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It was not difficult to say good-bye to the Kansas heat but very hard to leave folks who feel like family after 6 days of hobnobbing, telling tall tales and exchanging travel stories.
One of the nights at the rally the sunset is so magnificent I can not stop taking pictures.
Going to work them all in…..as this is the official end of our once- in-a-lifetime Alaska trip.
Deciding that one more day of 101 temperatures would be one day too many, we are hitting the road early before the pancake breakfast send-off. Picking a couple of destinations ranging from 300 miles to 400 miles down the road works best for us. Nixing the idea of traveling off the interstate, deciding that we rely on the constant Wal-Marts and McDonalds for sustenance and shelter. It’s an easy travel day until we try to cross the river in St Louis. Traffic should be light as it is Sunday PM but the lane that we are in is not moving, taking us an hour or so to go a few miles.
Using the handy All Stays Camp app, we find a Cracker Barrel on exit 16. Looks like we are not going to make it to Rend Lake….a COE where our friends are staying. During the meal we ask permission to spend the night. The manager says we are most welcome and very glad that we are asking permission as they do not like unauthorized visitors behind the store after closing. He suggests that we might want to enjoy one of their breakfasts before we leave.
The interstate is close and it’s melody of traffic soothes us to sleep. At 1:30 AM a noisy monster goes through the parking lot, eating the trash from the dumpster….loudest waste disposal truck ever! Why 1:30?
At 6:10 we are eating breakfast and, after another easy 400 plus miles, we are entering Chattanooga! Feels so strange to be returning after 102 days. Our house is swallowed by vegetation!
But we are relieved that everything looks like it should….no one had carried off our TV’s. Only glitch is the Sienna, parked in the middle of the driveway, will not start.
Astonished at the weeds everywhere! But it did rain most of July and we were gone a long time!
Overgrown flower beds.
Obedient plant, a TN native, apparently needs no care for 3 months.
May need to dig the whole bed up, use round-up, and start all over!
The path to the patio has disappeared!
My cleome is 4 feet tall!
Hubby trying to tame the wilderness!
The hardy begonia.
Wild ageratum and morning glory.
We are unpacked, clothes washed, cats retrieved, A/C repaired and settling back in to the boring humdrum of life at home.
No regrets! And enough memories to last the rest of our lives!
Want to thank everyone for coming along with us. You helped us get through some difficult times. Love y’all!
