My first blog was about a 5200-mile, 19-day road trip with Jennifer in November 2020, from Montana, across Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, and Oregon, with Covid snapping at our heals the entire way. Fast forward to July 8-August 6, 2022, I was on the road again, but the route was very different from the first one: from Montana to Wyoming, Colorado, panhandle Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, ending up in Michigan. Along for the ride, and kept busy in Texas and Michigan, was a sewing machine and serger. Two weeks east of Happy, TX, out on the dusty, scorching open prairie, sewing projects occupied the better part of two weeks. I have deep roots in that part of the country, so it was wonderful to reconnect with old friends, and make some new ones. In the middle of those two weeks was a twelve hundred round trip to El Paso, TX, through the eastern edge of New Mexico. Roswell, New Mexico was along the route, and other than the usual statues of little (some of them oversized) green men, we didn’t see any flying saucers or get abducted by aliens. The thermometer hovered around 109 F while we were in El Paso, TX. After Jennifer’s business was taken care of, we, including my friend Christy, high-tailed it back to Happy, stopping at the beautiful White Sands National Monument for a short tour; and a short time at a pistachio farm (best pistachios I have ever eaten).
Jennifer left Amarillo for Ho Chi Minh City on July 24, and Christy and I headed toward Omaha, Nebraska where she lives. Along the way, we stopped in Anadarko, OK to visit one of my best friends from teenage adventures in Texas. Arriving in Omaha, we were ready for a little rest, but still managed to visit the Lauritzen Gardens and a short jaunt to the zoo with Christy’s granddaughters.
My next destination was Gaylord, Michigan, with travel through Iowa, near Chicago, IL and across a corner of Indiana, before arriving in Michigan. The sewing machine was once again busy as I sewed some skirts for Nancy. After the sewing projects were finished, it was time for me to start the journey back to Montana, but Nancy was able to go with me to the shore of Lake Michigan, where the sunsets are legendary, and an unexpected pierogi cooking class ended my stay with Nancy on a fun note.
Two days on the road, touching the east edge of South Dakota and across the state of North Dakota, I arrived in Billings with only a cracked windshield to show for all the miles. My new Outback and started the journey with 500 miles on the odometer, ticking off 5864 in the end.
Once again, I felt like Bilbo Baggins in Lord of the Rings, there and back again. Four weeks and thirteen states, scorching temperatures, except for Michigan, but also enough new memories to recall for a lifetime.
