Home!

We left Amarillo, Texas at 9am and drove three hours to Red Rock Canyon in Oklahoma. We picked up sandwiches on the way and had a picnic lunch. The kids climbed and ran around for two hours. They don't care much about ever going back to Texas or New Mexico, but they want to go back to Oklahoma and back to this canyon. Logan has proclaimed that Oklahoma is his new favorite state, even above Nebraska! We stopped at a Wal-Mart along the highway and got him an Oklahoma bicycle license plate with his name on it. I drove for several hours and we stopped for dinner at a Cracker Barrel in Joplin, Mo. It was 7:30pm as we were leaving and Gene and I were discussing how much farther we'd drive. Gene thought maybe another hour to Springfield. I was suddenly overtaken by desire to Just. Go. Home. and I told him if he could drive until 10:30 while I slept 3 hours, I'd drive the rest of the way home. I couldn't stand the thought of sleeping in yet another hotel bed and REALLY couldn't stand the thought of yet another day of driving! The only thing we had potentially planned was to stop at City Museum in St. Louis. However, we would have been limited for time there because we needed to be home before 6pm to pick up the pets. The kids were all for pushing through and heading home. We made it! I slept my few hours and then had no problem with the remaining 4 hours. Well, that's not completely true. I made Gene talk to me between Morton and home because I got really sleepy. It was a good trip and we got to see some really cool places and really cool things. However, I don't think we'll ever do this long of a drive in such a short time again. The kids did great, but it was just too much! We didn't have one day we didn't spend hours and hours in the car. The kids have a new love for canyons and want to go to the Grand Canyon next. They also want to see a "real" desert with huge cacti. Wait- Kaylin hates the word cacti. They want to see huge cactuses. I told them we'll start planning next year's spring break and we will FLY to either Phoenix or Las Vegas, rent a car and drive a much shorter distance to the Grand Canyon. They both were upset with the thought of flying because "Think of everything we'll miss." Wow. This was in the car yesterday while we were in the middle of our 14 hours of driving time from Amarillo to Peoria! I'm going to take a shower and go pick up Duncan and Tiger! Yay! We've all missed them so much! I called the vet's office yesterday morning to confirm we'd be picking them up today. I'd never talked to the girl who answered the phone before (not somebody I worked with) and she said "Oh, Tiger! That big, fat cat? He's so nice!" As expected, Tiger has been getting loved on by the staff. At least Duncan will probably be very happy to see me!