Lots of activities in the last 4 days.  Too many to unpack in one night, so just a summary of events.  We traveled across Missouri from St. Louis to Kansas City, then took a day trip into Kansas, another day trip around Kansas City itself, and then moved northward to Nebraska and tonight in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

We have been in 17 states and have traveled just short of 7 thousand miles.  In the last few days we saw:

one more national park for a total of 23 so far,

visited 2 other museums or historical sites for a total of 9 (this includes seeing 4 more B-17s – which means we have now seen more than half of all the known existing intact or being restored B-17s in the world, 24 of 46,

visited with 3 more groups of family members or friends, including my very gracious cousin Jerry Schomer and his family in Lee’s Summit Missouri, for a total of 6 visits on this trip, and

stopped at 3 more places related to family history, inlcuding my father’s gravesite, for a total of 11 such stops on this trip.

Both the Harry Truman National Historic Site and the National Museum of World War I were experiences full of information and places that provoked many thoughts about history, politics, the world, and our responsibilities in that world.

Also, experiences visiting places lived in and touched by both my parents during early parts of their lives evokes a lot of thoughts and feelings.

In both instances I am not up to trying to capsulize those thoughts tonight.

Maybe more tomorrow after even more new experiences and activites.