Day 23 - Another change in plans

This morning we got out of the hotel just before 10am and were at Oceans of Fun, KC's water park, by 11. What a blast! We spent over two hours on the slides, in the pools, you name it, getting wet! By a little after 1 we left and went for lunch. Coulda ate at Gates BBQ (if you know - you know) but the kids vetoed. Since I'd eaten Q twice the day before I gave in. Bummer. Especially since we then spent nearly an hour driving around, stopping at a AAA recommendation that had closed. Even though we had returned to the highway and taken another exit we ended up looping back by Gates! Eventually we stoppedat an A&W. The kids got their burger and dog (Miles, Emma respectively) and Eve and I had some double cheesburgers. Only our 3rd fast food stop in 23 days. A Burger King in Idaho and an In and Out Burger in Nevada.
If you will recall from yesterday's installment we had still not found a room in St Louis. And that was still the case just after 3pm today, finishing lunch at the A&W on the outskirts of Kansas City. At this point we had a family discussion and agreed to skip St. Louis and make the 9 hour drive to Yellow Springs. I'm sure a trip up the arch would have been fun but after all that we had seen and experienced over the previous 3 weeks we decided it could wait until another time. Eve drove the day shift and I the night. We pulled in about 2:16am EDT. First appearance in this time zone in 22 days. Miles slept the last 4 1/2 hours or so. Emma the last 20 minutes! They are all snug in their own beds right now and I'm sitting here at the computer, typing away, with a Westmalle Tripel. After over 6,380 miles I was ready for it.
After a good nights sleep I'll probably put up another post with some more reflections on the trip. Check it out 'cause I'm sure I'll throw in some "lessons learned" elements. Handy for sure when you decide to do the same thing. If you dare. ;-) But mainly just a few thoughts on the experience. To give you a hint I'll tell you this - I think it will go down as a trip to remember, and I mean that in the best way. I'm pretty sure it will not go down as "The Trip From Hell!"
On the way back I started planning the Southern Loop tour, coming to a city near you (Thatis, if y'all might live in the Virginas, Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and maybe even back to Missouri to visit St Louis). Or perhaps we'll take the Northeast by storm. But, I think we'll need to rest first.