Caitlin, I don't think we're in Vermont anymore!

Leaving Wisconsin was a bit sad. It was a beautiful, sunny, autumn day, with the birds chirping and the colorful leaving falling slightly. Caitlin and I were reminded of Burlington when we walked down State St. in Madison. There were coffee shops and small boutiques as well as some larger chain stores. And the trees looked better than the ones in VT before I left! I am happy to have seen some beautiful leaves before heading out into the tropics. We left Madison around 11 and headed out towards Kansas City after a quick goodbye to Dani.

The ride down was LONG! But luckily Wisconsin wasn't as flat as we had thought and the weather was nice, which helped make the ride progress faster. Iowa was uneventful and Caitlin drove right through it. Lots of open space, rolling hills and farms. Classic breadbasket America. Lots of cows, calves, and road kill. SOOO much road kill. We decided that the raccoons get wasted from the corn and then stumble into the highway, get hit and die. Seriously, we saw like at least 50 dead raccoons. just in Iowa, not including the other states.

We hit the sunset exactly in Kansas City and holy bejesus, it was just as spectacular as it was the other night as well. I have to find those photos for later because they are on Caitlin's camera.

But we arrived a little outside of Kansas City around 8 and met up with my friend Emily. Emily and I went to England together a few years ago and when she realized I was driving out west, she courteously invited me to stay if I needed a place. So taking her up on her offer, Caitlin and I road on over to her place. She had just eaten dinner with her family, but Caitlin and I were famished and asked her what's a good BBQ place to go too. Uncle Stewart told me that we had to have BBQ if we went to Kansas City. When we told her that, she smiled and told us that she would take us to her favorite place: Oklahoma Joe's. Some of you might recognize the name, Anthony Bourdain deemed it to be one of the 13 places you must eat at before you die. Really. Look it up. So we went there and got some delicious fries, and I got the Sm"Okie" Joe (a beef and pork BBQ pulled sandwich on a white bun) and Caitlin got the Z-man sandwich (a pork brisket sandwich with onion rings, provolone chz and their BBQ sauce on a white bun) We sent both pictures to our friend Sam and he deemed Caitlin's looked better, but they were both delish! (I actually liked mine better, the cheese seemed a bit sweet for the sandwich.) Emily just got fries, as she said they have the best fries ever. The best part of this restaurant is that it is inside of a gas station. Yup. Best places to eat are always in random locations. Don't mind the picture, it was definitely a lot better than it looks.

We ended the night by staying in and watching a movie. Emily's mom made some of the best oatmeal cookies I have ever had and then we all went to sleep, since Caitlin and I had to get up wicked early for Denver.

And now were here. I'll write about the journey later. It's time to find some more food in this place. YUM!

<3 Joya