Friday: St. Louis to Abilene, KS

Driving out of St. Louis we first drove by the train station for the benefit of Konrad.  Last night we had thought we would go to a restaurant at the train station, but decided instead to go to a restaurant that was supposed to be like a fire station.  We had higher expectations of what the experience would be like (it was just a restaurant with fire station decor and waitresses in fireman shirts) but the food was good.  Anyway, Konrad was disappointed we went to the "fire station" instead of the train station, and he still remembered it the next morning.

Konrad:  Where we going, Mom?
Me:  We're going to Kansas.
Konrad:  I no want go to Kansas, I want go to train station!

So we said hello and good-bye to the train station as we drove by and that barely satisfied him (when we also distracted him by pointing out a crane).

BTW, traveling for 2 weeks with small kids means naps are not consistent (and a lot of other things aren't consistent), so there are more fits over not getting their way than normal.  I am gearing up for training when we get back home!

We found a unique sink at a rest stop in Missouri:  you put your hands in and got soap, then water, then dryer without moving your hands!

Independence, Missouri.  We found a mall that had a huge indoor playground, so we stayed longer than we'd planned, but it was worth it for the kids.  And it meant that we weren't in Abilene by dinner time, so we stopped 30 miles short, hoping to find a steak house.  After all, we are in Kansas!  But this route has no steak houses that we could find.  We settled for "Sirloin Stockade" that was actually a buffet. It wasn't until we had disappointedly settled for lots of fried and canned food on the buffet that we saw that there was prime rib and steak back in a corner that we could have had!

Is Missouri called the Show-Me State because of its thousands of roadside billboards?  Our impression of  Kansas:  sunflowers, and if you are from Kansas and become famous for something, they will put "Hometown of Cindy from The Happy Ones" on a sign outside the town.  Too bad I'm not from Kansas...oh, not famous, either!


We are determined to leave tomorrow morning early enough to reach Annina's home by a decent hour tomorrow night.  There's a special celebration planned!  Hint:  Annina's mom is Swiss.