We did some extra driving today just to get into Iowa since we have never been there. We will see several other states new to us on this trip, too. We went northeast from Lawrence around Kansas City and up to Iowa making a line across the southern part of the state through Radar O'Reilly's hometown of Ottumwa then down to Eldon to see the American Gothic House, the house in Grant Wood’s painting. We dressed up in garb identical to the characters in the pain...

The hotel was fine overnight, and we were up early with the help of the alarm to get going in time to make it to Spivey, Kansas before the post office closed at 11:15 a.m. This trip was through the backroads of Oklahoma and Kansas on mostly two-lane roads without much traffic. We pulled into Spivey about 10:45 and drove first to the post office. I created and printed postcards at home with a sunflower photo and "Greetings from Spivey, Kansas" on them to mail to a...

Today was a fun day stopping at two places in the Texas Panhandle. First we drove to Lake Meredith Harbor to see what it looks like now. We haven't been there since the fire the destroyed over 150 structures in May, 2014. The area doesn’t look too bad. There are a few places that have debris that may have been from the fire, but it could be just usual deterioration of old buildings. The mobile home that used to stand on the corner next to our property has b...