Kansas is faaaar away from Indiana! We knew it would take us 12 driving hours so we decided to split up the trip and do something fun along the way. We left on Wednesday evening, July 22 and spent the first night in Illinois and the next day we stopped in Hannibal, MO and toured the Mark Twain caves. These are the caves that were his inspiration and setting for some of his books, like Huckleberry Finn. We've been to caves before (they are really neat, if you haven't been to one, you really need to go) but like most caves, this one was very unique in it's own way. In the 1800's when it was discovered, they let people write on the walls of the cave! So this cave has lots of names all over it... with dates back to the early 1800's. They also used lanterns to light their way and there is still the black oil residue on the ceiling to prove it. They also didn't care if we touched the cave walls and even encouraged us to sit down for a break at one point.
Usually caves are very "hands-off" type of places. There were no bats this time and no big stalactite or stalagmites. It was very neat to have our guide quote conversations from the books that specifically talked about areas of the cave.
We travelled on to Fort Riley which is a military base in Junction City, Kansas. Tony's sister, Michelle and her family (Archie and Jade) are here for just a little while longer. Archie is deploying next month to Iraq for his 3rd tour there and will be gone for a year. Michelle and Jade are moving to Indiana for the year. We are excited about that, but super sad Archie has to go to Iraq again. On Friday morning we went to watch Archie get a promotion. The military has so many ranks and "tracks" for advancement to be on. I can't keep it all straight. What I do understand is that he is on the Warrant Officer track and he only has 3 more levels to go, until he is at the highest rank he can be at in the military. His specialty is in Military Intelligence and that's what he will be doing again in Iraq. He is an Interrogator and is good at getting needed information out of people. Boy, you should hear some of his stories!!!
Jade wore her little uniform and got to help put the new patch on her daddy's uniform and a new pin for his hat.
He was the only one receiving a promotion today. It was held out under a big tree. Here Archie is repeating his vows to protect and serve his country. Seriously, whether you agree with this war or not, how can one not tear up at this? Ask me, and I will tell you in person what Archie thinks of this war from his first hand experiences.
And here below is a more "typical" looking picture of our brother-in-law, right after he stole my plate away to finish off my potato salad... because he knew I "was getting full and he was doing me a favor to eat it for me." Ummm... OK... right. This is a typical Archie thing to do. You never know what he will do next... and yes, he did finish off my plate for me! He is taunting me with his last few bites in this picture.
