More of the Mid-West and on to Minnesota

We’re about 2/3 of the way through. A young woman at the campground laundromat asked me if I was sad that it was almost over, or if I was anxious to get back home. I asked her if I could say both. She said I could. That's how I feel.

Monday: Today was our last day in Branson. It’s been delightful. If one had unlimited funds and time, there are lots of shows to see, magic, country, pop, comedy and such—all family friendly.  There are a lot of interesting buildings along the main drag, but we were the only ones walking down the street. We also saw Pierce Arrow, a good musical performance with a comedy routine flowing throughout. The prices are reasonable, most under $30, but a few higher. There are a lot of places to get tickets at a reduced price, our campground told us who to go to, and he even delivered the tickets to our campsite.

Tuesday: Independence, Missouri. We toured the visitor’s center then we walked across the street to the empty lot where the temple will be built before the Savior’s second coming. There was a peaceful, spiritual feeling about the place.

Wednesday: In the morning we attended the Kansas City, MO temple, then on to Kansas and Amelia Earhart’s birthplace in Atchison, KS. I love it when we trip over stuff like this. They have a small museum which mentions Lewis & Clark along with other historical people like Amelia Earhart. Did you know David Rice Atchison was really the 12th president? (It was only for one day, I don’t have room for the details, look it up.)  We also visited the home Amelia was born in, and lived in for several years with her grandparents.

Thursday: We drove to Nebraska. I had another special experience. In the visitor’s center next to the Winter Quarters temple, I found more genealogical information: One of my great-aunts died there at 17. It’s too bad her grave is in Cutter’s Park with no grave marker so we couldn’t visit it. This really makes the pioneer trek personal. Before this I didn’t know where they went after Nauvoo, just that they came to Salt Lake. At the visitor’s center we also saw a sister from Poway who knows a lot of the people we do, and another sister missionary from our ward. The temple was awesome as they always are.

Although I have avoided posting this type of picture here is one of the dry cornfields we’ve been seeing throughout the mid-west.

Friday: Another driving day—from Sioux City, Iowa to Madelia, Minnesota. As we drove into Minnesota the corn fields became greener.

Saturday: The left rear tire was low in the morning, so we drove to the nearest medium sized city and had it looked at. The valve stem needed to be tightened. It didn’t cost anything. Phew! We already bought 2 tires on this trip. The first one was on our way out of town, but we weren’t as lucky then. It was too old, and had to be replaced—9 month trip with a nearly 3 hour delay and $$$ spent the first day. We hoped it wasn’t a sign of things to come, and it wasn’t, although we did make a few more stops at RV repair places for minor items the first few weeks. See the blog entry “It’s All Part of the Adventure” for the other one. We arrived at the temple just in time to make the 1:00 session. There we saw a sister we used to work with in the San Diego temple. We didn’t know she had moved to Minnesota. What a great blessing it was for all three of us. We went to her ward Sunday. (Both of us wearing purple was not planned.)