I lived in the same house from the time I was born until I graduated from high school. My parents still live in that house. My grandparents live 5 miles away and have lived in that house from the time my mom was 8. The town never really changes. I love it.
My husband's life was completely different. He started out in the Memphis area, spent most of his time in Europe until high school graduation. He spent most of his vacation time in St. Louis with family. He moved several times and lived in different countries. His life fascinates me because I have no idea what those things are like. I was never the new girl and never had to learn a new language to go to elementary school.
It took all of about an hour to give him a tour of my town and the places that are important to my history (the hospital where I was born, the schools I went to, favorite restaurants, and other random places I like). There are so many places that are meaningful to my husband, it would take years to cover them all.
That is why I was so excited when he was invited to speak in front of constitutionally-minded groups in Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri. I finally got to see some of the places he would tell me about. It was a dream vacation. I am going to break it up into several different parts because we packed about a million things into 8 days.
We decided to drive so we wouldn't have to worry about renting a car to visit all of the places we had on our list. (Oh, the lists. I had a list of things to pack, a list of food to take with us, a list of food places we wanted to visit, and a list of places we wanted to visit. It was delightful. I love lists.) So we drove. We left at 5 and drove all day. We listened to books and music. We talked and laughed. The miles flew by! (Not kidding.)
We packed soda, water, stuff for turkey and cheese sandwiches, cookies, chips, and grapes. I packed them in the very back of the trunk so I could have access to it all through the back seat without making a mess of the back seat. (I like having a clean car when we travel.) I also kept a garbage sack and threw it out every time we stopped to fill the car up. It was a perfect system.
Next tip - I packed two bags for us to take. One of them had all the stuff we would need for an overnight stay somewhere and I would repack it when we stayed somewhere longer than that. It was nice to just take one bag into the hotels we stayed in. Also, I packed the cooler with ice when we left and put everything into the fridge as soon as we got to the hotel. Before leaving, I would pack a new bag of ice from the hotel and repack the cooler. It kept everything nice and cold. I kept gallon-sized baggies in the trunk for that very reason. Worked like a charm.
We got to drive through part of Oklahoma. That is where my dad served his mission. I spent a while that morning talking to him about places we were driving through and taking pictures of road signs for him. It was so fun! I wish he could have been there to show us around. How fun!
Driving through Kansas and Oklahoma, we went over several toll roads. I am not sure what they spend that money it. Hint: It's not the road. I tried several times to get rid of all the pennies we had stored up in the car. They didn't want the pennies any more than I did. Too bad.
Since we made the trip in 8 days, it was a LOT of driving. By the end of it, I was sick of being in the car, but I wouldn't have changed it! I love the mountains in Utah and Colorado. I loved the trees and changing leaves in the south. I love how pretty this country is. I love how different each area is. (Except the middle part. What is out there? No offense to those that live there and love it - I just don't see much from the freeway.)
I can't wait to tell you about the rest of the vacation! The food, the entertainment, the company. It was perfect. Plus I took about a million pictures! They may not be perfect, but it was the first time I was compared to a Japanese tourist. I was so proud! You'll love them.
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