Our road trip to Florida

Our road trip was exhausting! We were lost for two hours in Nebraska, believe it or not. We took the wrong connecting highway between interstates. Google map isn't that accurate, and either was the U.S. Highway map that we had. We should have had a road atlas. Next time....
I really wanted to stop close to Independence, Missouri and see Liberty Jail, but it was getting late and we needed to push it to the next city to stop for the night. I wasn't really sure where to turn off, or how far it would be. Then when we drove through St. Louis, Missouri, we wanted so badly to take the exit to the arch but we just didn't have time. We really pushed it, speeding the whole way and going drive thru for late lunches, only to quickly stop for gas and a toilet break. Sorry for the details.... When we finally stopped at our hotel for the night at 7:30 p.m., we would check in and then go get take out sandwiches for dinner and eat them in our hotel room. We were always so exhausted. The beds were really comfortable and I slept really well. We sure got giddy on the last hour of the trip. We could hardly wait to get to Ocala and see Ricky and not have to drive anymore.
Vanessa and I had a goal to take a picture at every state's welcome sign that we drove through. We had to slam on the brakes many times and took our life in our hands trying to pull off the interstate! You can see our pictures on Vanessa's blog.
http://vanessahorst79.blogspot.com/
Friday evening, there was a reception for Economic Development. It was at a stud farm. It was so gorgeous! Just like you see in the movies. It looked like a horse ranch to me. We had the reception in the stable which was as clean and scent free as anything, you would never know it was a stable. The hors d'oevres were mouth watering. Then we walked down the path to the house that looked like a castle, complete with tourets, or princess towers. We walked through the home and ate in the back on the patio, at candle lit tables, under the stars, with beautiful cool, pleasant weather. The meal was served in four courses, and each course was petite. The food was fabulous. There was a lot of wine drinking, which was different than we are used to. Anyway, it was a nice experience. I met the superintendent of schools and he volunteered to take us when Sean comes, to see all the schools. There are a lot here, and they each specialize in different things.
We went to church today, and Elder Gonzales, the president of the Quorum of the Seventy, was the speaker. I met Christie Brown who is the Relief Society president, she was at our wedding reception in Crestview when she was about 9 years old, she grew up in Crestview and we are friends with her parents, she has a sister who was friends with Rebecca, and her husband was Jeremy's home teaching companion in Riverton, his parent's ward. What a small world!