In to Illinois by way of Missouri (day 5)

Amazing skies as we drove from Kansas to Illinois

 fake ghost town? failed retail endeavor? sight-seeing from the car

proof we were in Missouri as we could not stop at the state line sign ...

 As bizarre as it may seem, we went through Mexico to get to Illinois (from Kansas)... yes Mexico, Missouri...

 close up, just in case

 you are welcome

 we saw a lot of this ... corn and soy bean, soy bean and corn ...

and some of this....

 As we approached another big river, I knew we were close...

And so it was...

 a little maneuvering and we were able to get to the sign...

 and then we were faked out by this historic marker ... that had a drive through lane, and then by stopping at it, we faked out the bus behind us ... not really intentionally...

 We passed through some picturesque "towns" -- ok, town is a stretch, populated areas...

 check out this guy's set up, and the baby octopus, sometimes you just have to amuse yourself while on the road

 There were many miles of this and no cell service...

Still traveling ... days 3 & 4

Denver to Lincoln, Lincoln to Overland Park
Four states...two days... and now I am only three states shy of my 50 state quest!

 last bits of Colorado

 Welcome to Nebraska ... Home of Arbor Day?! Who knew?

 Mysterious museum in an arch over the freeway. We were on a mission, so we didn't stop...

 the many skyscapes of Nebraska

 Itsy bitsy spider on the umbrella in Emira's backyard, Lincoln

 In Bosnia, this is the kind of warnings they put on cigarettes... I asked why they were in English ...apparently, American cigs, English warnings...

 This is Medde...he's a little on the wild side, so Squintz decided to do his best impression of a super calm dog. It worked.  Squintz charmed everyone, winning himself homemade dinner, breakfast and treats... he misses Lincoln.

Not exactly a national park, but a historic site nonetheless... we walked the nature trails

blurry frog picture

 who lives in there?

 This is about all we saw of Iowa... it still counts

 This is about all we did in Kansas... there was also some food, a lot of people and many dogs...

Travel Day 3 (continued) Denver

crossing from NM to CO

wonder what it is like to live in the county of spirits?

sidekick: baby octopus, oh and Raton Pass

Forgot to put this one in last post, four pics from our pit stop at Fort Union. We actually followed the Santa Fe Trail for quite a bit on this trip.

Meet Shorty, here hiding underneath Suzanne's leg.  She is just one of the many pups I met during this trip.  She is a sweetie.

Sharon made me a special coffee...to get ready for the road

Bumped into this CO themed Free Little Library on the way to breakfast

And this bike rack ...

I loved this, but I didn't order coffee... I would have gone for the Huge Wizard but I keep thinking I will decaffeinate...

These are shots on the way out of Denver, note the change in scenery ... we are headed to the wide open spaces, no more mountains.

Poetry Thursday, Beauty

Search a beautiful heart,
not a beautiful face.
Beautiful things 
are not always good,
but good things 
are always beautiful.
~ Sufi Saying