Blogs from Springfield, Missouri, United States, North America

We are traveling to Hawaii soon!! Kamie will be turning 50 on our trip. He’s dubbed this trip his “Hawaii 5-O” How did Hawaii come about? About this time last year we started talking about trying to see all 50 states. In December, I got an email for a deal on Hawaii that included flights. I booked it without realizing it was a SIX hour flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu and we were stuck in economy seats (Lord Help Us). I kept the trip a secret from Kamie for over six months. This was supposed to be his surprise Birthday trip! He’s now calling this trip his Hawaii 5-O trip because he will turn the big 50 years old on this trip!! Anywho… we will fly from Springfield… to Los Angeles… spend the night in ... read more

This is a catch up blog for two days. Yesterday I stayed at Shakamak State Park somewhere in the wilds of Indiana with no wifi. After a 10 hour drive yesterday, we arrived at Shakamak in the rain at about 4:30. It was a long tedious drive and took longer than expected because I felt the need to stop every 2-3 hours to reassure Malika and encourage her to eat, use the litter and have a drink and a cuddle for a few minutes. She has found a hiding spot by the back door under the bed and runs for it as soon as the van moves. But once we stop she is out and exploring and was actually playing with her toys last night. I never realized how much time she is up in the ... read more

THE LION OF MISSOURI As part of the Missouri Compromise in 1820 the State of Missouri was admitted to the union as a slave holding state. Slavery was part of their statehood charter. When the Civil War fetched loose in 1861 Missouri did not have to secede from the union in order to keep its slaves. In the same election that Uncle Abe Lincoln ascended to the Presidency a perfidious bastard named Claiborne Jackson was elected Governor of Missouri. Jackson was staunchly pro-Confederate and insisted on another election in which Missouri would secede. Much to his chagrin the voters elected to remain neutral. There were, however, federal forces already in Missouri that Jackson viewed as a violation of the state’s neutrality. He then applied to Jefferson Davis to have his state annexed to the Confederacy and ... read more

Opted for Springfield MO to check out the Fantastic Caverns versus St. Louis MO since we have seen the arch on television ? Decided not to go to Branson MO 'cause we're not gamblers and not in the mood for a show. 60W was a crazy cool road! Long, curvy, no ? and never ending dips, twists and turns...our Subie sure is doing great, however, it would be super fun to be driving the MB? on this road. There was one point driving through the Mark Twain National Forest area when you were going up and could not see the next part of the road. It took our breath away like a roller coaster. We both went 'weeeee!' Karen said 'slow down!' I was only going 5...ok, maybe 10 miles over the speed limit ? We ... read more

Geo: 37.209, -93.2916Summer for us was the longest 127 days you can imagine....because that's how long it took for our log home to sell. 127 days of checking on an empty house, paying two utility bills and two mortgages, and not knowing if our home would sell in 127 days or 1,027 days. We were prepared financially to be patient. We were not prepared mentally. No vacation, buyers asking strange questions, the house being empty was freaky, etc. We said our prayers daily from April through Labor Day ~ when our house was under contract, finally. We are leaving for St Louis tomorrow and I'm outta my mind excited tonight!! Yay!!! I've been working extra all year building-up my time and Kamie always has plenty of extra time so this is not just a journey to ... read more