The United States is a vast and beautiful country. Our route took us through Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. Even in our rush to get home, we managed to avoid the interstate until southern Indiana heading toward home. We can tell you, our nation’s corn supply in the summer of 2022 was a bumper crop and provided miles of green! It was even pretty. One highlight was trying to find food in a small Iowa town and stumbling upon one of the most authentic Mexican dining experiences since the Merida market! There we had some amazing tacos and tried not to think very hard about what they were made from.

We also made the acquaintance of a couple there for lunch. It turns out, they were part of the RAGBRAI group that was biking across Iowa. We learned that this was an annual event described as “an epic eight-day rolling festival of bicycles, music, food, camaraderie, and community. It is the oldest, largest, and longest multi-day bicycle touring event in the world”. This year there were over 18,000 participants! And this was no easy ride. It was hot, humid and hilly and the rides were often around 50 miles each day. It looked fun though and we ended passing scores of riders and imagined what it would mean for a little town in Iowa to receive 18,0000 visitors in one day. Wow!

A few other highlights were a delicious steak dinner at a nice little restaurant somewhere in Kansas and  realizing we had made a reservation to stay in a hotel at a casino complex somewhere in Sioux City that was overflowing with, of all things, little league baseball players. Home was within a day’s drive, so we bypassed spending any time in either Lexington or Louisville but would love to go back.

The feeling of knowing you are going to sleep in your own bed is delightful. But-here we are now, sitting on the front porch in the gorgeous early Tennessee Fall and thinking about this trip home-relishing the adventure. And we realize that we just can’t wait to get back out there and find other blank places on the map to turn into memories.