Day 46 (7/17): Olathe, KS; Day Off

Quite the busy day off. Got up at 7 to head over for breakfast at the “Mahaffie Wagon Stop”…a famous stop on the Sante Fe Trail. Had some amazing omelettes (world famous, in fact) prepared by Beverly Wittenborn with help from Anna and some other friends…Cindy and Victor from yesterday also came out to join us. After eating we toured around the wagon stop for a little bit…basically the family would feed travelers passing through, having contracted with the stage coach line.



We headed straight over to the Lakemary center for lunch and a friendship visit. Started off with an intro to the center, where they played their latest fundraising video…a music video of sorts with the friends at the center jamming out: “Only youuuu can do what God intended for you to doooo…you’re CUSTOM MADE!!” Pretty funny but also heartwarming. We then got a tour of their facilities…which provide an incredibly broad range of services, from day programs, to housing, to work opportunities. Ate some sandwiches for lunch then got to hang out for a couple hours…the real character of the visit was Baird, a young fun-loving guy who had all sorts of Special Olympics championships under his belt. Always super excited…loved showin off his dance moves and playing games with us no matter what they were.

On our way back to lodging we stopped at Mark Cameron’s house, where he showed us all of the incredible technology that allows him to live in near independence…voice activated lights and locks, a lift to get him in and out of bed, a voice activated computer and head-tracking mouse, and his chair which is controlled by sucking and blowing into a straw…really amazing stuff.

Back at the Kansas School for the Deaf we all got changed up…next up was a minor league baseball game: the Kansas City T-Bones versus the Joliet Jackhammers! Got to tailgate with some friends of Mark Cameron’s who had their own grill company…and cooked us up some incredible burgers and pork tenderloin on a $6500 smoker. The game was a lot of fun…just really hot!! I sat with Sally from the Kansas School for most of the time…total sweetheart.

We all said our goodbyes to Mark and headed back to lodging….catchin some sleepy time for tomorrow’s ride.