Road Trippin': Days 3 to 5

Once Seamus was safely retrieved, and we spent some good time talking with Marcia and Chris, we hit the road again. (I didn't take any pictures in Alabama, apparently. Shame on me!)
We drove from Alabama to:
And once again into:

We actuallty went thru Tennessee three separate times on this trip, cutting across 3 of its 4 corners. This time we passed thru Memphis, so we stopped to take a look at the birthplace of Rock 'n' Roll.

We ate a dinner consisting of fried catfish, coleslaw (which was so sweet it tasted like ice cream), hush puppies, and pickled green tomatoes, and then walked along Beale Street. Our feet, however, were not 10 feet off the ground as suggested by the popular Marc Cohn song. Perhaps we're not big enough Elvis fans.

But wouldn't you know, I left the camera in the car and didn't realise it until we were two blocks away. And I was too lazy to go back and get it. So we've been to Memphis, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

Anyway, from Memphis, we crossed the Mississippi River into:

And then we went north into Missouri. But by the time we got to Missouri, it was really dark and rainy so I didn't get any pictures until the next day which we spent at...my Grandma McHardy's house!

As a kid, I always loved staying with Grandma and Grandpa McHardy. They always had some assortment of animals including horses, dogs, cats, and even a llama once. This time, her menagerie consisted of 7 dogs, 2 cats, and several chickens. Plus, a fabulous garden and several fruit trees. They moved to Missouri from Colorado about 5 years ago--just before I got married--and this was the first chance I had to see their new place. My Grandpa was, unfortunately out of town on a Man-venture (to see an enormous Air Show in Wisconsin), so we missed him. But we all had fun with Grandma and the animals.

Carson especially had a blast.

And Seamus was right at home with the pack of dogs.

We spent a whole day of non-driving with my Grandma before we hit the road again. But soon it was off to...Kansas City. Again, no pictures, but we did pass thru a town on Highway 7 with the awesome name of Tightwad. So you'll once again just have to believe me, contrary to popular opinion (assuming my former opinion was the popular one), Missouri is a very beautiful state. Green, rolling, blue-skied. Just very hot and sticky, like everything else down South.

In Kansas City, we stayed with Austin's cousin Lindsay and her family. This picture of her son playing with Seamus, and the pictures below of Austin wrassling with Carson are the only shots I got of this visit. But if you look really closely behind Austin below, you can see some tiny pictures of Lindsay and her family. What's really missing that deserved a picture was the amazing Kansas City barbeque place they took us out to eat at. Mmm-mmm good! Smoked, shredded, slow roasted pork has got to be the greatest meat in the world! They had really yummy fries and other types of meat as well, but honestly. Pork.

And so, after a good romp, we all slept well and prepared for the next leg of our adventure.