Tour of America - Day Two

Breakfast, a laptop, and home brewed coffee.

First lesson of the day: Breaking camp is much more efficient when the kids are at the playground. Everyone slept well, we had a quick breakfast of cereal, Papa Bear and I packed up, and we were on our way by 9:00 am.

Illinois. There are a lot of cornfields.

Because apparently I failed to pack shirts for either Bro or T-Bear, we stopped at a Target outside of St. Louis to buy some t-shirts. And, another stop to pick up a fuse for Popper’s battery, hoping that would solve our “dead battery that won’t recharge” issue. And yet another stop on the other side of St. Louis to get some more dry ice.

Papa Bear started a new road trip game; name the NFL team for each major city we drive through.

Going through St. Louis, we saw the Jefferson Expansion Arch…

...and the Rams' stadium.

Although we saw some really lovely brick buildings, most notably churches, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many abandoned and crumbling buildings in one area. It was disheartening.

Shortly after crossing the Missouri River for the second time, we pulled into a Rest Area (where we all experienced the WallGate automatic hand washing/drying machine) to let the kids romp a bit while Papa Bear got on a conference call.

BooBoo measuring up to tall grass.

Except the conference call was scheduled for the next day. We continued to have cloudy, overcast, humid, warm weather.

Clouds all day.

We saw Kansas City stadium, with the Royals baseball inf ront and the Chief's NFL behind.

Some rain and lots of Jacob’s Ladders, which inspired Papa Bear’s Rush song of the day, “Jacob’s Ladder”. And corn fields. Lots and lots of corn fields.

We followed the Lewis and Clark Trail for a bit along Interstate 29…



...and finally reached Oregon!

Oh, that’d be Oregon, Missouri. Still have a bit of driving to do before we reach the state of.

Due to an unexpected detour (looked like the aftermath of some flooding), and all of the unexpected stops earlier in the day, we decided to nix our originally planned camp site at Indian Cave State Park, and pulled into a conveniently located KOA just off the highway in Rock Port. The nice ladies at the office were happy to accommodate us, and since the site was a pull-through I was able to park our rig and, with the help of the kids, get started on setting up while Papa Bear handled registration. Popper was set, raised, and settled in record time, and the kids headed for the pool. Big Fat Kudos to Papa Bear and Mama Bear for their ability to Roll With It.

Managed to throw together beef stroganoff and green beans for (a late) dinner. Again, don’t be too impressed…I precooked and seasoned the beef, so only had to warm it, toss in sour cream, and boil the noodles. Note to Self: The extra time it takes to set up the BIG camp stove outside will probably be saved in time waiting for water to boil on the tiny little stove inside Popper.

Last Lesson of the Day: Unattended children can create large amounts of havoc, particularly after being cooped up in a car most of the day. You’d think with a pool within range of our campsite the kids would be swimming until dinner time. Nope. They managed to find a mud pit in which they immersed themselves.



...and (teporarily) lost at least one Keen.

But, they all slept great that night!