We are in Ottawa, Kansas this morning. This is Dominica and the girls’ first times in Kansas. I’ve been in Kansas twice before, once just as a technicality with Francesca when we drove over the border just to say that we had been there and then once for SpiceCorps Wichita a year ago. This is the longest that I’ve been in Kansas and the deepest into the state that I have been.
We got a late check out for noon, got mostly ready to go and then went next door to the Old 56 Restaurant (or something like that) and got breakfast with the girls. The food was really good.
We checked out of the hotel and drove out to Vassar to make sure that we could find the house. That really took only about thirty minutes so we had about an hour to kill. So we went in search of some sun screen for the girls. Turns out that Vassar isn’t big enough to have a gas station or anything so we ended up back tracking many miles to find a Dollar General so that we could pick up some basics.
Got to the wedding on the early side. It was great seeing people again. Steve, John and Joey from York’s class of 94 were all there. Only four of us from school but considering the distance necessary to get there, that’s a pretty impressive turn out. Four out of sixty four who graduated in our class is pretty impressive as this is eighteen hours drive from back home and it was eight hours for us.
We had a really good time at the wedding. The girls loved playing in a bouncy house that was set up in the back. I got to meet a lot of people and do a lot of catching up with friends I haven’t seen in forever. Steve and I have barely seen each other in nineteen years!
We stayed as long as we could but really wanted to be on the road around six. Luciana had essentially no sleep and I had even less plus had to drive yesterday and today. If we weren’t on the road early the kids would be unbearable. We didn’t make it out at six. I was pretty surprised when I realized it was after eight. So we managed to leave more like eight thirty. I’m glad that we stayed as long a we did but it made for a really long night. We had considered stopping in Oklahoma City on the way home and splitting the drive up but really didn’t want to take the time and money to do that so played it by ear to see how the drive went.
The drive went pretty quickly. Traffic was very light and we zipped down I35 through Wichita and down through Oklahoma City. We got to see a little of the destruction in Moore too.
It was nearly four when we got home to Carrollton. Boy were we tired. Straight to bed for us. Liesl is still sleeping in our bed. That’s almost ten straight days of not needing to sleep on her own. She is loving this.