Ramada Plaza Manhattan

I arrived in Manhattan KS on Sunday the 4th. Monday the 5th, we started to work on Custer Hill, which is on Ft. Riley. We are working with the 2nd Brigade which just returned from a year in Iraq. HUA! The first Saturday, I visited my wife's cousin, who lives in the thriving metropolis of Herrington KS. (500 pop.)? The next Saturday we were treating to tailgating at Kansas State, and witnessing them whup up on Texas A&M 62 to 14! This weekend I ...

... a world famous pikes peak doughnut! It wasn't krispy kreme, but it was pretty good! It kind of tasted like a corn dog on the outside until you got to the soft fluffy inside. :) It took us awhile to get back down the mountain and then we left for our hotel where House and Pirates of the Caribbean is playing in the lobby! :) We're trying to decide where to head off to tomorrow, I'm thinking New Mexico, then into Arizona. :)!

... in the tower has a list of the cars and where each car is destined to the east. The controller then signals to a trainman on the ground which car or 2 cars or 3 cars need to be uncoupled and he breaks the coupling from the rest of the consist when they are at the top of the hump. Then those cars by gravity drop the 34 feet down the other side and the tower controller knows which of the 65 tracks the cars need to placed on to start forming the consist for ...

... So we waited out the rain storm in the Macy's store. This store is huge, takes up a block and has 8 floors. One can spend the whole day shopping in this store. It houses many different brands like Calvin Klein, Nine West, Guess, 7 For All Mankind and many many more. We carried on up Broadway to W 34th Street, turned up Park Avenue and made our way back to Grand Central. Our feet and legs definitely had their workout for the day, it was time we headed off home.

... at Dawat, an indian restaurant. Chicken tikka masala, basmati rice, garlic naan and more, the one dish was okra, done very differently, like fried crisps. The food was great, well done J. Before going home, we had drinks at Opia. It was very nice to meet them and see them again. We had a great time.

We thought we were going to leave Colorado Springs but that grinding noise in the front end caused us to stop by the Ford repair shop before heading into Kansas. Four hours and four hundred dollars later we had a new carrier bearing for the front axle. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, Linda (Susan's sister) came to our rescue and we all went out to lunch ...

... challenging day! We drove by Kansas City, where "our" Vikings played football yesterday - and lost : ( ... and we drove right by Kansas International Speedway, where the Nextel Cup guys will be racing this coming weekend! Timing is everything, as they say!) Of course we passed through lots of very flat country, reminding of an old poster I had: SKI ...

I was in Manhattan, Kansas and I did see the wheat field swaying in the sun when I was a young man. I also liked piano music... A very long time ago. In a small town called "little apple" for it was also named Manhattan. They took me to a small mound of a hill and proudly told me "on a clear day, you can see all the way to Wichita". All I saw was a flat land golden with ripening ...

... too. Too bad b/c it looked interesting as it was located in the actual school at issue in the case. Ann fears these missed stamp opportunities may require a return trip to both Independence and Topeka! We finally stopped in Manhattan, KS where just by chance we were able to arrange yesterday to meet up with Paul (Ted)'s Aunt Caroline from San Antonio who was in Kansas for work. She got to meet Abby and we all had dinner together. What a nice treat.

... collector who worked in there, Patty, who has vowed to send us some, she was thrilled we wanted them! Lunch time was upon us and we decided to have lunch in JC before our journey to Topeka, we sat in a diner overlooking the autopart shop where Josh's birthmother worked, and indeed the last place we saw her 8 years ago. Its proven to be quite an emotional journey for Ian and myself, reliving what was a life changing experience...its ...