Driving Across Country

We left Saturday morning and took off for a new chapter in life.  We decided to break up the drive into about 4 days.  Hoping to make this a lot less painful on all of us...here is how it went.

Thank you Melissa for the carmel corn!!  I think I ate most of it, but Rian and the others ate their share too.  Yum!

We stopped in Louisville, KY for the night...

Hotels were another adventure for this little man.  Lately he's been obsessed with finding money anywhere he can find it.  Preferably quarters, or any coins.  He will scower vending machines (both in the slots and under the machine itself), couches, under furniture, and anywhere else he thinks money will fall.  So every hotel we hit this is what it looks like.  Not just once, but he will check the same couch several times in case he 'missed soemthing'.  I have to hand it to him, he found 11 quarters and change from all of his efforts.  Along with a laser pointer and other junky items.  Such a quirky kid!

The arch in St. Louis.

On Sunday, we made it to Independence, Missouri for some church history sites.  We stopped in at the LDS visitor center and looked around at the Community of Christ Temple.  We also looked at the lot across the street from their temple which is the land where the temple in Zion will be build for the Lord to come in the last days...

After that, we stopped in Liberty, to visit Liberty Jail.  This is the site where Joseph Smith was in jail for awhile and received several revelations to the Doctrine & Covenants.  There was a good crowd for the tour.

This is only a replica of the original, but this is the actual site of the jail.  The church built everything exact to what was described.  4 foot thick walls; 1 ft wood, 1 ft thick of rock, and 2 feet of brick.   Low ceiling in the jail itself.  The jailer himself would also be locked into the building.  The doors only opened from the outside.  This was to ensure no one could escape.

Back on the road to make it to Salina, KS.  The kids loved to clean the van and keep busy.

Day 3: We made it to the Rocky Mountains!  Oh they are such a site to see after driving through Kansas and the flat side of Colorado.  We stayed the night in Golden, outside of Denver, but we took ventured up the rockies to Georgetown for a train ride.

In Georgetown, we wanted to ride the Silver Plum and tour the silver mine...but because it was Memorial Day, silver mine tours were booked.  So we just settled for the train ride.  All was going well, until Ammon decided to revisit his Wendy's lunch back from Limon, Co.  We think he got a touch of food poisoning and mix that with the winding roads of the rockies...well, lets just say the car seat went into the dumpster.

Even though he wasn't feeling well, he still wanted to ride the train.  This boy loves trains!!  He was a bit weak, but he was a trooper.  He loved it.

I love the Rockies, so beautiful and even a bit chilly...perfect!

Day 4: We decided to for-go the rocky route to Utah.  We didn't want any more sensitive stomachs to act up.  Although driving through Wyoming was 70 miles more, the GPS clocked it to be the same as going through the mountains.  BTW, southern Wyoming is so boring.  All barren and few towns to look at.  Oh well, we made great time!  Gotta love those 85 speed limits!

We made it to Gma and Gpa Wardwell's early evening Tuesday, May 26th.  We were so glad to be out of the van.  The kids loved to see cousins and have fun.  Until our stuff and house is available June 1st we are crashing a the Wardwell's.  But come Thursday, their living room was an infirmary.  One of the cousins were sick and decided to share.  It swept through everyone like a wild fire.  Luckily it was only a 24 hr thing and we were ready to move in with the new ward, Saturday June 2nd.