When Life Hands You Lemons, You Load Up The Car And Head To California

*Things happened in our family from March to May (Sam's Birthday, Millie's Birthday, etc) but I lost a bunch of my pictures from my phone and can't get them back. I try not to think about it. So moving on...

We took an unexpected trip to California and here are the photos of the drive.

Beautiful Kansas from the car window.

Stopping in a small town in Kansas and walking up and down it's Main Street while Ryan had to take a phone call. Kate says she will never live in a small town. I, on the other hand think there is something so cool about an untouched by time town.

I mean, where else can you get furniture and your undertaking needs met?

We passed a marker saying we were right in the middle of the US.

If you see a muffler man, you stop. Especially if he is offering some Mexican food.

We stopped Dodge City.

This statue is the first cowboy statue that was made in Dodge City. It was made by a dentist that was good with plaster and modeled after a police officer in town that had the build of a cowboy.

Cool sign.

Liberal, Kansas is home to Dorothy's house and a fun, cool, creepy, awesome display of the Wizard of OZ. The kids didn't know what to think.

Just one of the many displays found in the museum. This is the scene where they are getting ready to meet the wizard. This was a traveling exhibit that was in malls throughout the midwest, I want to say in the Eighties, until it found a home in Liberal. It is amazing the work that went into it. With all of these roadside attractions, I really admire passion that people have. I really want to retire and spend the rest of my life creating a roadside attraction that other people can enjoy. If you have any ideas, let me know.

Kate, kind of nervous.

We went through Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona and all I got was this state sign.

Thank goodness for fun things like this to stop at for a break. It doesn't get much cooler than this. After we stopped and got back on the road, there were a bunch of places like this. I think this one was in New Mexico.

Before we headed South to the 10 Fwy I made Ryan drive through Holbrook, AZ, another Route 66 town with cool hotels and signs. Holbrook is home to one of the last Wigwam motels and I had to at least drive through it, so I could say that I've seen two of the three left.

We arrived in California after three days of driving. We were ready to be out of the car and ready to see where our next adventure would take us.