Holiday Inn Olathe-Great Plains Mall Area,

... The first night was spent at Sakura with everyone including Ricky and Kim. Of course Sakura is a sushi train with all the fixins. The rest of the trip was spent at the Legends Shopping Center and The Books A Million book store. The last evening was dinner at Oklahoma Joe's Bar B Que. The french fries were great but everything else paled in comparision to Rudy's.

... butt across five states until stopping in KC.

We arrived around 4am. I got up around 7am to capitalize on any time with my sisters, nieces, and nephews. Brett slept in until around 12nn. We ate breakfast and the kids played for a couple of hours. Then it was on the road again..

So the Journey begins! The day of travle is here and we awake to Jackson tapping us on the shoulder....."Guess what today is...it's NEW ZEALAND day" Couldn't be more excited!

SB was her usual stressed self on the day of travel, and other than ME leaving my laptop in the terminal in KC (I did rememer it half way down the jetway...) we figured it was better than leaving a child behind!

Packed pretty light, all ...

Last night I got the last of my supplies packed in the bags, got the bags weighed, rearranged, and packed and weighed again. I think I am at 49 and 47 lbs each on the checked bags and will top out my carry on with 40lbs and then cram whatever is left into a backpack. I will be hauling more than my weight in luggage so I hope we don't have to run through any airports! Who knew a couple of ounces here and there can make such a difference?!

Overland Park, Kansas, United States annahennes

... clinics and housing for recovering surgery patients as well as their family members who may have accompanied them from far away. The Hospital is within walking distance to the Centro and the CEO Betania (where we will be eating) is also within walking distance. The CEO Betania is where the Sisters of Mercy teach local women skills to break the cycle of poverty. They operate a bakery, make cloth and other textiles ...

I'm counting down the days until we leave and I can't believe how much I've got to get together! Packing the supplies that didn't make the August cutoff for our container to be shipped, thanking everyone who contributed to my efforts, setting up this site, figuring out how to pack everything so that I don't get hit with monstrous baggage fees...going to have to get strategic! They say we only need 3 days worth ...

... City. During the sound check while rehearsing “Amazing Grace,” we were honored to have Kim Murphree and her son Mike sing with us on stage. Kim worked many long hours promoting our concert. She works with a radio station in Lawrence, KS. She and her son have a tender spot in their hearts for “Amazing Grace.” It was one of the first pieces that she taught to her son. Mike is a young and talented musician. He said that the way he communicates ...

... Yellowknife, NT. Depending on how long we stop in each place, we'll try to sneak our way into Alaska at some point, maybe at near Skagway. I think the bulk of Alaska will needs its own dedicated trip next time. We only have two weeks and two days to travel, so we'll need to fly along the roads the first day or so.

I attached some of my magnetic material to the exterior of the car so we can put an "Arctic or bust" sign ...

... a few hours to play, decided just to wait it out in the airport till our Spirit flight to the States. Oh my, that was a long 11 hour wait! We did entertain ourselves with cards, books, and a little Wendy's food thrown in for good measure. We all landed in at 5:20am local time in FLL. Trevor and I waved bye to Terry and Sue while on the plane, and booked it to get our luggage, get through customs, and then recheck-in on Delta for our 7am flight. We made it with time to spair, and even ...

... that will help along the way. I remembered quite a bit from high school, but a refresher never hurt. I'm thinking that I'll starting handing out this url to friends and family so that they'll be able to keep track of the trip without having to email everyone all the time while we are gone, but really, how hard is it to add a few extra names from an address book onto an email? On a side note...We went to see ...