Katie's aunt had talked about Kansas BBQ being a "thing" so we hoped we could get some of that as we drove through. Before heading out, Katie looked up some restaurants near Kansas City. This served the tri-purpose of letting us see the city a little as we drove through, giving us a break from driving at about the halfway point, and getting lunch. Anyways, the place Katie found was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (a show on Food Network) so we were excited about that.
Then we started driving. And Driving. And Driving. At one point Garmin (my GPS) told us to drive 201 miles on the same road. Katie and I agreed that was the longest Garmin had ever asked us to drive in one go. Boring, but easy. One of the odd things was how people drove at the speed limit. I usually go 5-7 over the limit. But driving along in MO I went 5ish over, and felt like one of the fastest people on the road. What's the difference? Are there more police in MO? Are people not in a hurry? Are the fines higher? I'm not sure what was going on there, but it felt a little weird.
As I drove along Katie saw a sign for Nostalgia, USA (a store, not a place). We made a snap decision to go there (I was getting a bit tired of driving). It was a pretty cool store, lots of touristy stuff: postcards, Route 66 memorabilia (we were driving along next to it), and kind of random cartoon things. I think it was trying to capture some of Hollywood out in the middle of MO. But Katie and I enjoyed it and got a couple of things we didn't need, but thought were cute. (What else do you get at stores like that?)
After some more driving we switched off and I got to be the passenger. This is always nice since it means seeing the scenery we've been driving through. (Although, to be honest, it can get boring too, the scenery doesn't change that.) Anyways, as Katie was driving I decided to try working on my computer at the same time. I wasn't really sure how this was going to work out (I get carsick when I read), but it worked today. I think it helps that I can touch type (yay growing up with computers!), so I don't have to keep looking at the screen. I can just write as we go along and then edit it later. Hopefully this will mean I'll be able to keep up with blog posts a bit better, even on long days like today.
After some more driving (a theme for this trip) we headed off to lunch at the BBQ place Katie had found earlier in the day. Apparently the US has three major ways of BBQ. The one I'm the most familiar with is from the Carolinas (I'm not sure if it matters which Carolina it's from). This type has a lot of sauce and is kind of "soft" (think slow roasted pulled pork sandwich). The second type is Texas BBQ – it's spicier, and that's about all I know about it. And finally, Kansas BBQ. We were pleased to go to lunch at such an endorsed place. It was quite good. Not what I was used to, but still tasty. I got a pulled pork sandwich and Katie got some ribs. We switched half way – it's a good system of ours.
After lunch it was my turn to drive again, which was fine, but meant I was missing some sights. Earlier in the day I was trying to get photos of cows by the side of the road and failing on all counts. So during my time driving Katie tried a few more times. In general, it's hard to get photos while in a car. It's harder to get photos of a specific thing (what with you moving and all). It's harder still to get photos of small animals that are eating in a field at some distance. After a few attempts we were just laughing at ourselves for being such east coast city girls. She got one in the end because I slowed down when there was no one on the road behind us.
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| Cows! by Katie |
As I was driving Katie saw a sign for the Oz Museum and we decided to go. There was a bit of effort to get it's address and exit, but eventually we did. After 9 miles of driving we arrived at the adorable little town of Wamego. Basically the whole place is dedicated to Wizard of Oz, which is kind of interesting. But for the town itself, we thought it was perfect. Exactly what a mid west town should be. Small, quite, sleepy, and a little crazy (seriously, there were multiple stores with Oz references). One of the stores was Oz Winery which sold (you guessed it) wine. We went in and picked up a bottle called Witch Gone Good – we thought it was funny.
After getting some gas Katie took over driving and I got back to writing (after a quick call home to make sure my mom knew I hadn't been sucked up by a tornado). A couple of hours later we got to our hotel, checked in and dropped off our bags. We weren't as exhausted as we'd been from previous driving days, which was really nice. I'm not sure if we're not as tired because we've become accustomed to all this driving, or if it's just because we aren't driving at night after a long day. Butt point of the storey, we felt much better.
Once we were at the hotel we decided to have a “girls' night.” We had the wine from the Oz Winery (it was a sweet white), a chick flick (Hope Floats with Sandra Bullock) and a dinner of Triscuits and Peanut Butter (classy, we know). It was good, and nice not to have to think about anything else, but just have a relaxed evening. After that we wrote our blog posts for the day and went to bed.
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