Six States in Seven Days

After traveling through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, we began our trip home...via Missouri. Dear friends of ours live in Missouri, the kind of friends you really miss when you're home, the kind of friends you wish lived closer. It's great to have the opportunity to see friends like that and to pick up right where you left off.

We enjoyed our couple of days in Hannibal, Missouri, birthplace to Mark Twain. The kids had a great time playing with their four kids, and we brought in the New Year with an evening of games and fellowship.

Our trip back began with a beautiful sunrise over the Mississippi River, a sight to behold from our friends' kitchen window. Although we were able to drag our tired kids out of bed and into the car, Audrey was not very willing: When I picked her up out of bed, she cried, "I want to sleep!" I told her she could go back to sleep in the car. "But I want to sleep up there!" she protested. Who wouldn't rather sleep in bed?

Determined to make good time, my dear husband heard nothing of slowing down to see the Arches at less than 80 miles per hour, but I was able to snap a few pictures, much to the amusement of Missourian travelers whose cars I dodged with my camera.