Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

We had originally planned on stopping in St Louis en route to Nashville. Then we thought about popping over on the way to Louisville or Mississippi but we just didn’t make it happen. And then we realized that in order to get all the states, we were going to have to get the ones in the middle too – which is easier said than done. We had a week between the end of our stay in Mississippi and the start of space camp in Houston. It seemed like a good time to knock off a big chunk of the middle: Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. Then we looked at the forecast.

Turns out it’s harder to outrun Canadian winter than we thought and there was some god awful polar vortex making its way south bringing temperatures plummeting to -1420° (or somewhere around there). Didn’t seem like an ideal time to drive all the way to Nebraska. So instead, we cut it down by a couple of states and headed for St. Louis. There was at least something we wanted to do there.

Our trip through Arkansas was brief but exciting. While cruising down the freeway the car in front of us burst into flames. Thankfully Jacob was paying attention and managed to swerve around it. It also served as a good opportunity to remind the kids why they can’t be arguing in the backseat.

We eventually made it to St Louis after a couple days of driving. About an hour out from our Airbnb we had to switch gears as the furnace died. I would guess we weren’t the only ones as we saw not one but two houses fully engulfed in flames on our ride into the city. After a little shuffling we found another place, got checked in and warmed up. The new place had a foosball and pac-man arcade so the kids were more than happy with the new accommodations.