Day 1443. I did not have an alarm set this morning, but Emmy was up really early, and then Randy already got up early. He and the boys went to breakfast, while I stayed in bed with sleeping Tammy who had joined us in bed at some point during the night. After she woke up, we also got up. She joined the others for breakfast, while I packed everything up, so that Randy just had to close the suitcases and put them in the car. Then I also went to have some breakfast. We enjoyed our last time of fellowship with our hosts, talking, and the kids were having fun in the swivel chairs again. Randy started loading the car up. Once he was done, we said our good-byes. It was time to move on.
It was 9:45 am, when we left, and we had less distance to cover than usual, as Denver was too far away to do in one day with the kids, but spending the night at the half-way point meant having only 260 miles to drive. We had to cross Wichita first, going from the east to the north, then continued driving north before turning west. Pretty much the whole trip long all there was what flat plains with fields and cattle, plus a few windmills that were barely moving. We stopped early on to go to the bathroom and get some gas, but then had to drive until 12:45 before getting to a McDonald's with a playground, with no Chick-Fil-A anywhere nearby. Sammy was pretty cranky during the last hour, so that I had to be his entertainer again. Today he had his beloved, new duck in the car with him, which helped.
The McDonald's had a big, nice playground, so the kids were excited and were having fun. There was one spot, where Tammy just couldn't make it up, but Emmy said he could, though I had not seen it. He did try to help his sister. After the food had come, they came to eat, then they returned to playing. They even had screens with games for the kids. Sammy really liked this pole that went up and down and was laughing while we made him jump on it.
We stayed for 90 minutes before deciding to move on. There was a Walmart right there, and as we had needed to go there for days, we decided to do it right there and then. They had a cool cart with room for three kids, so our kids went into it and had fun. We went through the store to get what we needed, then checked out and returned to our car to load up. It had taken us 45 minutes after all, and so it was 3 pm, when we drove off to continue on our way. It was high time for their nap, and so all tablets stayed put up. I also took Sammy's duck, but he started crying, so I turned it off and gave it back to him, and he actually fell asleep and slept for longer than just 5 minutes. Emmy had fallen asleep first, and when I looked a little later, Tammy was also asleep. I myself never got to fall asleep, as Emmy woke up pretty early, only 45 minutes after driving off.
The half-way point between Wichita and Denver was in Oakely, KS, and so I had reserved a hotel room there. It was a tiny town in the middle of nowhere that had a few hotels and stores. When we got there, Randy immediately disliked it, just by seeing the building. It was an old-style motel that had their room doors on the outside of the building, with a level on the bottom and one on the top. Randy asked for a room upstairs, then we walked to our room. The air in there smelled terrible. We stayed there, while Randy was unloading the car. Once we had our bathing suits, we put them on, as the kids were eager to go swimming in the outside swimming pool. There was nobody else in there. Today it was only 80 degrees F outside, and it was a little windy. The water was really cold, but the kids went in pretty quickly. I also ended up in the water all the way, but Randy only to his waste. The kids were jumping into the pool over and over again, while I was swimming with Sammy. However, nobody wanted to stay long because it was cold, and so we soon left again and returned to our room.
In the room they warmed up again taking a hot shower. Then we got the food out that we had bought at Walmart and sat down to eat rotisserie chicken with rice and peas. Then Randy went to the dollar store right there and bought some icecream, that we all shared. The kids were watching stuff on their tablets, as the TV was no good. Sammy was playing with his duck, and with the swimming pool toys, as well as the TV remote. At 9 pm or so we started getting them ready for bed. I read them a bedtime story, prayed for them and put them to bed. We had two queen-sized beds, so I put them all into one of them, but then had to move Emmy to our bed, where he fell asleep. Later I moved him back to the other bed with his siblings. Sammy was asleep first, then Emmy, but Tammy needed a little more time.
I was sitting on our bed and working on today's pictures and then the report. Now it's nearly midnight, and everyone is asleep. I'm very tired myself and about to also go to bed. Tomorrow we arrive in Denver.
