Day 16 – July 4, 2019

It was inevitable. The worst part of any Big Trip. Worse than rain. Worse than cold. Worse than wind. Worse humidity. The atrocity that I speak of? Laundry day.

We made it 15 days without needing to go to the dreaded laundromat. Kathy has shuffled and recirculated the clothes to delay the inevitable. But we can delay no longer.

So we found a good laundromat and I think our luck changed. It started to pour rain. The one thing that makes laundry day even worse is beautiful weather. But this weather was horrible and we are glad we are not in it. Wait, was that the sound of thunder? Yes!

The one thing Ashley misses most is the ability to go into her room for a little alone time. It is safe to say she hasn’t had any alone time in 15 days. So she decided to use laundry day to her advantage.

She stayed in the van. A brilliant move. She had her tablet and her 3DS. What more could a girl need?

Meanwhile, we just kept tossing quarters into machines until the clothes were clean and mostly dry. Donkers decided to emerge from the van to help. He always enjoys a good photo op.

After 3 hours of laundry, we were finally set free. Our thought was to head back to World’s of Fun for a free lunch and maybe a couple of rides. But the rain was continuing to fall. So Kathy decided we should do the next best thing: Fazoli’s.

While slurping our spaghetti and devouring our breadsticks, we had a family meeting to decide where to go next.

The plan is to go to St. Louis. But if we deviate a little off the I-70, we can visit Marceline, the childhood hometown of Walt Disney.

Marceline has a number of sites to visit related to Disney. They also have the Walt Disney Hometown Museum.

So we booked a room in a nearby town and said goodbye to Kansas City.

After a two hour drive, we pulled into the Martin House Motel in Brookfield, Missouri. We were assigned a room and given an old school key.

Unfortunately, I accidently booked a smoking room and it was beyond disgusting. The smell was overwhelming. The room was tiny and dark. I would rather sleep in the van.

Thankfully, the girl at the front desk had a nonsmoking room available.

Our new room was larger, brighter and way less smelly. And best of all, the room had a view.

Yes that is the world famous Brookfield water tank. They even light it at night. It’s exactly like the Eifel Tower. So romantic.

We are trying to figure out where to go next. Maybe St. Louis. Maybe Springfield, Illinois.

The fireworks start at 11 pm tonight. Way past our bedtime. We will try to sleep through it.