August 2, 2007 – Kansas City to Lincoln, Nebraska

Couple of surprises today..First, I hadn’t really looked closely at the interstates to observe that we wouldn’t be driving into the state of Kansas at all. Instead, we drove through Iowa for 15 miles. With the trusty GPS I don’t really spend much time with a map. I tend to just look at the route that day using the GPS. An addition to the first surprise was that the trip wasn’t 4 hours but only 3.5. That last half hour is helpful, trust me. Little Bailey doesn’t like her car seat so much anymore after about 2 hours. The second surprise is has to do with what we did in Lincoln. As I have mentioned in the past, Sheri’s great grandfather was a state representative in the Nebraska state legislature. We had planned on going to the state historical society to look at some documents from the 1920s and 30s. The pleasant surprise was just how helpful the lady was at finding information for us. We came home with copies of pictures of Great Grandpa Heater and other interesting stuff from that era. The third surprise was that G.G. Heater was present when Nebraska switched from a bicameral legislature to a unicameral legislature. Nebraska is the only state with a unicameral legislature. I knew that part, but I was under the false impression it was always that way. We got a copy of the official vote tally when they made the switch. We wrapped the day up by spending an hour in the children’s museum (right next to the state historical society) and then a surprise trip to Arby’s (Brandon and Seth’s favorite place to eat). Seth continues to out eat me at mealtime. He sometimes consumes twice as much food as I do. The next two days will be spent in Nebraska. We hope to see the town that GG Heater lived in and the cemetery where many of Sheri’s distant relatives are buried.

August 1, 2007 – St. Louis to Kansas City

We left St. Louis about 10am and arrived at Kansas City around 2 pm. Couple of milestones: Illinois was 3783 (we actually crossed Illinois on July 30), Missouri was around 3942 (the second time, we stayed on the Illinois side of St. Louis). One significant milestone today was the RV’s oil change. I used the GPS to find nearby automotive shops and then I had to find one that had a bay door big enough to take the RV. Thankfully, I found a nice two-man shop only 1 mile from the campground that had an outdoor lift they use to change oil on school buses. I was also fortunate to be able to call at 2:30pm and they took me today. I’ll have to plan ahead a little more for the next one. Tomorrow we drive about 4 hours to Lincoln, Nebraska. Sheri’s great grandmother (who was born in the 1880s) moved from Iowa to Nebraska in the late 1800s, and Sheri still has family in that area. She recorded a nice compilation of her diaries throughout her life and we have read them during our trip. It’s amazing to hear her life story and the changes that took place from transportation in a horse drawn wagon to the automotive era.

July 30 and 31 - Dayton, Southern Illinois, and St. Louis

July 31 – Southern Illinois to St. Louis’ Gateway Arch
We started today with a 2-hour drive to St. Louis. We had reserved a slot to ascend the gateway arch at 3pm, so I wanted to arrive around 1pm to ensure I could park the RV somewhere. What a blessing to find a free parking area on the Mississippi River for RVs. Not only was it free, it was close to the Arch. The Arch is quite an impressive work of art and construction accomplishment. It stands about 630 feet high, and you ascend it in what feels like a space capsule. The Arch is actually called the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial as it houses a neat museum underground that explores the Louisiana purchase in 1803 by Thomas Jefferson and what developed from that time to 1900. I wish Brandon and Bailey had a little longer attention span because I’d like to read the exhibits, but I guess we will save that for some other day. Tomorrow we drive 4 hours to Kansas City. We have no intent to see sights in KC. Just passing through on our way to Nebraska, where Sheri’s great grandfather was a State Senator in the 1920s and 1930s.
July 30 – Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio, then to Southern Illinois
Today we went to what I personally consider the best airplane museum in the nation. I’ve been to the new Udvar Hazy (Air and Space Museum) at Dulles Airport. While that is certainly impressive considering it houses a Space Shuttle, the Air Force Museum still has a more extensive collection. They have an F-22 (the newest fighter), an F-117 stealth fighter, B-2, B-1, and other recent airplanes as well as many other fighter planes and early aircraft. They also have huge superfortress bombers of WWII and Vietnam. The only bummer of the day was that they have a collection of old Air Force One planes that is in a hanger about 10 minutes from the museum. Only a select number of visitors can tour that and you have to reserve a spot as soon as you get to the museum. Unfortunately, we arrived too late such that our time slot would have been too late and we had a 4 hour drive to Southern Illinois.

