 2 lbs and was about the size of a Chipolte burrito at birth. Now, she is a little dynamo who loves Tigers and dogs. She loves to pretend that she is a puppy. We read several books together and built some lego houses for her tiger beanie baby. It was great.

Our trip wraps up tomorrow. I am so pleased that we have had no mishaps and no regrets. We have enjoyed great visits with family and friends. We have grown closer as a family. We have made memories that will last a lifetime.

In 24 hours, we will be home, tucked in our own beds with no reason to set an alarm for the next morning. Yes, I'm looking forward to that. But as I lay there, I will be wondering when we can take our next vacation as I reflect on this one.