Going to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come

Oops, that's a lie - VacationGirl is NOT going to Kansas City. That was her milestone for today and we were able to blow past it - to Junction City. Whoo hoo! Going through Kansas City was much curvier than she remembered - many of the curves on the highway were at 35 mph. MUCH slower than the speeds she's used to traveling at.

As expected - many corn field and wheat fields. VacationGirl and dear family's minds are actually numb - as in mind-numbingly boring. Some would say that that is a regular state for all of us - and we wouldn't argue to strenulously.

VacationGirl was really bummed - we drove right past the Oz musuem - at 5:00 - and guess what time it closed. You've got it - 5:00. Doesn't open until noon on Sunday so I guess the Oz musuem will be something that won't get visited this trip.

Dear family and VacationGirl have determined that bad things happen in Kansas. Yes, it's true. Just ask Dorothy if you don't believe us. She got sucked off to Munchkinland and I'm not sure what could be worse than that. Oh wait - maybe I do know - that would be red lights on the dashboard.

Red lights are NEVER a good thing on vacation. Red lights and rain.

The weather was pretty nice for the whole trip. There was an occasional sprinkle but nothing that lasted more than 2 - 3 minutes and then it cleared up. For the most part, the sky was a beautiful blue with pretty white fluffy clouds. Until we got to Kansas.......

I wish I could claim that the wind began to switch - the house to pitch and suddenly the hinges started to unhitch. Just then the Witch - to satisfy an itch went flying on her broomstick, thumbing for a hitch.

But I can't! It did start raining when we got a little past the state line - heavy but not stormy - thank goodness! But as VacationGirl was driving, she glanced down at the dashboard and saw an ominous message "Service 4WD". Well, that can't be good. So dear husband pulls out the handy, dandy user manual and it gave instructions to stop immediately and turn off the car - then turn it back on to see if the message reappears.

I don't think so - not in the middle I-70. So she pulls off onto an exit in the middle of nowhere, stops, and turns off the car. Turns it back on and the message came back. Hmmmm, this doesn't sound good. VacationGirl doesn't want to Service her 4WD - she doesn't use 4WD - EVER. She just took her Tahoe in for service - why couldn't the Tahoe very nicely have told the mechanic to service it then? but NOOOOOO - let's wait until we're in the middle of nowhere (oops, in the middle of Kansas) and then decide we want service. Gesh!

So Dear Husband did want any other red-blooded American would do - we drove off - for another 60 miles to Junction City. And we'll drive another 400 on Sunday to Colorado Springs and take it to a dealership on Monday (provided it still runs on Monday!)

So maybe Pike's Peak or Bust is appropriate after all!

Wish us well.....

By the way, the 17-year old (or as he now says - "the almost 18-year old") drove for about 2 hours - right through St. Louis - with LOTS of traffic. He did really good!

See ya in Colorado!