Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

We got a head start on the sun this morning, which isn’t saying much this time of year. And we raced it about 700 miles due West to Kansas City, ultimately losing that contest and getting into town around 6:30PM.  The dawn greeted us with a spectacular mix of oranges and reds, and fading purples and blues as the sun was approaching the last couple hundred miles of Eastern Standard Time and ushered us westward.

Good morning America. Good morning golden arches.

“Charley smells like sleepy puppy.” We both understand exactly what that means and what constitutes “sleepy puppy smell.” A blend of sweet coziness nearly impossible to describe in any other manner. She continues to be as good as we could ask, as she is is just casually and unknowingly making a cross-country trip without a second thought. Always “being present,” we could learn a lot from her.

Ohio is flat. And the interstate is straight. And flat. That’s about all there is to know in Ohio west of Columbus on I-70.

We crossed the Ohio-Indiana border before noon. I’ve been through Indiana before on a cross country trip with my brother, Kaivan, and spent several hours in a standstill on I-70 late into the night. We didn’t like Indiana. Also, a good friend made an interesting statement about how Indiana smells like McDonald’s, and, much to our amazement, we rolled into Indianapolis to what smelled like a citywide bonfire of burgers and fries. But the folks at the gas stations were friendly and the weather was kind to us.

Illinois was a blip. I barely recall it. We crossed the Mississippi and entered St. Louis, gateway to the West and home of the arch on the west bank of the river. The national park was closed, but the walkways around the arch were still accessible. So we snapped a couple pictures there and set off to Pappy’s Smokehouse for some St. Louis style BBQ. We had Kansas City BBQ for dinner in a BBQ showdown, but we agree our findings are inconclusive. Oh well, I guess we’ll have to try again.

The afternoon shift of the road trip was wet. As much as the Indiana and Ohio skies were kind to us, Missouri was just rude. Spitting rain, wind gusts, and eventually sleet and heavy snow showers stalked us along our route.  So the day had us go through a beautiful sunrise followed by clear skies, then blustery winds, eventually crumbling into rain and ultimately sleet/snow. It is not trending well. Hoping tomorrow is a different story as we cruise through Kansas (surrounded by behemoth wind turbines whose size really is too large to conceptualize).

We’ve settled into our litte heated cabin outside the limits of Kansas City for the night. Tomorrow’s planned destination is Denver, staying at our good friends Joe and Olivia’s house for a couple days. Really looking forward to that!