For the past two months or so, I've been having difficulty with planning the last few days of our trip-- the portion from Colorado home. This is the only part that I've kept waffling on-- I think I've changed the route through Colorado at least 3 times in the attempt to try to see the 'best' parts of the state. I've also pretty much come to the conclusion that the entire state is gorgeous and there is absolutely no way to see the best it has to offer in only two days!
This is also the only portion of the trip that I have yet to make campground reservations for-- which is kind of funny considering I've had some of our reservations since January ( which, FYI, is a necessity if you want to stay in Yosemite-- they book up 6 months in advance!! For my Disney friends--it's kind of like the Cinderella's Castle breakfast of the National Parks!). My only 'must do' for Colorado-- other than see the gorgeous mountain scenery-- is to visit the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs. If the weather is nice, we'd also like to make a trip to the top of Pike's Peak via the cog railway.
Most of you know that in the past year, I've started grinding my own wheat to make bread (this will be related to the point of this post so just bear with me a bit!). This has been an enjoyable venture with many added health benefits and I've even made converts of my parents (and I think my sister might not be too far behind!). Anyhow, I started thinking about our trip and the fact that we would be driving home through Kansas-- which is, hello-- the nation's 'breadbasket' because of all the wheat they grow! Recently, I read a report on msn.com about how the price of wheat has started and will continue to rise as many farmers have found wheat a less profitable crop and so have stopped growing it in favor of corn and soybeans (because of their potential as alternative fuel sources). Supply and demand is causing a dramatic increase in price and my recent purchase of wheat has proved this to be true as it has gone up over $10 from what I paid only a year ago.
So putting two and two together (I'm gifted like that-- being a homeschooling mom and all!!)-- I decided to check into the possibility of picking up some wheat from some farmer somewhere in Kansas since we'd be going right through there on the way home. So my best friend, Google, and I did some researching and came up almost empty-handed... there are either not many independent wheat farmers in Kansas or else they just don't have websites-- I'm not sure which is the case. I did, however, manage to find one very nice farmer with a website who was geographically in the right area of the state who also homeschools who is going to have some grain for me (at less than 1/2 the price that I have to pay to get it here in Georgia!!). Woohoo!! What a great and useful souvenier of our trip! And as an educational bonus, the wheat fields will be in full bloom (?) so the girls- and mommy- will get to see a great visual of where our bread comes from.
Long story even longer....we need to be further into Kansas earlier than originally planned so instead of meandering through Colorado, we will now head straight Colorado Springs and spend two nights there. This will allow us to see Pike's Peak and Focus on the Family without feeling rushed. It will also mean that we arrive earlier in St. Louis on the 15th, giving us more time at the Gateway Arch.
I had really not been feeling peace about this last portion of the trip-- there was so much to see and I didn't know how to fit it all in/where to stay/etc. -- that is really the greatest challenge of planning this trip-- trying to balance seeing and doing with all the driving that needs to occur. I had been praying that God would show me how to best make it all happen. Well-- He certainly did-- and these final few days are now falling into place. I'm going to have to revise a few pages in the "Blue Notebook" but that is totally fine by as I'm so excited about getting to see wheat grow!
I am a geek.
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