Happy Independence Day!!

Hello Friends and Family and Happy 4th of July.

We left Salina Kansas this morning about 6:20 am. *(By the way, some of our favorite people come from Kansas!  You know who you are.)  It took us a little longer than usual to get moving but once we got on the road we traveled 500 miles.One bright spot in our day was that when we stopped for gas, there was a Hardee's and a Dunkin' Donuts at the same truck stop.  Something for everyone.  Hardee's is one of Lon's favorite breakfast places.  Raleigh even found a John Deere magnet for the cockpit of the bus.

We had a good day of driving; I got back on the road since my altitude sickness had subsided.  Tomorrow they may "let "me drive the bus the first ten miles to the rest stop down the road.  I think they prefer that I stick with driving the van.  William quickly volunteered to drive the van while I take my turn with the bus and Lon suggested we stop at Walmart to buy helmets!!!  I can't imagine why they are so concerned.  How much trouble can I get into at 6:00 am?

We saw some serious flooding beside the highway in Kansas but thankfully the interstate was dry.  Later, we saw a beautiful rainbow that looked like it would end right on our campsite.  I was hoping there would be a pot of gold sitting there when we arrived, but no such luck.

Finally, Tim got his wish!

By  leaving so early we got to our campsite at 5:35 pm. early enough to go out to dinner  at Tim's favorite travel restaurant, Bob Evans. We tease him about it relentlessly so tonight was no different. To top it off, the service was marginal and Tim's turkey was so tough he had a difficult time cutting it with his knife.  You know we will get a lot of mileage out of that, teasing him the rest of the way home.  He reminded us that the Bob Evans Farm  is very close by if we want to take a short detour tomorrow. Needless to say, there were no takers!

Rocking out to the music until dark

After supper we watched the town fireworks from the tarmac at the local airport. Incidentally, 40 years ago Tim and I watched the  DC bicentennial fireworks from the end of the runway at National Airport so it seemed fitting that we should be at an airport again for our 40th anniversary celebration! We didn't come prepared with chairs (It was bad enough that we drove the school bus) so we took milk crates from the bus to use as seats.  You might be a redneck if...   However, we were in good company.  Enough said.

Raleigh is still dancing with Lon and William looking
on and shaking their heads. Pretty snazzy seats
don't you think?

It was fun to celebrate in the middle of the country on our little road trip!!!

I think "Uptown Funk" was playing.  How could we stand stil

Even though we didn't drive completely across America, we got pretty far.  We are so thankful for the land that we live in and the freedom's we have.  We are thankful for those who have fought and continue to fight to protect those freedoms.  We are thankful for all of our "Team Lon" members following along with us on this trip.  You are amazing!  We feel like we have our own little booster club cheering us on.  We have less than 1,000 miles left to go to get us home and we are looking forward to being back in Virginia!

And the show begins!