Kissing Kansas Goodbye: Photos 21 to 33

Writing to you from the hometown of John Ashcroft and Brad Pitt... Springfield, Missouri!

When we last wrote, we were in Taos, NM for two days. On our second day off we battled through some amazing rapids on a rafting trip down the Rio Grande. Water was running at some of the highest levels they'd seen in 15 years- Our guides actually seemed a little scared, but we all lived and had a good time with everyone. (A guy on our trip named Andy owns affordableadobe.com. He, his son and nephews build houses out of mud and straw using backhoes for families -mostly native- who can't afford the rising cost of living in Taos. Using mud bricks, they construct 5-7 multi-level homes a year.) Fresh from the water, the mountains and pueblos looked as inviting as ever as we rolled back into town. We realized just how laid-back Taos is, as two of the guides who were driving the two of us back to our motel starting passing beers to us. The driver called out: "Beer down!" as a police car passed going the opposite direction.

The Perfect Storm: From Taos, we headed north into Colorado just as hordes of

Full Text Entry: Kissing Kansas Goodbye

Anne- I met Ronnie Lott. Isn't he your other boyfriend or is it some other football dude? He's friends with my CEO and they're in some club that met in the office yesterday and I made him coffee, because not only am I a HR Generalist, I'm also an admin (they haven't figured out I'm not detail oriented and a bad hostess). Anyway, a very nice man and quite hunky. Sorry FORE. KJ - KJ

Anne and Forest thanks for the comic relief while at work. Ann, you did not tell me you "roomed" with Dayna at Duke. Funny story ask later. And you know that hunting and fishing store you were at (called BassPro Shop) it is by my parents house in Nixa, Mo, just outside Springfield and Jen and I have been there, it was actually the first place my parents took us after we landed in Springfield after a red-eye flight, go figure. Anyway, continue to have good luck and take a picture of a BMW or Mercedes with license plate from a Southern state. - Eric

Anne- I met Ronnie Lott. Isn't he your other boyfriend or is it some other football dude? He's friends with my CEO and they're in some club that met in the office yesterday and I made him coffee, because not only am I a HR Generalist, I'm also an admin (they haven't figured out I'm not detail oriented and a bad hostess). Anyway, a very nice man and quite hunky. Sorry FORE. KJ - KJ

Anne and Forest thanks for the comic relief while at work. Ann, you did not tell me you "roomed" with Dayna at Duke. Funny story ask later. And you know that hunting and fishing store you were at (called BassPro Shop) it is by my parents house in Nixa, Mo, just outside Springfield and Jen and I have been there, it was actually the first place my parents took us after we landed in Springfield after a red-eye flight, go figure. Anyway, continue to have good luck and take a picture of a BMW or Mercedes with license plate from a Southern state. - Eric