Days 19, 29, 21, 22 and 23 - Olathe, KS and North Platte, NE

Looking at a short drive, we left a little late and took our time heading to Olathe. Saturday made for an easy drive through Kansas City and we were at Mike and Julie's by early afternoon. Dinner that night was an Italian buffet. The only place I've seen more selection and variety of food is on a cruise ship.

Sunday started with sitting on the front porch drinking coffee. After dinner the night before, breakfast was out of the question. Mike and I were then off to remove five states worth of bugs from the Honda, which was made easy by the $19 credit left in the spray booth. Starbucks for both of us.

Also on Sunday Julie took Barb to the emergency care for a little problem with her left foot. Last fall when we were here she was at the same emergency care with her right foot. Must have something to do with Kansas.

At this point I need to say a little something about the weather. Two words - hot and humid. Walking out from the air-conditioned house or any building is like walking into a wall. A wall of heat. The saving grace is the breeze, which if you sit very still will help a little.

I should say something about Monday, but nothing comes to mind, except sitting on the porch in the morning drinking coffee. This is something we need to try at home. Coffee in the evening is nice too, except for mosquitoes.

Now for Tuesday. Coffee on the porch as usual and around 12:00 Mike and I headed for the Nebraska Furniture Mart. We started at Sony and it didn't take long to find the 40 inch flat screen for the bedroom. Meeting up with the Nebraska rep we discovered TV's were not part of the promotion. Sound systems only. Mike and I finally decided on a Polk SurroundBar with sub-woofer and a Sony blue ray DVD player. In the end, it was much easier getting these into the car.

By the time I got back from checking out, Mike had purchased a wireless printer. The evening was devoted to getting the printer hooked up and then setting up his wireless devices to print. Not an easy assignment, but we managed to pull it off.

All good things must come to an end and for us that was Wednesday when we had to head home. Not wanting to leave Mike and Julie we hung out on the porch for several cups of Mike's best. But then we were off headed for North Platte, Nebraska. But before getting too far it was back to Mike's to retrieve my iPhone and iPad. Yup, drove off without them. North Platte is home to the world's largest rail yard, the Bailey Yard, where an average of 139 trains pass through each day. Remember the movie Goodfellas? Henry Hill worked as a cook in North Platte.

Tomorrow night we will be 489 miles closer to home in Green River, Wyoming. I already have a Starbucks lined up for the morning and Cabela's is just 121 miles down the road in Sidney. 437 miles today.

Posted from my iPad 2