Project Breakaway Vaca: Day 4

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” ― Lao Tzu

NOTE: Don’t miss the “singing goat,” aka: me, at the end.  Enjoy the 4th day summary of Project Breakaway Vaca. ☮ ✌

Good Morning, Kansas

I dragged myself out of bed around 8:00 AM, and even though I wanted to prepare my things to leave at noon, my limbs just would  not work. Coffee. I needed coffee. One of the best things to do with a good friend is drink coffee in the morning, so that was my first pleasure of the day.

Next, we needed something to eat! So my friend, Elaina began making us some fried hash browns with vegetables and jalapenos. That was pretty sinking good. So much so, that we alll wanted more, so I took over the stove and made round 2… my only request, I had to be able to wear her awesome apron.

Update on the Wounded Thumb

Update on the wounded thumb from Day 1: Stable and healing.

Glad we were NOT on Schedule

If you know me, this is something I would not likely say. I love to be on time, BUT, this time was an exception. We planned to head back to Oklahoma at noon, but instead we drove about 20 minutes in the opposite direction to Kansas City, MO. There is a place there called Historic City Market, or as the locals refer to it, The River Market.

It was a cute little place. We first went into a building and there was a display about the Steamboat Arabia which sank in 1856. From there we walked outside and lined up in a market-place type style were very small little local restaurants, and local fruit vendors.

We decided we were hungry so after tracing out steps backward along the many choices of food options, we stopped at a place called The Bite for some sandwiches. It was a quaint little place with modern art decorating it. For my daughter and I, I ordered a gripped tofu sandwich that had Vietnamese BBQ sauce and some other yummy veggies in it. I had not tasted anything like it, we both enjoyed it very much!

Not only the food was good at The Bite, but it also inspired us to make a little art of our own! We call it… Road Trip Glasses. Modern photo art at its finest.

P.S. Day 1 of our road trip will explain the Road Trip Glasses reference ; )

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Next up….COFFEE. Among the shops lined up for us to go inside, there was a place called COFFEEHOUSE – it’s all about the beans the tagline said. And since I am all about coffee, I figured it would be a match made in Kansas City, Missouri heaven. We each got something, and my something was a cold brewed coffee called “Hippie” – it had a good interesting after taste and was refreshing on a hot day. The employees were helpful and really nice, it was definitely a good place to stop.

On the way out, we stopped off at a little shop that sold handmade African clothing. My sweet daughter found a dress she liked, tried it on, and since she looked so lovely in it, we got it.

Last Stop, Missouri River

Since we really needed to start making headway on our 5 hour journey back home, we made only a quick pit stop at the Missouri River in Kansas City. The place we stopped seemed very peaceful and relaxing, it would be a great place to meditate, or as my friend said she sometimes does, read a book.

Farewell, Kansas

It was about 3:30 PM by the time we left Kansas, and even though the original plan was noon, I am glad we stayed a little longer. We headed down I-35 South on our journey back home. The scenery is beautiful green pastures and cows. When I was in the Army, we called that route “God Country” because it was beautiful, but nothing really out there.

Along the way, about 1.5 hours from Oklahoma City, we decided to stop and grab a bite to eat at a Mexican restaurant. We love Mexican food so it seemed like a good go-to as we were nearing the end of our road trip. The restaurant was called, Los Potros Mexican Restaurant. Now, we agreed upon not calling this place “bad,” but, I will share our experience with you now.

We walked through the front door and were not greeted. A man grabbed a couple menus and by him walking away, it was the assumption that we should follow, so we did. After sitting us down, he walked away with no further communication. From there another man brought us chips and salsa, but again, no words, he also walked away. A few minutes later, our waiter arrived to get our drinks and it was I that initiated the “hellos” and gave our drink choices and asked for queso cheese dip. After coming back with our drinks we ordered our food with him and somehow that seemed to be an issue when I asked for a certain enchilada with no meat. However, we ordered and the food got to us so fast! My daughter commented to me while the waiter was away that they don’t seem very nice here; I said they are probably just busy.

When we got our super fast food, we noticed that I did not get what I asked for exactly, and my daughter had meat in hers – I did not request a change for mine, it was ok, but we did need hers with no meat. When that was corrected, we dug in… the food was very mediocre and the choose did taste like melted American cheese. We are pretty good about finishing our meals, but we just cold not complete it here.  We saw they had sopapillas that looked glamorous on the menu picture, but my girl even said “it looks good, but I am scared to order it, we should go to Braum’s. “Luckily” they did not even offer dessert to us, so we got our check and headed to Braum’s. As I said earlier, we will not call it “bad” because I am sure that other people like the food, service, and it might even be a regular place for some to stop for a bite, but for us….we will probably not be making our way back to Los Potros anytime soon.

Delirium

So, we are almost home and delirium begins to set in – delirium = fun and sleepiness, which then equals, funny videos.

I’m no Mariah Carey, but singing in the car is one of my most favorite things to do. Especially when road tripping.

I’m not entirely sure what was happening here, but it went down. Delirium caused me to be a goat singing Backstreet Boys. My 8 year old was lovin’ it.

Home Sweet Home

What better title than “Home Sweet Home” for the final segment of any getaway? It was around 9:40 PM when we got into the city, and we completed our journey by stopping at…Wal-Mart. We usually have instant coffee in our house, but I decided I needed a real coffee pot that had an auto brewer timer. So, I got one. As soon as we got home, I cleared a space, corrected the clock, filled her up and  set the timer to start-a-brewin’ at 7:00 AM. Best thing ever. I woke up to the smell of fresh coffee. Welcome home indeed!

Project: Breakaway Vaca Theme Song