We survived Ohio

At the baseball game, Jordan bought a hot dog but could not find onions. Anywhere in the stadium. Then the Indians had a hot dog race in between innings: a ketchup, a mustard...and an onion. 

I almost caught a foul ball two minutes after we sat down. 

At gas station, we saw a kid on a bike get hit by a car. He shook it off after a couple of minutes and rode away while the driver checked to see any damage to her car. 

Car pulled off highway and little kid without pants peeing (jordan asked if i could not say peeing, so imagine I wrote going to bathroom) in a ditch. 

Haven't seen any CA license plates. Until just now in NY. 

Trees, farms, ag countryside. 

Indy was pooped after visit with Tricia. 

We've finally learned how to pack our car. 

3075 miles down!

INDYana

- sleep

- old truck stop/strip club that Paul used to drive by during commute to Indianapolis is now closed 

- Paul did not use his crutches all of Indiana

- Jordan reminded of driving in indianapolis in a yaris, in snow, feeling like a bug that what going to die (rental)

- also reminded of trip to Indiana to look at Purdue with mom

- while on conference call, Jordan took notes on top of passed out Indy on lap

- realized we forgot to note earlier, that somewhere between Kansas and Missouri, Carl's jr became Hardee's. 

- lot of cops

- we achieved east coast time zone. Will finally stop losing time while driving 

- Indiana...um...

*photo not available

At the corner of progress and history, Illinois

- sunny skies and green rolling hills 

- great visit with Tricia and tyler in Peoria. Indy tries to pick a fight with Tyler's part dog part wolf, kiba. Note: while Kiba is in crate. Bucket-pig makes lots of cute weird noises and shows affection by sneezing in your face. 

- college home of Reagan 

- central Illinois, land of personalized license plates

- visit to Danville where Paul had the best baseball summer of his life after graduating college. Went by Danville dans baseball stadium, drove by where Paul lived, and got coffee and bagels at the java hut, Paul's go to place 10 yrs ago

- Danville: hometown of gene Hoffman 

Missouri

- rolling hills and very green. Rain subsided - much appreciated

- home of a lot of people (j.c. Penny, Disney, mark twain)

- drove through Hannibal, where Samuel Clemens grew up. Windows down, Indy went nuts. She's great on highway, sucks in town. 

- Hannibal is the best named town we've gone through so far 

- Pizza Hut

- they have the 'newest and oldest show caves'...not sure what that means 

- Monday morning at 9 am and no traffics in Kansas City. 

- saw an old brown beat up gmc truck, driven my an old man, with 'shaguar' scratched into the paint. 

- abf/upack - you suck. 

- mileage: 2175 miles in. Little less than 2.5 hours of driving left for today. 

Impressions of Kansas...

As we leave Kansas City (pictured below) and the State of Kansas, a few impressions/observations:

- rain

- pro-life signs every 50-60 miles, on average

- home of the presidential Eisenhower museum and library. Which, thanks to this American life podcast (we've listened to many), we discovered that Eisenhower had the CIA develop a fake radio station, radio liberacion (which broadcasted from Florida and Nicaragua), to overthrow the existing guatemalan regime due to differences between the government and United Fruit. We love our cheap bananas. 

- also thanks to This American Life, scared the crap out of myself (this is Jordan) talking about how to and not to have 'coming of age' conversations with your children

- KS is home of the heartland's premier wine region.  Who knew? 

- ton of antique shops advertised on billboards

- corn

Show me what you got, Missouri. 

Indy

Indy has been rockstar dog so far this trip. As soon as we start driving, she pretty much plops to position and sleeps/chills the next 7-10 hours.

Garden of the Gods

Jordan Astrid and Indy.

Topeka, Kansas

We are at a Sleep Inn and it is raining and we are wearing sandals and t-shirts and do not have rain gear with us. We are Californians lost in Kansas. NY? Uh oh. We're in trouble.

 Jordan is wearing compression stockings to prevent blood clots. She wears them well.

 We went to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs (Analisa!), and although it was foggy and you couldn't see the mountains, you could see the sign very clearly.

Indy has figured out some inventive ways to fall asleep on Jordan. Yesterday she stopped moving while lying on Jordan, even though Jordan was fidgeting and we were worried she had died. Indy's body was so heavy, but I think she's just gotten the hang of falling asleep in the car. On the drive from Jordan's friend's house to the Garden of the Gods, Indy just assumed it was another 8 hour day in the car and put her head down, starting to sleep. She is one confused, but happy, dog.

Jordan plays the slots in Reno, first time ever!!! She won three dollars, and then lost two dollars. That's how it goes.

Welcome to our (late) blog about our travels from California to New York. We'll try and do the best we can to constantly update the blog with pictures, funny stories and videos of the countryside. Please let us know if you want to things added, like photos of the baby bump or Indy eating leftover chicken from Buffalo Wild Wings.