Sydney Goes West

Tuesday June 26th, 2007

We left our hotel in Indiana about 6:30 this morning. As we were traveling we noticed that Sydney started into a pattern of sleeping when content and moving around and barking when she wasn't. So we stopped few times to water and walk her. We arrived in Missouri sometime around 9 or so. We then realized that we were headed to St. Louis where the arch is. Seeing our opportunity we headed to the Mississippi river and Jefferson park. What a beautiful morning!

When we arrived at the park, we found that we needed to take an elevator to the top of the arch. Well what would we do with Sydney? Michelle's Dad graciously took Sydney while we waited. We rode up in tiny little pod like rooms. Each one was tied together like a train. Each of the "pods" had five seats. We were 6 (Michelle, Sean, Meghan, Alyse Dawson, Michael Dawson and myself) so Meghan rode on my lap.

After reaching the top we were able to look out the windows and see Michelle's Dad with Sydney. They show as small specks in this photo:

We continued taking some pictures and looking around.

Then we hurried back down the arch. We have miles to go before we sleep (in Kansas) tonight. We hustled out to get Sydney and leave.

After traveling around 675 miles today, we stopped at a Hampton Inn at 3801 Vine St Hays, Kansas. Tomorrow -

The Final Leg

The First Day

Monday June 25th, 2007

The day started a little rough. While loading some final items on the back of the Penske Rental truck, a lightning storm started. After finishing, I was a little wet. But we managed to start out around 6:30 AM EDT. We traaveled along the PA turnpike to route 70 West. We then traveled along route 70 heading through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and then finished the day in Indiana after driving 650 miles. We traveled through tunnels, saw a really large roadside cross and saw a numkber of other sights as well. The day was long, but uneventful and we are thankful.

Loading Day

Sunday, June 24th 2007


Today was loading day. I knew this day was coming, but never really imagined that it would arrive. A big crowd of friends from church came and helped us load the 26 foot Penske rental truck. There were two camps of thought about the volume of what we were loading. One camp firmly believed that we got a truck that was too big. Others believed that the truck was too small. Well, everything fit just right. The only reason we were able to get it loaded was because of friends and family. A big THANK YOU to everyone!

Packing

It's a pretty nice day here in Maryland as we finish up our packing. We are closer than ever to moving day and looking at our future with anticipation. Our dog Sydney, seems to know that something is not quite right. She wanders the house looking for familiar spots unable to find them. Starting Monday, June 25th she'll get real familiar with the inside of our truck!

We are looking a trip of around 1700 miles and 8 states. We'll get to see some states and places we haven't seen before. The kids are ready to get started and my wife and I ready to be there. I think our kids are more adventurous than we are.

I've started this blog to help our friends and family that we leave behind know what we're seeing as we make our trip from Maryland to Colorado. We'll try to keep this updated as we can.

Tom, Michelle and family