<– Day 4 – Thursday May 2: Old Friends | Day 6 – Friday May 4: Parker To the Rescue! –>

I think she’s forgotten all about the purse … someone is having a good day!

Day 5: We drove from Warrensburg, Missouri, to Paducah, Kentucky, spending most of the day driving in the rain.

Day 5: Warrensburg to Paducah

We began the day saying our farewells to Dale and Edith, Ann’s friends from her time living in Knob Noster and working at Whiteman with Dale. They hadn’t seen each other in two decades, so it was an all too short stay. Hopefully we’ll return some day.

We’d barely begun our drive when the rain began to fall. For the next five hours it wavered between sprinkles and pouring. Dale and Edith had recommended that we stop at the Osceola Cheese outlet on our drive south. We like cheese, so it was a pretty easy sell.

Driving south on highway 13, it wasn’t easy to miss, as a series of billboards made it clear that we shouldn’t pass it up! Thankfully, though it was 8:45, they were already open!

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<– Day 3 – Tuesday May 1: Weathering OZ | Day 5 – Thursday May 3: Rainy Day Quilts –>

Day 4: Today we didn’t drive far. We left Kansas and the tornados behind, arriving in Missouri to learn that more tornados were expected.

We had a very nice stay in Topeka at the Best Western Inn & Suites on Tuesday night, even taking the opportunity to sleep late, so late we missed the free breakfast. It appeared a family owned the motel and they were very nice.

For example, at one point in the morning, I stepped out to get some ice from the ice machine. Next to the ice, the soda machine was being refilled. The woman in charge pulled out a Mr. Pibb and offered it to me for free, telling me that if I didn’t like it, I could have something else. I don’t drink it, but I figured Ann would. I’d definitely stay there again.

Our goal for the day was to drive to Whiteman Air Force Base, where Ann is officially still based, and obtain a new military ID for her, then meet up with some of her old friends. Dale, a co-worked and close friend of Ann’s, still worked at the base and was excited to meet us at the main gate.

Old work buddies Dale & Ann

That turned out to be a good thing, because when we arrived at the entrance, we discovered that my dependent-ID had expired, so if it hadn’t been for Dale, we couldn’t have gotten on to base to get her ID updated. To be fair, I hadn’t used the ID to access a base in 4 years, so I hadn’t paid too close attention to the date. Anyway, thanks to Dale, we accessed the base and found the place we needed to get Ann’s new ID and mine updated.

After that, Dale invited us back to his place to see Edith, his wife, who just had surgery. Ann had a great time getting reacquainted with them, while giving me a chance to finish up work by a reasonable hour. Now, if only those pesky Tornado warning sirens would stop going off we could go to sleep!

For Thursday,  we *think* we are heading through the Ozark Lakes, then on to Paducah to visit the National Quilt Museum. The weather may play a role in dictating our path.

<– Day 3 – Tuesday May 1: Weathering OZ | Day 5 – Thursday May 3: Rainy Day Quilts –>