July 29 – Visiting with Sheri’s cousin and Keith and Laura Mayo in Ohio

We had a relaxing day at the KOA in Toledo. Sheri’s cousin came over around 11am and had made a delicious lunch for us. I tried to allow Sheri and Melissa some time alone by taking the kids to the pool, but it was extremely cold. The water temperature rivaled that of the lake in Halifax. They said they had received some rain lately, but I didn’t realize it rained ice cubes in Ohio in the summer. Instead we played shuffleboard, which was fun. We had a good visit and then just hung out for a couple of hours until Keith and his wife Laura arrived. Actually the kids kept themselves busy by renting some of those crazy fun cycles. They are a three wheeled cycle requiring you to steer with your hips. Thankfully Keith and Laura arrived around 5pm. He must have used the afterburner on the U-Haul because he made it from West Virginia to Toledo in record time. We had pizza with them and then headed to Dayton. Tomorrow we will see the Dayton Air Force museum before heading to southern Illinois (a stop on our way to St. Louis).
Oh yea, I almost forgot. I put a new survey on the blog. It will allow some interaction between you readers and our family. Let us know how much time you think we should allow for transition from trip to work.

Days 27 and 28 - Ontario and our Return to the USA

July 28 – Visiting the Hurta Family then to Toledo, Ohio
Today we drove for a short 1.5 hours to the Hurta household in Michigan just south of Detroit. We crossed the US border at mile 3308 and we entered Ohio later in the evening around mile 3382. The Hurta’s are friends of Sheri’s. Sheri’s father and Don Hurta were best friends in the Marines so the ties are strong and go way back. We spent about 7 hours visiting Mrs. Hurta, Jessica, and Christie. Sheri hadn’t seen them in 18 years. We had a splendid visit: we didn’t break anything, we got our laundry done for free, and they feed all of our family. What else could we ask for…maybe a heated pool (oops they had that too!). The kids had a ton of fun, and they asked when they could play with Christie and Jessica again. In fact, Seth said they were "basically like cool teenagers" (even though they are in their 20s and 30s). Sincerely, we had a wonderful visit and God once again blessed us with great weather. We certainly hope that the boys get to play with the Hurta girls before another decade goes by. After our pleasant visit at the Hurta’s we drove the short drive to the KOA at Toledo where we will see Sheri’s cousin tomorrow and hopefully my brother too. He is moving from West Virginia to Portland, Oregon and is stopping in Toledo.
July 27, 2007 – Niagra to Wheatley, Ontario
We woke up this morning to rain so we made the best of it and got on the road quickly. So early that we finished our 4 hour drive at 1pm, which was perfect considering that the rain was gone and the kids were ready to play. Just an aside here; we have had only one day where rain actually kept us in the RV. God has truly blessed us with excellent weather. Most of the rain days have occurred while we were driving. By the way, today marks the first day where Sheri did the driving. Oddly enough the 4 hours went by faster for me as a passenger rather than a driver and I didn’t sleep at all. The campground here is on Lake Erie so the kids and I went for a swim during the afternoon. Lake Erie was fairly cold, but I can’t let a little cold water dampen the adventure. It was odd, Lake Erie was so murky that when Seth went under right next to me, I couldn’t see him. In contrast, Lake Ontario was crystal clear. This may have been partly due to the weather conditions because we also saw lake Ontario when it wasn’t as clear in the evening, but not nearly as murky as Lake Erie. This evening, Levi made his first official fire, I didn’t help one bit. He had the teepee of sticks set up just perfectly. Bailey, our princess in training, had kind words for the fire, "I’m going to kill the fire, Daddy". She said this as she threw a stick into the fire. Yes, it is hard to train a princess when you have three pyromaniac brothers. Not that the fire makes any difference. Bailey has no trouble punching her brothers in the most lady-like fashion. I leave out so many of the moments I will cherish forever. There was the moment when Bailey was "pushing" Seth and Brandon into the pool and laughing like crazy. Another moment was when Seth carried Bailey on his back to help her. How could I forget that Brandon has learned to swim on this trip. Seeing his excited little face when he made that accomplishment is worth remembering. Almost forgot the one where I left the pliers on the rear bumper only to find them still sitting on the bumper when I stopped about 10 miles down the road. And of course there was the time when the sewer hose came out of the drain pipe……(I’ll spare the details)….Yes there are moments we will all laugh about someday in the future.

