Springfield, Missouri

We have family in Kentucky and in Tennessee. So we left Utah and headed to Kentucky by way of Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. We hit snow at our overnight stop, at highway rest area in Nebraska.

We use a navigational program that gives us an R.V.  safe path; that helps us avoid bridges that are too low or streets that are too narrow. Which leads us to another learning opportunity, up to this point; I as the copilot, have pretty much trusted it. Well in Missouri, it lost that trust. It wasn’t a dangerous deviation just used up some of our time. The trip wizard had us enter Missouri at Kansas City, go down through Springfield, and then up to St. Louis and then on to Illinois. Now, if you’re geographically challenged like I am, you read right past all that and said okay so…

Note to self when the whole U.S. map is on a small computer screen; that route looks like a fairly straight route. However you need to zoom in to see the details; if you have no basic understanding of the state geography. There was a straight shot on a big highway, from Kansas City to St Louis. Keep Mark in your thoughts, he set out on this adventure with a geographically and directionally challenged co-pilot AND he knew that going into it the deal. BUT you work with what you have and move forward ; )

We boondocked (that’s living off generator power, on board water supply, and using the waste water holding tanks), through Wyoming and Nebraska; without stopping to see any sites. We wanted to see our out of state family, and yet still be in Texas for the Holidays. So we chose to blow through those states, and we will catch them another time.

Springfield, Missouri is home of the “best Aquarium of 2020” according to U.S. News, and I must say it was incredible. While it is in a good size building, they designers have created a labyrinth of trails inside that make it really seem huge. The displays and dioramas are amazing. There are not only aquariums but also mammals, birds and reptiles in habitats with unbelievable detail. Unfortunately the lighting was very subdued so my phone wasn’t up to the challenge for getting great pictures; but if you find yourself in Springfield you should add that to your list of things to do.

We also stopped by “The Park” in Springfield, which like is a mini Grand Central Park. It is an area that has many separate themed parks; all put together into one big park. It was a wonderful doggy day adventure and it was beautiful even in the fall.

Thanks for checking in on Our Adventure. We will see you in Kentucky.