BYE BYE KANSAS!

We started off this morning having breakfast at a lovely restaurant in Salina, Kansas called Spangles. It is an old-fashioned looking diner that actually pulls the look off...complete with a huge statue of Elvis, photos of Marilyn Monroe and other film stars on the wall, and...simply awesome food.  Their orange juice is kind of like a slushy...and it was amazing! We had a breakfast bowl with bacon, potatoes, eggs, gravy and cheese (but Natalie had to put ketchup on it -- GROSS!).

Then we hit the road and my littles eyes spied a billboard for a 'Kansas Originals' Store...only products made in Kansas so small one and I stopped...found jellies and cookies and candles and...well, you get the idea!  We had a heck of a time and found a lot of interesting and creative things are made here in Kansas...who knew?  I think Kansas gets a bad rap for being boring...flat perhaps, but it definitely has a rugged beauty all its own!

We drove on across the plains and stopped in Colby, Kansas for lunch.  We had seen a billboard for a Q-Doba, and were excited about the possibility of having one more meal of Mexican food before we got too far North, but couldn't find it once we exited...so we settled for Arby's (Natalie's dad's favorite) and of course, Natalie OWNED the horsey sauce (my wife sure does like her sauces! Is that what makes her so saucy? ;-)

Now we are in Eastern Colorado and making for our next stop of Limon...where I will start driving again.  Natalie is on her second short turn of driving since we left home. But of course, when she drives, it is then my opportunity to return to princess service...and this time I was napping...big mistake!  She accidentally bumped my leg and woke me up.  And though she told me to go back to sleep, there was a request every couple of moments...for water, chapstick, music, etc.  So I got up to show her attention and write in the blog and she is MUCH happier now!  And everybody knows when your wife is happy, everybody is happy!

We are very thankful today for sunshine, rather than rain, and we are awed at the Windmills....what an epic sight!  Hope this finds you well wherever you are...next big stop is Denver...where we will turn north again on Interstate 25...last stop tonight is Billings, Montana...may be pretty late by the time we can get there!