Days 4 and 5

Day 4: Chicago, IL to Topeka, KS (via St. Louis and Kansas City, MO)

We buddy systemed our way to the sketchy car park at 5am, which somehow seemed less sketchy then than in the light of day. Quick pit stop at Dunkin Donuts, then we headed South through Illinois. We stopped in Lincoln with hopes of seeing a bull with a chef’s hat and a watermelon monument of Abraham Lincoln. Our dreams were shattered when we discovered that the bull was no longer there and the “monument” was, in fact, of a watermelon and the size of an actual watermelon. Nevertheless, Connie tried to eat it (hey, I was hungry). To make matters worse, we took the wrong turn so it took us mucho longer to get there than was worth it.

We proceeded to Springfield IL where we saw a 30ft statue of Abraham Lincoln and we saw Lincoln’s tomb, where a dirty old man who worked there told Jenna that she should tour all of the president’s tombs on her way back to Boston. She didn’t want to break his heart by telling him that she wasn’t, indeed, a presidential-tomb-enthusiast.

After Springfield came St Louis. We had planned on going to the top of the Gateway Arch and were super psyched at the prospect, but it turned out that we would have had to wait in line for more than 3 hrs. We were sad. But we got over it, and headed to Kansas City, MO, which was surprisingly much cooler than St. Louis. After meandering the sketchy constructiony part, we ended up in an area called Country Club Plaza which is very much like Georgetown or Newbury St, complete with ridiculously expensive stores and the clientele to go with it. We ate at an awesome restaurant called Tomfooleries where we dined on fried pickles, Coronas, and ass-kickin’ chicken before driving the last hour to Topeka.

Now, here is our tribute to the Best Hotel in the World, known as The Senate Luxury Inn in Topeka Kansas. Not only did it cost less than the trashy place in Chicago, we had a living room, a kitchen, a separate bedroom, and a balcony. It was fantastic, and very charming in an old-time country kind of way. We loved it!

Day 5: Topeka, KS to Canon City, CO

We left Topeka at 6 and our first stop was only an hour west, where we visited Wamego, KS, the home of the (very closed) Museum of Oz. Dorothy’s house is actually in Liberal, KS, too far south for us to visit. So we drove through Wamego briefly and then kept going to Manhattan, KS, the “Little Apple,” as it were. We had our first Sonic experience for breakfast, which was enjoyable in a greasy greasy greasy kind of way.

After that, it was smooth sailing until we started to see signs for Prairie Dog Town, featuring the World’s Largest Prairie Dog weighing in at 8,000 pounds. Connie and I are certainly not ones to pass up the World’s Largest Anything-At-All, so we were more than willing to pay the $7 entrance fee. What we encountered was a combination of Midwestern petting zoo (think rattlesnakes, goats, coyotes, foxes, buffalo, raccoons, and of course, prairie dogs) and the worst animal cruelty we’ve ever witnessed with our own two eyes. We thought about calling PETA. Seriously. The animals were caged in very small quarters, which can not be good for the well-being of wild birds, boars, coyotes and the like.

We kept going through Kansas, which was really beautiful with its open plains and fields of sunflowers. At one point we saw a storm forming which looked like it could be a tornado, but it didn’t amount to much. Crossing into Colorado was much of the same, only an hour earlier. Since we were so ahead of schedule (for once!) we decided to detour into Colorado Springs, and since Ro’s sister lives there she had mentioned an awesome park called the Garden of the Gods so we went there (thanks Ro!). Colorado Springs actually reminds me a lot of Tucson, only smaller and more Colorado-like. Garden of the Gods was amazingly beautiful with its red rock formations and mountain views. After that it was still only 3:30pm, so in a state of exhaustion we went straight to our hotel in Canon City about an hour south of there.

And that brings us up to date. We only wish that going into Kansas we had thought to start counting the churches or the pro-life signage on the side of the road. Tomorrow is white-water rafting and then to Utah, so we’ll post more later!