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Wow. Here it is, almost 6 months past our wonderful trip. It's early November and I wanted to write a final post to sum it all up. Then, I'm going to blurb.com and have this made into a little book for my boy. Christmas present!! He loves Christmas so much….he even has his own small Christmas tree just for his room. We put up tons of decorations (including Bumble and the Rudolph gang, nativity scenes, Peanuts and Charlie Brown, and lots of my parents stuff). Jay is awesome! Right now, he's in the 10th grade, is about 5'10" and his voice is in the middle of the big change. He is kind and good-hearted, smart, and he loves the Bulls. In the next month he'll start NJB basketball (I love going to his games!!) and we'll be driving to Park City for a family Thanksgiving and Jayann's 75th birthday celebration. Jay's favorite TV shows are Parks and Rec, Modern Family, The Office and Friends. He is bringing his grades up! He loves to play football with his friends after school. He has his learner's permit and will be driving on his own soon.  I LOVE this boy!!!!

Okay, back to summing up the trip…
Jay and I are the best travelers. We love it. We have fun. We sing to the radio. We argue. We eat junk food. We eat carrots. We stop whenever we want. We drive in silence. We talk a lot. We take pictures from the car. We work on the Newton house. We are both a little afraid of the basement. We go antiquing. We eat out. We see Aunt Patty and Nick. We visit mom and dad. We try new things. We get mad at each other. We stay with Hiebert's. We eat at Reba's. We see our family. We look at the beautiful sky. We are happy to head home.

This was a great trip…..one of many we've taken and one of the many we still have to take. Wyoming, Chicago, Italy, Tucson, Greece, California, China and more!! And of course, back to Newton a few more times.  :)  I'm putting in a picture go my boy on his first day of 10th grade. And one of Maggie and me when we did the girl's trip to Kansas last wee because we were talking about Jay right before I took the picture.

The 918 Mile Journey Back Home

The car packed, GPS charged, house cleaned, car filled up with gas, and we're ready to go at 6:42 am sharp! Half asleep, we pull into the small town of Pratt with a craving for an amazing cinnamon roll. We find an AMAZING cinnamon role at a restaurant that has been there since 1857 and survived two fires. After some antique stores, a cinnamon roll, and a coffee, we're on the road once again. This time to the fascinating town of Greensburg. In 2007 the town with a population of 775 was hit with an EF5 tornado, wiping out 95% of the town and killing 11 people between the ages of 46 and 84. Greensburg is home to the world's largest hand dug well (http://www.bigwell.org) at 109 feet deep and 32 feet
wide. It is an amazing site to see and walk down into. You can not only walk into the well but can climb a story above the well and see what the town has rebuilt and is still rebuilding. Greensburg is now the greenest city in the world and a truly fascinating town to visit. After more antiquing and an art gallery, back on the road we go. After hours of driving through run down towns, and on a 2 lane highway with a car passing about every hour or so, we end up in Trinidad, Colorado. We drive up to the excellent Days Inn and Suites owned by a local couple, unpack, I turn on the NBA Finals, my mom orders amazing Chinese food and we Greensburg Tornado Video
relax for the night. Best hotel experience in a long time! We finally turn off the tv and go to sleep after a long, tiring day with the perfect mix of excitement and relaxation. The next morning we pack the car back up, still loaded with candles and barbecue sauce for the gallery, get more coffee and another cinnamon roll and head back to Flagstaff! That day was really pretty boring besides the quick stop in Santa Fe for lunch and art galleries, and yes, even more antiquing. Ahhhh finally home! Time to rest for the remainder of the summer and just have fun! NOPE! After we unpack, we have to frantically clean for family coming in the next morning! This trip was amazing in every aspect and everything we did. Including staying in Topeka for 3 days, seeing family and friends, going to little towns and looking around, eating at the best diner in the world, antiquing every chance we got, and of course driving for a total of 3,200 miles!
-Jay

Two places we passed by and wished we'd stopped at........

until I read about them on the internet, and ended up okay that we drove on by.

Haha. Seriously. The first one was in New Mexico on the first day of the trip. We were excited to be on the road and looking for picture-worthy places to stop. I saw a little sign - Cuervo, New Mexico - and we were immediately flying by two tiny streets with the most amazing, dilapidated, haunting structures I have ever seen. We had noticed these streets from the train and I had always wondered about them. I almost slammed on the brakes and pulled over but we were already past. My mind whirled as I searched for a turn around or another road to get back. Nothing really apparent. We had stopped at a few places already, and I was just realizing that we were going to lose two entire hours that day with the time change. Oh well, I said out loud, next time.

