Hi friends.
Thanks for coming back to read and keep up with our journey. The last few weeks had us all over the place, but in the best way. We had our last week in Colorado, flew out to Detroit, drove from Detroit to Toledo and back, flew back to Colorado, and drove the van through a few stops in Kansas, ultimately ending the two weeks in Kansas City, Missouri.
Colorado is beautiful, and we’ve been loving it, but as I’ve probably mentioned before – I was feeling ready to move on to see new things. After all, we spent about 5 weeks there. There’s plenty more to explore, and many hikes we want to do in the future when the weather isn’t so hot. Regardless, it was fun to spend this last week with a few people. We were happy to see Vinny, Jessica, and Lucy one more time before heading out. We also got to visit with Carrie, one of Travis’s friends that he only previously connected with online. Carrie is Travis’s editor for when he writes for Hipsters of the Coast. It was fun getting to meet her in person, as well as have a board game night with her roommates. Travis and I love board games and we do have some that we brought with us, but with all of our other adventures, it gets put on the back-burner often. It was really fun to get back to playing.
One of the reasons we were in Colorado for so long is because we bought tickets to fly out from Denver to Detroit so we can attend a wedding down in Toledo, Ohio. It was for one of Travis’s best friends from high school. We were really excited when the weekend came, allowing us to go see them and celebrate his friend Drake with his beautiful bride Kerry. They’re such wonderful people and we are really happy for them. It was also fun for Travis to see some people he hasn’t seen in years, and for me to meet these people that I’ve only heard about in stories.
Our flight out of Detroit was in the afternoon, so we thought it would be fun to explore the city a bit. It was a beautiful day. We walked along the Detroit Riverfront and watched some boats go up and down the river, looking out at Canada on the other side. I thought I knew geography pretty well, but had no idea that Detroit was that close to the border. Eventually, we made our way over to the neighborhood of Greektown, where we found a place for Detroit style pizza. It was pretty tasty, but still has nothing on New York or New Haven style pizza. Chicago deep dish also has a special place in my heart.
When we arrived back in Colorado, we spent one more night before making our way into Kansas. I have to say, of all of the places we have driven thus far – that stretch between Denver & Dodge City, Kansas was by far the most boring. Not only was everything brown, it was very flat and very straight. Dodge City ended up being a cute little town, but what surprised us the most about Kansas was how much we liked Wichita. It’s one of those places that I hadn’t really thought much about, but when we got there – we ended up seeing just how nice of a place it is. We grabbed some food and drinks in the town and walked around quite a bit of the downtown area. There were plenty of art installations, restaurants, and beautiful buildings all around. I don’t know what I was really expecting, if anything, but I was pleasantly surprised about how nice the city was.
We continued making our way over to Kansas City, but not before stoping in Emporia along the way. Travis wanted to hit here in particular so he could ride a little bit of the roads used in the Unbound Gravel bike race. We have also been working with Pepper Jack quite a bit on his “buggy” so we could pull him behind us. We aren’t fully there yet with him, but we are both looking forward to when he gets comfortable enough so we can go on family bike rides.
Kansas City was also a nice town. It’s been on my list of places to see for a while, so I’m glad we made it here. We walked along the Missouri River, learned about Lewis & Clark’s journey across, and of course has some Kansas City barbecue at Arthur Bryant’s. We tried some pulled pork and rib ends, and it was absolutely delicious. We ended the week at Smithville Lake of Clay County, just north of the city. We walked around for a while, but due to the heat, ended up sitting by the lake in the shade, reading our books and relaxing. Not a bad way to end a Saturday.
Now, we are off to Omaha and are making our way north again for a while to ride out the last few weeks of super hot weather. We are excited to see some places we missed on the way through the first time due to the heat, including Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Chicago.
Thanks for reading.
Leece
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