Not in Kansas anymore….

Well, actually we still are in Kansas somewhere between the land of OZ and the Colorado border dodging the winds and thunderstorms. Furthermore, if you want to get picky, we were technically living in Missouri….this whole two Kansas Cities in two different states is just downright confusing isn’t it? I’ll bet the majority of you didn’t even realize that there were two Kansas Cities, I sure didn’t….but I digress. The past two weeks afforded us the chance to catch up with four separate families, three of which attended our church in Hawaii- who would’ve thought? Seriously, what are the odds of all of us leaving Hawaii during the past 5 years and reuniting in the Midwest?! So we have gladly been hopping back and forth between Kansas and Missouri, filling our calendar with family outings but more importantly filling our lives with countless memories.  

One of the families we had run into earlier (almost literally) on our RV trip along the side of the interstate. They had just left Hawaii, flown to Seattle and were driving to their new home in Kansas; we were on our way to Boise and had pulled into an RV park to rest for the night. Somehow we figured out that their route had them crossing directly by our RV park so we arranged a dinner. Like we always say, you never know where the road will take you. Now, some 8 months later, it was neat to see that their move was complete and that they felt settled into the new chapter in their lives. BBQ’s, trips to the arboretum, and a tour of his business operation all made for the perfect venues to hear how life was going. ( Shameless plug for their Hawaiian T-shirt company https://shop-grove.com/ ). 

Another family was still in the military but are transitioning out within a few years, something we can relate to. We met them at a unique burger joint where you order on an old-school phone and a toy train delivers your food. I think the kids were more interested in watching the food deliveries than eating. Oh, then we went to a park with a mega slide and enough unique play equipment that even I was interested. It made me think of how easy it is to connect with people, just have a meal and go to the park! Speaking of parks, although I am not the biggest fan of social media Instagram gets a win for facilitating a reuniting of Nikki with the teacher she was mentored by while in NYC. When looking at one of Nikki’s posts she recognized a park in the picture. Then, two days later when Nikki posted pictures of snow (yes, 3.5 inches of snow, a record for this late in the spring!—thanks Daniel) she was convinced we were nearby and thankfully reached out. We met her family at yet another park, caught up on life and went down one of the largest slides I have ever seen (seriously, California has a lot of ground to make up when it comes to playgrounds). It was especially great for Nikki to get some technical advice on her sign language skills which is something that Nikki has been working on during this road trip.  

The last family we spent time with was in our home fellowship in Hawaii. It had been 5 years since we last saw each other in which time they had grown their family to four, the youngest boy quickly became Ally’s buddy as she filled the role of baby-sitter and kept him entertained to ensure the sanity of everyone else. Ice skating, indoor splash parks, attending their church with them and of course, more BBQ. It was great to see them finally settled after their military transition and doing well. Our kids never wanted to leave, Daniel threatened to hide in the basement, a bucket of tears on the way home— all evidence of how deep our friendships are despite the distance in time and space. We are banking on them showing up in San Diego sometime in the notso distant future.

Whew! What a lot of memories and of all places, the midwest. Who’d have thought?! Kansas City, not what I had expected for belonging to a so-called “fly-over” state. And, if you want rural, just drive 20 minutes and you’ll find rolling hills riddled with ponds and pastures of cows. (Look up Peculiar, MO and camp at the Peculiar Park Place RV Park, run by one of the nicest couples I have ever met.) I must say, this trip to KC was not what we had expected, it was much better than we could have imagined. But for now, we’ll just have to close our eyes, click our heels together, and say the words “there’s no place like....Colorado”….see you there!