The road to Missouri and back to us.

Our family left town a week ago to head out to Missouri for a vacation/Bill has some gigs down there times. We piled the prius high with bodies, blankets, and of course red bulls and began the journey of however many miles.

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. The last time we had all three of those raggedy ass kids in the back seat for a 12 hour road trip was two years ago and it was certainly HELL. Don’t touch me, she hit me, I hate you, I’m hungry, I have to pee, when are we getting there, can I buy this live hermit crab from the gas station and bring it with us HELL.

We stopped in St. Louis and went to the arch. We got into the scary pods of death and road to the top to check out the view. Did we scare the shit out of the kids on the way up? FUCK YEAH WE DID. Did Bill make them laugh their asses off on the way back, yep. As we were getting to the final stop to let the next set of tourists in to ride up he began screaming like he was terrified to scare whoever was waiting outside the doors to go up. I think J is still laughing about it at this very moment.

We arrived in Osage Beach for our first nights gig to what was certainly a meth prostitute bed bug kind of place. We decided immediately to find a new place to stay, and ended up down the road at a place with some pools and the children actually took their asses out into the wild and went swimming without us dragging them.

The next day as we were traveling to our final destination we stopped and toured one of the caves Missouri has to offer. We’ve realized that as a family we really enjoy caves. Cave Man Curtis didn’t even seem so murdery after spending a good hour with him walking us around this crazy cavern where bears and Native Americans once roamed.

We later found our way to Columbia Missouri where we spent the rest of our days. We found some good nature hikes, the kids found the mall across the street entertaining, and we also found some sweet ass records. The downtown was cute with some indie shops but I like the nature the best. I took the ladies out Saturday afternoon after a hotel mishap including a very overflowed toilet and some other things I won’t mention had left Bill feeling deflated. We went to explore a wild cave. We hiked through the woods and down a little cavern to find a cave that has been untouched by humans making sidewalks and light shows beneath the ground. Of course we weren’t prepared. J did bring a flashlight and I had a phone light but it was no match for this cavern. We hiked through slippery rocks and streams until the water was so deep we would have needed a canoe to continue. The girls started to head back first so of course I had to shut out my light and act like it was dead so as to scare them to death. I mean come on, I’m not going to NOT do it. Once out of the cave and up the steps a little boy was rushing past me and his parents were pretty far behind him so I said, be careful. There are CRRREEAAATTUUURREESS that live down there, successfully scaring not only my own kids, but some random little boy as well.

The trip was good. It was needed for our whole family. The dark, foggy, heavy air of daily life, outside relationships, history, and regularness had been lifted- released like a dog eager to get off it’s leash and run. Suddenly there was just us. The only thing that really mattered was just our family. Getting away from the everydayness brings the things closest to you into an extraordinary much needed focus. It reminds you that everything you REALLY NEED can fit into a space the size of the interior of a Toyota Prius.