We're here

For anyone who was hoping for an extensive play by play of all the amusing things that happened on the way down here, I don't plan to disappoint.

We left London yesterday (Wednesday) and got to Overland Park tonight. Since we had pre-booked our hotel rooms, it was a given that we'd meet up eventually. Too bad Ben's friend J was pulled over on the I-55 and given a citation for "improper lane usage" because apparently the U-Haul was weaving on the road. That made them rather late in their arrival time at the hotel, but luckily they still managed to get there!

No-one had any trouble at the border. It was slow going, but we got across smoothly. Guess we should have started that smuggling ring after all, hahaha.

Today was a funny travel day. We all left the hotel at the same time, but due to the slower driving pace of the U-Haul, and the unpredictable nature of the nursaholic baby and volatile 4 year old, we didn't necessarily expect to meet up on the road.

Not too long after we had gotten on the road, Rachel announced that she needed to go potty. Too bad we were nowhere near an exit with any sign of civilization! I asked her to hold it in and we headed off at the next exit towards Griggsville. Griggsville's claim to fame is a tourist information centre that we never made it to, and a Casey's General Store that was hiring an assistant manager. For the record, Rachel held it all the way there which was about 4 miles. (That's 6.4 kilometres for those of us who need to know that.)

As we drove down the main highway after our detour in Griggsville, we spotted a U-Haul on top of an overpass. It was the guys! Vindication! Validation! Oh, glorious feeling - I had spotted a U-Haul with my husband in it while driving to Kansas City! We slowed down like crazy to wait for them to get back on and catch up to us since we figured that they might not have had lunch yet.

We all had lunch in Hannibal, MO, at the Mark Twain Family Restaurant on the shore of the Mississippi where you can get catfish strips and chicken livers among other culinary oddities. Since we were playing "clones eat alike" (we'd all ordered the exact same thing for breakfast at the hotel), we all opted for the grilled cheese minus the bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo. Our waitress seemed surprised that we didn't want even the mayo, but offered to bring us out big waters since apparently our small waters weren't going to cut it. I noticed that the big waters included the upgrade of a straw. I also noticed that I had to ask for a water for Rachel.

After lunch, we parted ways again and figured we'd meet up at the hotel in Overland Park later. We made many stops - nursing, potty, ice cream (oh wait, the McDonalds ice cream machine was broken so we had to settle for milkshakes), more potty, more nursing, dinner, gas, etc, etc. At one point, we decided to go a different route. We attempted to send a message to the guys but were unable to successfully do so.

We eventually arrived at the Doubletree Hotel in Overland Park. I was all set to give it a good recommendation (and yay to Priceline for giving me the lowball price I asked for!) but then the front desk incident took place. The Doubletree is known for giving out free chocolate chip cookies on arrival. Too bad the Doubletree staff neglected to mention the fine print on the BACK of the bag that tells you that their cookies contain WALNUTS. Idiots. I had eaten most of a cookie before realizing that there was something odd about it. As I sit here typing, I'm coming up with all kinds of imaginary symptoms. Luckily for them, I only have a strong intolerance to nuts, including hotel staff.

The stupid thing is that when I went to call them out on it, they simply pulled out another bag, showed it to me and said, "It's on the bag, ma'am." You can ma'am me all you want, but it's on the BACK in teeny tiny print. I grr at the whole situation. Plus I asked them for water and/or the restroom and was told curtly where to find the restroom. I'm sure that they have bottled water behind the desk and could have given me some.

That said, I should probably leave the business centre and go brush my teeth a gazillion times so that the nut residue is all gone. Oh wait. I'm in Kansas. I think the nut residue is here to stay. (No offense to any Kansans who happen to be reading my blog!)