Road Tripping!

So here we are in Kansas.

Ten important things I have learned so far on this trip:

1. Illinois has the worst roads when traveling from Georgia to Kansas. (Tennessee has the best.)

2. Paducah, Kentucky, may be the most redneck-sounding city in the country.

3. Sedating your dog makes car trips awesome. Parents of small children, I have a feeling this would work for you too. Give it a try!

4. A GPS is the greatest.

4a. But only if you actually follow the directions it gives you (no, I was not driving. Neither was Amelia. The driver will remain nameless for his or her own protection.)

5. Those big shuttlecocks at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art still induce a childlike sense of joy in me.

6. Cheesecake is probably the best of all the cheeses.

7. Roller coasters just don't have the same thrill they used to. I understand this to mean I'm turning into an old man. I am at peace with that.

8. The downtown in Lawrence, Kansas, is the archetype to which all other downtowns aspire. It is Aristotle's universal chair, if the chair was a downtown. I have yet to meet it's match.

9. When the Israelites rejoiced in manna from heaven, I have it on good authority they were talking about Pizza Shuttle cream cheese pizza.

10. Don't let the name fool you: Restoration Hardware is a great place to buy the Most Expensive Towel in the World, but it's a pretty bad place to buy a socket wrench.