It was difficult leaving my sister Eunice behind, but the good news is that our younger sister Carolyn is much better and is now out of the ICU. Because of this wonderful news, we are able to slow down our headlong flight towards California and go back to our original schedule. Because she seems to now be out of danger, Linda and I will stop and see our youngest son and his family, Steve, Peggy and Jordan, and stay a couple of days in Colorado as we had originally planned.

After talking with one of my cousins, I've decided to take Hwy 50 across Missouri. I'm doing this for two reasons, first I don't like freeways and second, it will allow me to proceed at a slower pace so that I can see some of this country we're traveling through. I take a series of small back roads for an hour or so, before connecting with Hwy 50 heading west.

One of the things that happened because of this back road adventure is that Missouri now passes Michigan for the worst roads we've traveled on. Hwy 50, which goes coast to coast, is terrible through Missouri. I have never been able to figure out why repair crews haven't learned how to patch a road and make it the same level as the original road, or at least close. Is it too complicated a concept to figure out that a series of high spots in the road might be a danger to drivers and if nothing else, may cause problems to the alignment of the cars passing over these speed bumps?

The good news today is that there has been no rain. It has clouded up a couple of times but nary a drop has fallen on us. Missouri is a nice state, with a series of small farms nestled in between medium sized forests.

Missouri is not as green as Tennessee or Pennsylvania but it's an attractive state in its own right (photos 1, 2, 3, 4). Thinking about Valle Lake where my sister Eunice lives and some of the other places we have passed through in the last couple of days, Linda confesses that she could live in Missouri. I remind her that the humidity is low for this time of year and ask her to think back to our trip here several years ago when we liked to have died because of the heat and humidity.

We stayed on Hwy 50 the whole of the day and finally crossed into Kansas late in the afternoon. Making it into another state lets us know we're making progress and gives some small degree of pleasure. We stop in Lawrence, Kansas for the night. All in all, it has been a nice ride.