The trip home

The Piearsons did their own thing on the way back to Iowa.  The rest of us stayed together the next 2 days.  Friday, August 2, we woke up to rain.  We had to pack the van, get ready to go, and left Bob and Lou's house around 9:30.  There were now 4 vehicles with 19 people traveling out of Massachusetts.  We drove in the rain for a little while, but I don't remember how long or how hard.  I had taken an energy shot in the morning because I knew I would have a hard time staying awake to drive.  I wasn't the only one struggling with tiredness.

We stopped for lunch.  I had a caffeinated drink with my food.  Then we hit the road again.

We drove through Connecticut and New York and into Pennsylvania.  By the time we stopped for a break in the afternoon, I was feeling dizzy and nauseated.  Or is it nauseous?  Sick.  I was feeling sick.  I don't know if I had too much caffeine or what, but I was in no position to drive.  I asked Seth if he could take over the driving.  Of course, he did.

We decided that setting up tents in the dark wasn't any fun and if we wanted to get back home by Sunday night, we had to travel long days.  So, we arrived at a hotel around 10:30.

We got up and left around 9:30 on Saturday, August 3.  I was feeling more like myself so I took the wheel again.  We drove through Ohio and entered Indiana.  We stopped in Greenfield for supper.  In case you do not know the significance of this, we are from Greenfield.  Greenfield, Iowa, of course, but it was fun to stop in Greenfield, Indiana.  :)  We continued on into Illinois and again, decided to stay in a hotel.  We arrived around 10:00, back in Central time zone!

Sunday, August 4, we had to say our goodbyes.  The Iowa group headed to Iowa and the Kansas group headed to Kansas.  Since we were packed and ready to go, we left around 9:00, not sure if we would meet up with the Robleses or not.

We decided that we could spare a little time and stopped at the St. Louis Arch shortly after entering Missouri.

It was about noon.  We stood in line as everyone had to go through security like J and I did for the USS Constitution in Boston.  Seth and I had both been there before, but we thought our kids would enjoy the extra stop.  After getting in, we saw the next trip up inside the arch was at 2:45.  Plus, we would have to wait in line to get tickets.  We didn't know how long the line for tickets would take nor how long the ride up would be.  It had been several years since either of us had been.  We simply just did not have the time.  We walked around the museum and then decided we needed to get back on the road.

Seth and the kids are sitting on a bench.

We kept in contact with Andy throughout the day.  They decided to not push themselves any more and stayed in Kansas City for the night.  It sounded nice, but we wanted to get home.

On to Kansas.  We drove through a little rain in Kansas City.  It wasn't heavy rain, but there was a lot of it.

We stopped in Emporia and enjoyed a nice sit-down meal.  No fast food, convenience store food, or picnics!  A real restaurant with real food.  I checked in with my Iowa family who had just arrived home and were unloading their vans.

Finally, we arrived home around 10:30.  We unloaded the van and crawled into bed.

It was a great vacation.

The End.