Continuing On...

So continuing on our journey... just as the sun was going down on day #2 our air conditioner decided to break. It just stopped. Ka-put. There was no encouraging it back on (and we did a great deal of encouraging). The next day we had planned on touring Nauvoo (pics in the previous post), but instead spent a good chunk of the day finding a mechanic in Missouri who could help us out. Thank goodness for Bryce and the internet. While I took Sophie to the Visitor's Center for a nap, Bryce located a shop that agreed to fix Jiggy first thing the next morning and get us on our way ASAP. That did mean, of course, that we had to drive the rest of the day without A/C, though. And of course this is when the mid-west was having a horrendous heatwave. Happy to report that we all endured it tolerably well and managed to get to my aunt & uncle's house in Missouri in relatively good spirits and even still had half of our voices after having to shout to hear each other over the freeway noise as we drove. At least we got lots of fresh air that day.

We tried to take pics of all the digital thermometers that we passed along the way. Two of them are pictured below. Unfortunately, we weren't fast enough to snap of pic of the one that read 105. HOT!!!!!!!!!



The next morning, Bryce took little Jiggs to the shop and telephoned me with updates about every hour. We thought the whole thing would take maybe 2 hours to fix and then we'd be on our way. Not so. About SEVEN hours later, Bryce called to say he was on his way back. At least he spent his time productively. By the time he left the shop, he was best buddies with all the guys there. Some pics...

Poor little Jiggy waiting his turn in the queue to be seen by the car doc

The mechanic (Bryce could tell you his name... and also the name
of his wife, kids, alma mater and veterinarian!)
(Bryce here - his name is Tony)

The shop owner (middle), his son (right) and Bryce = BFF!!
(Bryce here, that's Matt on the left and Joe in the middle - Matt even called a week later to make sure everything was working well. If your car breaks down near Kansas City, I HIGHLY recommend this shop - they did 2 days of work in 1 day! And they gave me a discount and an I-70 Auto Service coaster/ car freshener!!)

After Jiggy got fixed up, we jumped in the car and zoomed down south a ways to visit Bryce's grandfather. It was a very sweet visit and we were sorry to not have been able to stay longer. It was Sophie's first time meeting a great-grandparent and Grandpa M.'s first time meeting a great-grandchild. We had a good time catching up, getting Sophie to show off all her "tricks" (Sophie, what does a lion say?), and swapping jokes. It was also the first time I'd met Grandpa M. and the first thing that struck me were his eyes! Those eyes have most definitely been passed down through the family - I've seen them in several members of Bryce's fam. Genes are so cool!! Pics of the visit:

Lisa, Grandpa, Sophie, Helen Grace and Bryce

Great-grandpa and great-grand daughter

4 Generations... almost

We were so grateful to my wonderful aunt and uncle who allowed us to stay at their house without them! They had toys galore and Sophie was in hog heaven after being cooped up in the car for so long. Thanks Dale and Sally!They also had this awesome bathtub with - better yet - about 20 rubber ducks to float in it. After taking a bath in it, Sophie walked around their house saying "quack!" all day long. Here she is with one of the ducks...

Ok, moving on!! So I don't think I mentioned that Sophie is not the best of travellers. Usually. She has a hard time sleeping in the car and hates to be confined in a carseat. B/c of this, we decided that whoever was no driving would sit in the back seat with Sophie and be charged with the task of keeping her happy. The upside to this job? Getting to sleep with she slept! The downside?? The fact that Sophie never slept more than about 40 minutes at a time. And that's a bummer when you've still got 6 hours of driving left...

BUT, all that changed on day #4. Either she was just too tired to care anymore, or she decided that there was nothing in Kansas worth staying awake for. On day #4 Sophie left 2 HOURS in the car. In one chunk. It was almost exciting enough to wake her up with our celebratory whoops of joy!! Instead, we barely whispered communication to each other and willed her to sleep as long as possible. Well, that is, we did that after I woke up, too. My friends, it was a good time to be sitting in the back with Sophie. :)

Here we are totally passed out...Isn't she so sweet?

Lovely Kansas...there's no place like home...guess where we still are? turns out that not much changes in this state.

Things livened up a bit once we left Kansas. I mean, what could be better than this enormous stuffed bear sitting in the middle of a gas station mini mart with sign above his head saying, "Hug Me, Please!" We obliged. That's how happy we were to be in Colorado.

Sophie and Mr. Bear
Just one big happy family!
Ok, this post has got to end... up next = good times in Colorado and our entry into Utah.
Stay tuned - you won't want to miss it!