Road Trip!

Greg and I have had a fabulous couple weeks in Wisconsin and are currently on a road trip. We've covered a lot of ground - more than 1,000 miles/1609 kilometers - and seen so many friends!

A couple Greg has known since high school - Robyn and Ryan - entertained us during a stop in Iowa City. They have a lovely little poodle named Ruby and are expecting their first baby any day now! Robyn and Ryan were able to visit us in Munich on their way to a conference so it was great to reciprocate and see their lovely home.

From there, we drove until Omaha to grab dinner and stay with our friend Jess. She's just finishing up her year-long internship at a facility in Boys Town that provides counseling and help for young adults so they can avoid prison. It's always so much fun to talk with her.

The next day we got moving early so we could avoid the heat of the day - it was about 90-100 F/32-38 C plus humidity in Nebraska and Kansas. We took a scenic route with rolling hills of corn, combines, and grain towers all around. We even got to hear the corn report (the stock market for corn prices apparently)! I'll leave it to Greg to write more about the wonderous things we saw along the way.  But here's a visual taste:



Picture I took at 65 mph of some sort of farm equipment...
I'm pretty proud of how it turned out!

Grain tower along the road

Finally, we made it to Denver - and thankfully right before a big storm hit! It was amazing seeing it advancing across the city. However, it blocked our view of the mountains so I don't have a great shot for you guys.

You can see the storm to the left and a little sliver of mountains below the exit sign.

We had several full days of seeing friends this week. Greg and I stayed the first part of the week with our old neighbors and good friends, Dan and Molly, who have a sweet little girl named Kate and our favorite lab in the world, Lucia. Lucia was great with the baby, letting her plop down and pet her by squeezing her fur between her little fists. Thankfully, Lucia's got a good coat of fur and a little bit extra cushioning to take it.


Kate and Dan in action

We're now with Greg's buddy from Marshfield, Jeremy, his wife Steph, and their shih tsus, Sadie and Sanabelle. Greg's other two good friends from old days, Steve and Shawn, came to stay for the weekend as well so it's a big party in here. It's great to see everyone and catch up on what has been going on with them the last two years.

We still have one more week on the road so expect some more posts about our travels! We're also going to be going backwards a little to write about the Golz family reunion in Door County last weekend.