You can see, if you click on Cuervo, a few pictures of the town and a little history. Some of the sites made it sound really creepy, with some of the remaining residents strolling outside with growling dogs on leashes. There were tales of finding the biggest rattlesnake ever in the grass next to one of the abandoned buildings, and video of a ghost in a
window. I didn't really need to see that video. I'm sure it would have been a cool stop, but I'm fine that I ended up letting others take the pictures for me to post.

The second place was in Kansas. We had left Newton and were driving to Topeka to see my friend Kristy. Two hours into the three hour drive, we saw a turn-off that would take us the same way, only we would get to travel thru 3-4 small towns. The town of Bushong, KS, was so small we almost drove though it without even realizing it was there. There was a cool mailbox and some deserted buildings, along with a few houses and silos. Pictureville!!! I almost turned back on this one too, but as before, we had already stopped in several towns and I was wanting to get to Topeka. Jay looked it up when we were a few miles past it......

Spooky deserted Bushong school with creepy music

Missil site in Bushong you can buy!! 

Bushong facts

I really think someday I'm going to end up going back. Taking some pictures. Looking out for rattlesnakes and ghosts. Someday. Maybe.


Nothing which has entered into our experience is ever lost --William E. Channing

--jill

The time is flying here.....

Speaking of that Tall Grass Prairie, if you're ever out this way, you gotta go. It's a beautiful preserve and it was a highlight of our drive back to Newton from Topeka. Acres and acres of prairie, with an old, but beautiful farm home, a three story barn, a 3-seater outhouse, an icehouse, a schoolhouse and a fancy chicken coop.  Tall grass prairie used to cover much of this country and there is only 4% of it left, mostly in Kansas. Really neat park, lots of trails, and worth the stop. P.S. just out in the smack middle of nowhere.

Today we were in Hutchinson, KS. We saw my dad's friend, Nick, my aunt Patty, my cousin Jodi, and we went antiquing. We also picked up 12 cases of Curley's BBQ to sell at the gallery. The panoramic picture above is of one of the largest grain elevators in the world! (Yes, I really like this stuff). It's also where I get the Curleys. We ate lunch at a soda fountain, and visited my mom and dad's grave. We saved a turtle from being smashed on the road, and watched buffalo and their calves wallow about in the mud. We ended the day sitting on the front porch being visited by a couple neighborhood cats and watching for fireflies.

Yesterday we went golfing in Newton. It was a fun course and fairly inexpensive. Jay is really improving...my dad would be proud :) We've done so many things on this trip I can't even keep count. I'm really trying hard to floss but I forgot tonight and now I'm in bed and too lazy to get up.

More pictures from the trip......
--jill.
                                                                                                               

The Kansas Experience

Kansas. Indescribable. The small towns, the amazing people, the unique antique stores, and the most amazing food on planet earth. All that can fit into everything we have done this entire trip. Let's start off with Peabody. Population 1,199 and located just 15 miles away from Newton (where we have our little house) has the best diner in the world, Pop's Diner. They always have their "regulars," the old folks, and the farmers coming in here on a daily basis. And I can see why. They have the best grilled cheese sandwich with pickles and onion rings or fries on the side for lunch with either a piece of homemade pie or a mint brownie. For breakfast, they have amazing biscuits and gravy! The fluffy biscuits are topped with gravy that has sausage pieces as big as quarters with a side of scrambled eggs and I always add an amazing homemade pancake, (everything is homemade) just to completely fill my cow sized stomach. Now for the antique store, Cameo Rose. Don't ask me how he got that name. The neatest antique store owned by the nicest yet weirdest guy around. It is packed full of stuff all the way to the ceiling  from a little $2 spoon rest to a $450 Pepsi-Cola cooler. It has great stuff and just seeing that old guy in there will make your day. Then there is the bigger part of Kansas, the Hutchinson area. Population about 40,000. We always go and see one of my favorite people of all time, Robert Nicklin. He is a 90 year old man that owns a farm and used to be one of my grandpas best friends. He gave me 10 dozen golf balls today and memories that will last a lifetime. He is the sweetest person you will ever meet with a little spin of humor and a good sharp mind for a 90 year old. After we see him, we always go to a barbecue place called Danny Boys. Their pulled pork sandwiches with sweet pickles and 30 different barbecue sauces to sample is amazing. But, today it all ended. They went out of business. The best place a person could possibly eat barbecue at is gone forever. We did find an amazing soda fountain to eat at which did cheer us up! After lunch we went antiquing. We always go to a place called Bear Blessings. With AMAZING antiques for great prices!! Since I collect vintage (pre-1970) Coca Cola memorabilia I always get something Coke related there and my mom always finds some interesting thing (including her moms yearbook from the late 1930's!) The last thing we do is go see my amazing great aunt Patty which I call her my grandma. She is amazing. Her laugh, her smile, her personality, and her all around loving and caring attitude makes me smile every time I see her! Those are just some highlights from Kansas and I know there will be more to come.

