And all too soon...

the time for parting has come.

Just 26 hours after I arrived at Mom and Dad's, it was time to head for St. Louis to catch my flight to somewhere (Atlanta maybe?  Miami?  Houston?) and then on to Guayaquil.  

A quick shot of the side of Mom and Dad's house as we pull onto the road

And a look down Sunny Lane

So, you know those things you look at every day and don't think anything about?  

They're absolutely beautiful.

Straight, flat roads that disappear into the horizon with vast expanses of flat farmland on either side

Precise rows of beans and corn with a farm in the distant background

Unmowed ditches and corn beginning to reach for the sky

Little lakes and small towns on the horizon

Wind turbines

Hay bales

Gigantic ice cream cones and pink elephants

Okay, maybe that's not such a common sight. :-)

My intention was to show the folks down here what "home" looks like, but I haven't even done that.  

So far, they've mainly just served as tools for me to convince myself that I really was there.  

So much happened in such a short time, that it almost feels unreal, but of course, it was real, and I'm ever so grateful.

Crossing the bridge into Missouri

Thanks, Kyle and Kalynn, for getting me this far safely!