Day 2 of travels

We woke up to dry weather in Bethany, Mo. However the news showed some very icy roads in Kansas City. Many accidents that prompted us to decide to leave later and possibly an alternative route.

We ate breakfast and met a trucker from MN. He actually carries the cement for the wind turbines. He said the the government subsides these turbines, kept his job and are over 2 million dollars each. There is a fast push to get as many set up while Obama is in office. He mentioned that Prescott and Cotton Az might be good areas to also check out. We also met another couple from Wi the Marshfield area. They also we on their way to Tucson. They also we heading for Kansas City and traveling to Tx. So we decided to take a slightly different route just north - Hwy 192. Actually was fine and no weather issues. Entering Kansas it was more hilly than I thought. But eventually flattened out. Saw Red Angus. Below is the timeline..
Bethany- left 1000 20 degrees
North Kansas City- 1100-32 degrees
Kansas border- 1140- 36 degrees...gas 2.18 and now can go 75 miles per hour.
Emporia-12:50- 37 degrees
13:11- Strong city gas stop 2.19- 39 degrees
14:00 -Newton-41 degrees
1430- Wichita final destination. 43 degrees and cloudy.

Checked in at Hilton Garden...ergo bed to try out, exercise, swim and hot tub.
Dinner at hotel. Dan had a flatbread chicken and I had ribs all very good.
We also met a gentleman from IL and mentioned he knew Brett B and enjoyed the Badger Basketball team. He and Bret worked at grocery shop and unloaded watermelon.
Tea, flavored water and dessert by hotel. Now reading USA paper and a Wall Street Journal.

We plan to leave around 7 am and hopefully we will not get a lot of ice, head down south to avoid the predicted storm heading for Kansas.

Travel day one

Our journey began at 9:31am. After playing with Whiskers and feeding tweedle we left home that was -2 but sunny. We made good time with the below timeline.

Dubuque IA -11:30

Marion IA- 12:30

Des Moines IA- 14:20

Gas fill up I-35/92-14:44

Missouri border- 15:35

Bethany Mo- 1600.

Nice cheap hotel and dinner at Toots and Toot with pictures. 19 cold degrees in Bethany.

All packed and ready to go.

Finished packing today. Hope to have everything we need for this trip. It will be fun documenting the adventure on the blog. So here is the beginning....

So tomorrow we will be on the road...

First stop is Bethany, Mo.

This picture reminds me of the Kentucky Fried Chicken and the girls pictures with the Colonel Sanders on the bench. Will have to pose with Ronald.

This and that..weekend events

We continue to get ready for our travels to Tucson in a few days. We were surprised by daughter Cherith who came home for the weekend. Abigail also came home with a ride from a friend. We went to Deegs for a Fish Fry prior to picking up Abigail. So the girls were home and watched a lot of TV and relaxed. Cherith returned to WLC and it was snowing lightly in Milwaukee. Abi also returned. So now a final cleaning of the house this week.

We are also experiencing a deep freeze again. Wind chills down to -25. We decided that we are going to leave mid Thursday morning to avoid the Madison rush hour, to split up the trip to another day and I get to sleep in a bit. We will travel to Bethany Mo. and call it a day. It still will be cold there. It has been warm in Tucson so looking forward to the trip. So tomorrow will be final packing and Ash Wednesday services at 3:30 pm. Then we will begin our travels...

A trip up "north" to visit mom and dad

Today we made a trip up to visit mom and dad in Mount Morris Wi. We had a lovely day talking about family and the past. lunch included a pizza from Papa Murphy's.Hawaiian Pizza along with custard and apple pie. Shared a few show and tell quilts in progress and also shared some details of our upcoming plans to travel 6 weeks to Tucson AZ. Very cold day today, but warm spending time with family.

Lake Mills..their Icehege on Rock Lake

The Knickerbacker Festival is this weekend in Lake Mills.

An area man we met when we were looking for the sculpture said he visited the Sonehedge in Ireland and thought it would or could be done with ice. So he did one and it took him 2 days to complete. We saw several individuals taking the walk on the lake to see it up close. It was pretty cool and a fairly nice day to get pictures.

View from shore.

Dan close up

Another carving close by.

Should be around for awhile for many to enjoy.

Picture from cousin Glen a few hours after our visit.

We finished the day with in home movie night.

Family gathering..

Yesterday afternoon and evening we got together with Dan's sisters and brother-in-law. We talked, ate some good food and played a new game that Patti and Kevin brought.

Took at bit to get used to it, but is is a popular college game and invokes strategy, planning and business aspects.

Later in the evening the snow fell and continues today. Somewhere around 6-9 inches with blowing and drifting snow. The first real big storm of the winter. We have no place to go so it is nice just watching the snow fall and stay indoors keeping warm. Super Bowl on latter this afternoon.