Tonight is the first night I’ve had a room to myself in a while. Aster is home, and Izzy is at a sleepover. The joy of the peace and quiet of my own space. At least for a while.
We departed Colorado for Columbia, Missouri last Sunday. Instead of making the long drive in one day, we took our time. We left late morning and drove to Topeka, Kansas where we got a hotel room for the night. The next morning we got up and drove the remainder of the drive to my dad’s house in Columbia.
We spent three nights in Columbia. It was a great place for our final real stop on the journey. Dad and Barbara were still a bit jet-lagged from their vacation to Europe, but we still managed to stay busy. The first full day we decided to head to the Museum of Art and Archaeology – University of Missouri. The museum was larger than I had expected, and I spent too much time in the first two exhibit rooms and had to rush through the rest of the museum. I highly recommend visiting if you wind up in Columbia for a day. The next day Aster, Dad, and I went out for a bike ride. Aster and I borrowed e-bikes from Dad, and half-way through the ride I wasn’t paying enough attention to where I was riding and wound up taking a spill onto the sidewalk. Nothing broken, just scraped up a bit and embarrassed.
On Thursday morning we went to Warm Springs Ranch in Boonville to see the where the Budweiser Clydesdales are bred. After the tour we stopped by White Castle (it was on Izzy’s must visit list for this trip) for lunch and then started the trek east. We made a quick stop in Webster Groves to drop off stuff at my brother’s house (and pick up stuff we left there). From there we drove to Indianapolis for the night.
Friday was just driving. I let Aster and Izzy sleep in, so we didn’t get on the road until about 9. We made it to Scranton, PA for Friday night. This morning we made the remainder of the drive to Connecticut. I dropped Aster off at their house and Izzy off at a friends for a sleepover then checked into the hotel.
Aster decided to not continue the journey onto Sweden, and is starting on the next journey in their path. Izzy and I are in Connecticut until Tuesday. We have a busy schedule over the next few days. I have to organize our storage unit, pack, and run a few more errands. We also have plans to see Ben and Nu at least once more. But it feels like we are starting the journey home!
