After failed attempts in three successive years, Tom and I recently completed one more road trip to the western United States. While not the year-long or months-long trips of years past, it was (you may say) satisfactory. We drove 6,184 miles through 15 states. For a good part of the trip west, we tried to travel on U.S. Route 50. On the way back home, once we got through Colorado, we mostly followed U.S. Route 30 east.

We heard birds everywhere we traveled: a Baltimore oriole cheeped in the tree above our campsite at North Bend State Park in West Virginia; dicksissels and Eastern meadowlarks sang in the TallGrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas; and we saw, heard, and acknowledged the ravens at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  At the Gates of Lodore campground in Dinosaur National Monument, Tom and I camped next to a busy family of black-billed magpies, where, for hours at a time, the parents took turns quickly gathering food and returning to the nest to feed their clamoring babies. I had never seen before this intense behavior so near at hand. I feel lucky to have seen it  On our month-long trip we heard and saw warblers, vireos, woodpeckers, sparrows, nuthatches, tanagers, cardinals, owls, Canada geese, wrens, and many more species. Through the weeks and miles–in the woods, prairies, canyons, and mountains–I often would hear a particularly sweet clear song. It was always familiar, but I would check my Merlin app to be sure. It was always an American robin. I love them and thank them for their companionship on this trip and in my life.

On this trip Tom and I made an effort to see not just our favorite places, but also some places we have longed to see. We sought out gardens, arboretums, forests, preserves, parks, and monuments. Some places–like Browns Park in northeastern Colorado–I had been reading about for decades. Other places–like Purdue’s Gabis Arboretum in northwestern Indiana–we searched out as we traveled. Below are photos of some of the places we visited.

Tom and I were going on a road trip, so we were also planning on finding some tasty road food along the way. In fact, before our departure, Tom had been studying The Great American Burger Book to find iconic burgers in the states we would travel through. As it turned out, we only tried two regional favorites from the book: a GOM Sandwich at Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor and Museum in Columbus, Indiana and a bierock at Runza, a chain restaurant in North Platte, Nebraska. I found the GOM sandwich pretty good and the root beer float I drank with it delicious. The fast food bierock tasted like nondescript fast food, but the staff members were friendly. If I travel through Nebraska again, I would like to try a slow cooked version of a bierock.

We did come across a handful of good restaurant meals on the road, though. Pepperoni rolls are a thing in West Virginia and we had great ones–for lunch and dinner!–from Tomaro’s Bakery in Clarksburg. If you like good bread and flavorful artery-hardening Italian meat and if you are nearby, it’s worth a drive to the old Clarksburg downtown to try these rolls. It’s a long way from almost anywhere to the generic strip mall in Minooka Illinois, that houses the Dragon Inn. We ate the best dumplings we ever had and the other dishes we had (which escape me already) were also delicious. I wish I had taken more photos, but we were busy eating.

On this trip Tom and I stayed in hotels much more than we camped. Still, one of my favorite meals was our standard  camp meal of cheese sandwich, hummus, carrots, and chips.

The Other Road We Travel Yesterday was Tom and my 50th wedding anniversary.* As it does happen in this life, we started out young and now we are old.  When we were young at the North Rim and a few years later in Salt Lake City, we flew  with our friends like a flock of freewheeling birds above our uncertainties, our problems, our pains, and our setbacks.  This year, Tom and I needed to get back to the the rim and Salt Lake City (and the Front Range of Colorado) one more time (at least) to where we began together and to see others of our flock.

This was the primary impetus that got us on the road. We feel fine, or fine enough for a couple of old coots, but we don’t know how long that will last. I don’t know the exact words to describe the sweetness and comfort I felt–even in this uncertain, uncivilized, and fraught era–in seeing our friends again. Laura, Art, Howard, and Mark in Salt Lake; Sally in Colorado; and Richard when we were back home in Virginia. I remember with love all our friends from those days–the ones we recently saw and the ones we didn’t.  And, I just now recalled a line from Bob Dylan that gets me closer to what I mean to say: then and now, you give us shelter from the storm.

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* Because it was our actual anniversary and the Summer Solstice, I hoped to finish this article yesterday. My excuses for others:  It was hot and we went out to dinner. My excuse for myself: I was in an extended period of procrastination.