--Jay

Three Days in Topeka

Yes, I flossed.

This morning (Tuesday) we got right up and headed out for Topeka. I thought that after driving 1200 miles the last two days, the last thing I'd want to do is drive another three hours, but I was happy to get back in the car. We had breakfast in Peabody, went thru Elmdale and Cottonwood Falls and Strong City, and then detoured thru Americus and Bishong. Our breakfast at Pop's Diner in Peabody was excellent (biscuits and gravy) and the sky was blue and the corn was coming up everywhere. Cottonwood Falls has a very cool Antiques store that is NEVER open when we go thru and today proved no different, except that the door was unlocked and we could have strolled right in but there was no one there. I did get a picture of a great old coke machine though. Most of these little towns have populations under 500. Bishong was mostly a ghost town, and Strong City was very tidy and beautiful with a couple small parks and a block long main street.

(And then, suddenly, it's 3 days later)

I can't explain what happened. I was writing my next blog post and getting sleepier and sleepier, and now it's 3 days later and I'm not sure where the time went. I'll catch you up with some highlights....

---One of those days we went to Taco Villa for lunch. I've been going there since high school and the one (and only) thing I always get is the "thing." I've never seen it anywhere else, and I don't get it because it's the only item on the menu that tastes good. Everything at Taco Villa is wonderful. I just love it. It's a crispy flour tortilla with ground beef, cheese, a little taco sauce, and then this amazing onion sauce on top of all that. Now Jay is hooked too and he expects to go there every time we're in Topeka.
---We drove ver to Kansas City and went to The College Basketball Experience. I had to make a quick trip over to K.C. to pick up a load of candles for the gallery, and Jay had researched the internet looking for cool places and found the basketball exhibit. It was at the Sprint Center and Jay got to do all kinds of basketball activities. Quick trip but really cool.
---Bringing in the hay. Jay got quite a workout loading hay bales and bring them up to our friend's barn.  Ate mulberries right off the bush and stood in the middle of a field at night looking at the stars. Listened to the wind.
---In most states you have to go to a pet shop to see one but in Kansas, box turtles just wander about. I used to love it as a little girl...be playing outside and a turtle slowly makes its way across the yard. I told Jay about that but he'd never seen it happen. Well, we saw it.
---Two ticks. Yuck.
---When my folks died, I took over the Christmas card list, sending cards to most of their friends. I grew up with these people coming over to watch K-State games on TV and play Bridge. I had a chance to go see a few of them and it was so nice. I just though of my parents and all the laughter and love and care that these relationships contained and it was so good to see these people again.

Tomorrow, Jay and I head out again. We have a few small towns we want to stop in before we head back to Newton....and a tall grass prairie we want to see.

Goals

I have a goal for this trip.......to floss my teeth every night. I floss pretty regular but I want to start flossing once a day. So, being away like this for 12 days in a row gives me a chance to create a new habit. Flossing. This has nothing to do with a road trip or Newton and it isn't big, but it's still my goal.

We got in to Newton around 4:30 Kansas time. It was a long drive, these two days, but it helped that Jay and I stopped at so many little towns and walked the downtown area. This was not difficult as most of them were one block long. Sayre, Grants, Tankawa, every hour and a half we would pull into the smallest town around and check it out. Beautiful places. We tried to hit towns that were less than 3,000 population. The following Conoco tower/station was in a little town called Shamrock, in Oklahoma. I added some other photos too of the trip so far........

--jill.