Missouri Loves Company

Missouri has really nice roads and it took no time before the scenery was much more interesting than anything we had seen in a while. Waze told us we were better off going directly into the heart of Kansas City, so we did. It's pretty fortunate that we had good navigation because it would be easy to get lost in the maze. Think Portland but much worse. And because many highways start there, the exit numbers are all low and need letters to keep the clear. Like Exit 2L. We did not dip into Kansas, as far as I could tell, so that's another state saved for a future trip. We must have been pretty close, though.

We checked into the Drury Inn and Suites in Blue Springs. I had never heard of the chain but it was really nice. When I checked in, they let me know there was still twenty minutes we could grab dinner and drinks. We ended up not getting anything but that was partly because Bryan didn't hear me say that you could get a beer. Honestly, I think I'm future trips, I would lean toward this chain. It's not Sheraton or Hilton but in many ways, it was pretty close. And the rate was reasonable, right on the average for this trip.

Then we headed over to Linda and Darwin's. Darwin knew we were coming. Linda did not. She was a little late getting out of work. I had messaged her to let her know some kid sized KISS masks would be delivered soon. She asked what I was up to. I said that I was hanging out with Jason and Bryan, which turned out to be a mistake. If I wasn't busy, she would have called and chatted on the way home. It worked out, though.

We went to the Walmart and passed a few minutes. I should note that EVERYONE in the store was wearing masks. Pretty impressive and not what I was being told about Missouri. We decided to just head over to their house and wait. We visited Darwin and their son. He's a pretty cool, smart, athletic, energetic and kind six year old. He liked the masks, as that is his favorite band.

When Linda got home from work, I kind of hid around the corner in the living room. I could hear her react as she noticed that the same Bryan and Jason that I was hanging out with were sitting in her kitchen. She quickly found me and there was a long and tight hug as she started crying. Bryan and Jason were also treated to very nice hugs. I think she was crying because she was happy but I'm not entirely sure how these things work.

She did ask how long we were in town and we had to detail what was up and that we were only there for the night. A plan was quickly hatched, a flight was booked, kitty medicines were organized and Linda would be to join us in the morning, at least for a few days.

With that figured out, we set to order dinner. This is when we realized their quiet little suburb closes shop early on Sunday evening. We ended up going to a drive through Italian chain called Fazoli's. It was okay, had vegetarian choices, was inexpensive, fast, but most importantly, available.

After a few hours of celebration and catching up, we returned to our room. Barely 48 hours into our road trip and it was already epic.