JULY 8TH 2010 DAY 69 Part 1 and Part 2

Hey short and sweet tonight. Out of Kansas and in Missouri, which by the way, is the place where my entire family was born (Kansas City) with the exception of me, I am the lone Californian. I am currently in the lakes of the Ozarks. Lots of water, lakes, rivers, ponds and wet lands. It is very green, very beautiful dense vegetation with lots of wildlife. My aunt lives down here and I am hoping to get some local knowledge of some back roads and the best way to negotiate this area. Too tired now, will continue in morning. Part 2. Good Morning, that's better. I was informed of a possible route called the Katy Trail that I think I am going check out. I think it was an old rail route from back in the day. It stretches over 240 miles but it doesn't take me south, just west towards St. Louis. I was planning on Kentucky next, followed by Tennessee and on to and through all of North Carolina, but first things first, Missouri. The weather is hot and humid here and I like it, reminds me of better times. I am sure I will like it less the deeper I journey into the south and the deeper we get in summer. I appreciate all of the support that we continue to receive and thanks to the well wishes from the people I have met along he way. We will catch up on the past few weeks as we go but know that amidst all of the bad, there has been plenty of good too. I am still just as dedicated to this journey as when I started, a lot of soul searching later and several questions answered, we continue to push. I wish that everyone could see the things I am seeing, there is beauty absolutely everywhere, you just have to stop and look. I will keep posting pictures as well to prove this is true. I had a week long mission that took me back to Montana to pull my brother out and get him into a hospital. He was released yesterday and is doing well. Doctor said he would have surely died if he had remained any longer. I was thanked for this but all thanks go to Mackenzie. If it wasn't for her, I would have been in Europe and not here. I fought going up there but I could feel Mackenzie telling me I had to do this, as usual she was right. I also knew once I was up there again, it would be tough to leave. If you are searching for true, majestic, take your breath away beauty, Montana, Wyoming and the Black Hills of South Dakota are hard to beat. It wasn't originally part of the journey but I am glad I had the opportunity to introduce Mackenzie to these places that I had tried to so many times before to take her. She loved her uncle very much and in fact mentioned going with me to Montana the week she left us. Instead he came here and she was gone the next day, more on that later. I regret not writing over the past few weeks because everyday I didn't write, was another day where people were not hearing about Mackenzie and her life and her story. There is much more to tell and much more in front of us, with this said, I am back and will be here as often as possible, writing about this life changing journey. Whats next? You will be the second to know. Thanks for being a part of day sixty nine.
*When Mackenzie was just a toddler, she would stand on my feet while we would dance in the living room to a song called "When We Dance" by Sting. I would pick her up and we would dance around the room. It is one of the things I miss the most, I doubt she remembered but I will never forget.