Days 2 and 3

Day 2
Day two found us standing beside the mighty Mississippi River bank gazing at the Freedom Arch in St. Louis, Mo. We found out the hard way traveling with a trailer makes for parking VERY difficult. We had to park miles away and walk. Poor Joseph did not fair very well with all the walking and had to sit quite frequently. This made our journey walking to the Arch from the van to take about an hour. After getting stuck in the elevator on the waterfront in Seattle, Emily is now terrified of elevators. She has never really liked heights so thoughts of the elevators ride to the top made her ready to throw up. By the time we parked, walked, sat and admired the Arch the last trip up the Arch for the day was sold out, much to Emily’s relief. I on the other hand was quite disappointed. Jeff and I were going to take turns taking the kids up the arch so that Emily would not feel left out. There is a movie about the Arch as well as Lewis and Clark but that too was sold out.
So, we went outside and talked about how Hurricane Ike had made a huge impact on the Midwest. At breakfast we met a very nice gentleman who worked for Allstate. He shared with us that he had been working in Houston but was called to work in the Evansville, Indiana area due to flooding and wind damage. All of which were results of the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. When we arrived in St. Louis we found the riverfront road to be covered in icky slimy green mud. Part of the street was still covered in water and the statue at the riverfront was partly submerged. In the couple of hours we were there, we could actually see that the water had dropped several feet. The casino’s were using water cannon’s to clean off the sidewalks and entrances in hopes of being ready to open for business the next day.
We spoke with one of the guys working who told us that the area had been closed for more than a week and a half due to the high river~ thanks to Ike and that since spring the water had been at flood stage more 90 days. Emily was so taken aback how instead of the river being a good thing that it could also bring such destruction.
We were going to surprise the kids and take them on a helicopter ride around the city but because of the Cardinals baseball game the airspace around the city was restricted. Grrrrrr!
We almost made it to our goal driving but called it quits about 2 hours shy.
Our motel was a hoot! The room was big enough for two beds and 13 inch TV! Hey, the beds were clean and the room was quiet.

Day 3

A very long day is now behind us. We drove across Mo. And then up to Iowa and over to Nebraska. The weather was beautiful. The children could not get over all the corn they saw and how flat was the land.
Sarah Elizabeth got really excited a couple of times because she saw wind turbines. The were beautiful and massively HUGE!
Sarah Elizabeth had the foresight to pack Joseph’s kick ball. It certain has come in handy. At rest stops we pull it out and have the kids play to stretch their muscles and get rid of some of their energy. I must brag on how wonderfully behaved they have been and such troopers with the long hours of driving.
At one of our stops we ran into a family driving from Washington. They used a different route but gave us hope that we too could make it in three more days! :o)

Tomorrow we finish Nebraska and hope to make it across most of Wyoming