One of my favorite things is a road trip. Being in the heart of the US has offered me the opportunity to visit – ha, LIVE IN – states that sat empty and unloved on my Visited States map. Since moving to Iowa, I have crossed off Minnesota (not where Milwaukee is), Wisconsin (pretty sure this is where Milwaukee is), and Nebraska (I have since traveled there 4x in two years). States where I drove through while “finding myself” (aka running away from all my problems over a decade ago) that I have since revisited: Oklahoma and Missouri. For some reason, me and Illinois can’t break up because I have road-tripped there more than enough for one sane person’s lifetime. Oooh, and I get to cross off South Dakota this fall when I travel for a derby bout.

I once went to a rowdy New Year’s Party in Manhattan, Kansas ten years ago (BH = Before Husband) to celebrate the drunken life in this country’s Little Apple. This was before Uber and all I remember is standing in an auto wash waiting for a cab to return us to our creep motel on the other edge of town. In other words, I’ve got Kansas covered and crossed off.

Adventures are fun. And you don’t know fun until you visit the Puppet Museum in Independence, MO.

So where do you consider the Midwest line to end and the Great Plains border to begin? We can argue for eternity about our Eastern cousins. Hahahaha, GET OUT OHIO. I’m pretty certain that Idaho is not in the Midwest… but is that Great Plains or considered the West? West to me is Arizona and California, and Pacific Northwest is Washington (where I FINALLY visited this past summer).