Road Trip 2012-Tulsa to Hays, Kansas (5/19/2012)

Whatcha going to do with that chicken?

(Click here for today's pictures)
Around 1 last night, Graham cried out a few times and I drug him in bed with me.  Ha, I truly drug him into my bed (yes, Robby has his own and I also have my own and we are sleeping like babies).  Anyway, these silly beds are 4 feet off of the ground so I really did drag Graham into my bed.  He never moved after that and this morning said that he got into bed with me early and then added that he waited until the clock said 6.  I didn't remind him that I had put him in my bed!
We had a true smorgasbord for breakfast.  They are probably calling ahead of us and warning all of our next Holiday Inn Expresses that we are coming and they need to order more food.  We had cinnamon rolls, yogurt, bacon, muffins, bread, eggs, biscuits, juice, milk, cereal.  They all enjoyed all of the choices but Keaton was the most pleased eating her yogurt and soggy rice krispies.  We let the kids eat and eat while Robby fought the wind outside and loaded up the van.  
After having driven 304 miles yesterday, we pulled out of the hotel at 9:31 with the odometer reading 64428.  

We had nothing on the agenda today so Robby and I spent a great deal of time trying to find an activity during our morning drive.  There was a little bit of excitement.  We packed Robby's air compressor/battery jumper/and something elser under the seats.  As we were changing roads we turned and that compressor must have slid and turned on.  It was load but very muted since it was under the car.  Robby finally figured out what it was and I headed to the back to turn it off.  Of course when I opened the lid to the under car storage the noise was crazy loud and the kids started panicking things something was wrong.  It still took me a while to turn the loud sound off!

Graham shouted "I see the Eiffel Tower."  He did see a cell phone tower and I guess it looks like the Eiffel Tower.  We can now mark Paris off of the list since we have been to Kansas, home of cell phone towers that look like the Eiffel Tower.

I drove for a bit this morning and passed out some snacks to ensure that everyone was happy while I was busy driving.  They do really well in the car and I haven't even passed out my bribes yet.  Once when we were getting out of the car, Anderson said "I feel like I have been in an airplane for a long, long time."  Speaking of airplanes, this evening as we were driving across Kansas, the wind was blowing so crazily that Robby said he felt like he was flying an airplane.  

Keaton is as happy as she can be in the car.  If she is not drinking her bottle then she likes to have something in her hand. She only fusses when she can't grab her toy.  Keaton has really started saying "bye, bye" well and always waves her hand when she says it.  She thinks this is so funny and it probably helps that she usually has an army of people looking at her saying "bye, bye" and waving back at her.
Our first stop in Wichita was at a candy shop Robby found on the internet.  It ended up being a fancy dancy place and didn't even give out free samples.  Boring!  Though Robby did splurge and buy a bit of candy for the kids.

We weren't able to find a playground for lunch but did happen upon the Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita.  We decided to give it a go but first we needed to have lunch.  So we pulled out our blanket and had us a picnic on the banks of the Arkansas river.  The wind was blowing everything away-we finally had to use Keaton as a paperweight on our blanket.  Before too long the sandwiches were made and we were all eating our picnic lunch.  The kids really don't know how good they have things in life-a Saturday picnic with the family on the banks of a river.  

Speaking of these sandwiches, just in like on our Colorado and Utah trip the bread dries out almost immediately after pulling it out of the bag.  On that trip Robby accused me of buying the cheap bread but it is just what happens.  Makes me feel sad for the people of Kansas that they have never had soft bread.  

So Cowtown was a living history type place set in 1870.  We first came upon a horse and buggy.  The driver let everyone pet his horses and all of the kids did.  Now after this Campbell was not going to have anything to do with the horses.  She would see anything that looked like a horse or even a buggy and say "Neigh neigh get me, neigh neigh get me."

We then looked at a grain elevator and later Reagan and Anderson and eventually Graham ran to see it working and saw a buggy being field with grain.  We observed dancing during a wedding reception, had some sarsaparilla, petted a chicken at a meat shop and the highlight of the day.  In the saloon two just released from jail criminals didn't get on the train but lost track of time in the saloon.  The sheriff came and kicked them out of the saloon.  Reagan, Graham and Anderson all saw the action from inside the saloon.  When they started talking loud Graham decided he wanted out of there and wanted to go and get to his Daddy.  He was almost out the door when the sheriff moved and started talking loudly again and poor guy ran back to me.  I finally got him out of the door and Robby said he flew down the steps to him.

Well, back to the criminal-the sheriff put one in jail with 20 kids following them-Reagan and Anderson included.  And then followed the sheriff to the train station to make sure the other criminal caught the train.  The sheriff told the kids that he needed their help and they were to be Jr. Deputies.  They took this so seriously and this was Reagan's favorite part of the day. 

Graham's favorite part of the day was getting to pump the water in front of the saloon.   After leaving there, we were hot and all a bit sunburned.  We found some snacks and drinks and were back on the road.  Somewhere along the way we saw a herd of buffalo in a field.  Anderson said "oh my gosh" and later said this was his favorite part of the day.  Poor Graham was half asleep and missed them but he was just as intrigued by the many, many windmills that we saw today. And it was windy, windy on one leg of our drive.  Rain even blew in and it was a nice little summer shower.  We were driving in crazy wind, heavy rain and was still sunny outside.  

We eventually made it to Hays Kansas around 6 I think.  Robby checked into our room and we even unloaded the suitcases when I went into the bathroom and saw all of the bathroom shower/tub fixtures disassembled and laying on the sink.  So we had to move rooms but we did move upstairs right near the laundry room.  Being so close to the laundry room was a good thing-if you consider having laundry to do at midnight a good thing.  Nah, it is already dried and folded by Robby (I have been doing the blog) awaiting for me to bag up for another day of wearing.

After settling in room number 2, the kids made their beds and then we started putting on their bathing suits.  Oh, they were all so excited and they swam for almost an hour.  Once everyone was settled Robby ran to get pizza for supper (not the biggest of towns here) and we had pizza by the pool.  He showered everyone off afterwards and Keaton and Campbell had a quick bath back in the room.  

The kids came back in the room and played so quietly with their toys on their sleeping bags...for a few minutes anyway.  Then it was time for bed.  And let me add, getting 5 kids to go to sleep in a hotel is like a juggling act!  But we managed and everyone was asleep in a decent amount of time.  Reagan and Anderson always go do sleep first since they haven't had a nap and then the others eventually give it up as well.  Tomorrow might be a longer day-6.5 hours in the car plus quite a few stops on the agenda.