ARKANSAS ME COMING!

 I heard that today, a man on the radio declaring his every word the very soul of truth, in the middle of an advertisement for a car lot.
 It's the little things here, a twang, a word, a combination on a menu. There are times, long moments, where I forget that I'm across the country from where I was born and raised. For everything that's wildly different, a dozen things are the same.

 Woo!
 Oh this feels good :)

 First things first - yesterday, we made it from Tulsa to Little Rock, with a quick stop at one of Arkansas' biggest wineries (Wiederkehr), and went at top-speed directly into a storage unit. We stopped hard, unloaded every non-essential trinket, trifle, lampshade and chair into storage, and then sped off towards Texarkana to see the family.

 But then, only one Kansas is our Kansas ;)

 Tough day! But it also seemed to go by most quickly. Every other day I was falling asleep after only a few hours of driving - but today, we went from Denver to Tulsa in one shot.

 Woo! What a day!

 We started this morning in Glenwood Springs, but then did a tour down I-70 to visit a number of the small mountain towns along the way. First up was Georgetown, an amazing little old fashioned downtown that we went to to check it out, but also to visit Jen's favorite candy shop. Next up was a much larger and more sprawling, and more modern, Idaho Springs - we went there for soap!
 Even with the young crowds and trendy places, each of those downtowns felt like stepping back in time, back into an age when railroads were the lifeblood of the frontier, and everything was built out of cobblestone and brick.

What a town! This picture is a shot of the Hot Springs that give the town its name. Don't be fooled by the picture, that pool is *huge.*

 We made it! Against the better judgment of just about everyone, we went out I-80 straight through Donner Pass. If our trip were to end in failure, that's where it would have been! But, aside from a few brief snow flurries, and a small snaffoo with our car dolly, we made it through unscathed!

 At this moment I'm falling asleep on a futon on the floor of my living room, surrounded by the last few items not already packed into our U-haul. My wife, way ahead of me on falling asleep, is already preparing herself for the week long journey ahead of us.