Utah trip, Part 5, July 15-18

Friday, July 15

We headed out and to Lee's Summit, Missouri. We were back on interstates - UGH! As we crossed the Missouri River from Kansas into Missouri we saw flooding for the first time on the whole trip. We arrived at Blue Springs Lake Campground about 12:00 and set up, then put in a call to Chuck. He planned to arrive at our camper about 4:00-ish to visit for a while before our dinner/show, so Rick headed out for an oil change and I did a little cleaning and resting.

We visited with Chuck, then headed to the Starlight, and outdoor theater where they do 6 productions each summer. The theater is located in the Kansas Zoo. Chuck and Jamie have season tickets, and Jamie was on the plane heading home from a week-long conference in Las Vegas, so she was not able to join us. We ate a buffet dinner outside under a HUGE umbrella (covering several tables) while we waited for the shade to reach our seats in the theater, and about 10 minutes before showtime, headed to our seats. We saw Guys and Dolls, which was wonderfully done. The heat was amazing, but an occasional breeze helped. We arrived back at camp about 11:00.

Saturday, July 16

We arrived at Chuck and Jamie's house about 10:00 for brunch and checked out thier new (in-progress) patio before leaving for a tour of Kansas City (MO and KS). Chuck had gotten special permission to have a tour of the data center where he works, and we saw 'the cloud'! We saw Jamie's school, and toured the beautiful church associated with her school. They recently added on to the church, but unless told, you would not know it given the details in architecture and interior design. We saw the high school Jennifer went to, passed the sports complex for Kansas City baseball and football, drove aroudn the Kansas Motor Speedway (around as in the perimeter of the grounds, not the racetrack itself!), saw the Plaza - a beautiful downtown shopping area, and many other sights. We also drove past Jennifer and Jay's new house - they close and move at the end of the month.

Then we met Jennifer and Jay at the Oklahoma Joe's BBQ for dinner and were able to visit with them for a while. We stopped at the camper to let the dog out then went back to Chuck and Jamie's for a few more hours of visiting before finally tearing ourselves away to get back to the camper and ready for a long push toward home.

Sunday, July 17


Travel day - hoped to get to near Columbus, Ohio to overnight in a truck stop. However, just as we passed Exit 23 on Rt. 70 just across the state line from Illinois into Indiana about 6:00 pm, Rick groaned and quickly pulled over, with smoke coming out from the back of the trailer. We had a burned out wheel bearing in the trailer. We made a U-turn and crawled back to the exit and parked in the Pilot Truck Stop, then started hunting for help. RV Road Help has been RV NO Help. It is now Monday, 10:00 am and we are still stranded, looking for help. I am thankful that we have not had to take any humans to hospitals, but this vehicle stuff is starting to get old!