Day 24 - Lake Placid, New York

July 24- Lake Placid and then to Oswego, New York
Today was great. We drove to the olympic area of Lake Placid and got to see junior athletes training for the louge using whelled sleds. Then we proceeded to the ski jumping center where we saw freestyle skiers (the ones that do the tricks) practicing into a pool. We took the ski lift and elevator to the top of the ski jump to view the entire area. Lake Placid is the only winter olympic venue where you can see all event areas at one time. The only downer of the day was learning that the bobsled was not open the day we were there. They offer summer rides most days starting about 1/3 of the way from the bottom. We drove to Oswego after Lake Placid. The Oswego RV park was right on Lake Ontario so we had a beautiful view of the sunset.


July 25 – Oswego to Niagra
Today we spent a few hours playing in Lake Ontario at the RV park. The kids decided to "wade" in the lake, but that quickly turned into swimming in the lake when Levi slipped and got drenched from head to toe. We drove the 4 hours to Niagra and decided to see the US side of the falls prior to crossing the border. The US side is a state park so it isn’t full of tourist traps. The national CBS morning show was doing a remote spot at Niagra on July 26. I happened to run into the producer and we talked for 5 minutes or so. When she heard about our trip she "promised" to put me on the front row of the spectators if we showed up on July 26 at 6:15 am. The family voted and agreed that sleep was more important than a remote possibility at getting on national TV. I imagine that we weren’t the only ones promised a front row spot. The only downer was that it was a long hike from the parking lot to the falls and Brandon’s little legs got worn out. After seeing the falls I took Brandon and Bailey back to the RV. That is the only bummer of walking so much. Brandon’s legs get tired (we have a stroller that is primarily for Bailey). However, we are always surprised how long his little legs can swim in the pool…… We partly wonder if his "tired" legs are truly tired. Sheri and the boys walked down to an area where they could go down closer to American Falls, which is right next to Horseshoe Falls (both together are considered Niagra Falls). We crossed the border into Canada with no trouble at mile 3064. The KOA here at Niagra on the Canadian side is right on a strip with other hotels with access to the public bus system.
July 26 – Niagra
Today we spent all day on the Canadian side of Niagra. Unlike the US side, they have a little city with plenty of tourist traps and hotels, etc. We stayed away from all of the non-Niagra River associated attractions. We first boarded the "Maid of the Mist’ boat tour that takes you close up to the falls. You get pretty wet with the mist, but they issue you a poncho prior to boarding. We then went to the largest whirlpool in the world. They have an aerial tram that crosses the whirlpool so we decided to do it. Just as I was getting ready to buy tickets a man approached me and offered me 5 free tickets. He was with a tour group and they had purchased a block of tickets with some left over. What a blessing! We arrived back at the campsite around 4 pm. After dinner the kids wore themselves out in the pool for 2 hours. Tomorrow we have to get an early start because the campsite didn’t take reservations for Friday only. It’s first come first served. The campsite is in Ontario and about a 30-minute drive from the border near Detroit.

July 23- Montreal to Lake Placid

Yesterday we made it back into the US so I can now read the road signs. I loved the construction message boards entirely in French. Thankfully, my inability to read them didn't cause too much trouble. Here in the Adirondacks of New York, the scenery is beautiful. We are going to the 1980 winter olympic site today and then travelling to Oswego, New York, which is another stopping point along the way to Niagra. The funny moment of yesterday was when the border guard asked if all 4 kids were mine. I know he has to ask that question to anyone travelling with kids, but he asked it in a way that sounded like he expected me to say that I had kids with me that weren't mine. We made it back into the US at mile 2596. I just asked the boys if they had anything to add to the blog. They said that their funny moment of the day yesterday was when I was making up a bedtime story about a polar bear and a seagull and I started to fall asleep. They had to kick me to keep the story going.