Grrrroof! Jax, here.  I'm constantly hearing from my humans, "Speak, Jax!" "Speak, boy!" So, Mom is letting me tell my tale. I am, after all, the furry face behind this travel blog. 🐶  What I want to Speak on is being on the road with my humans who adore me!

After trekking down south awhile and making it to Kansas, we were on board for another trip up north. The summer temps were climbing, and we felt like birds needing to head back out of the heat! We'd get our chance soon!

After our festive 4th of July, we picked up a load from BNSF in Malta, Montana, going all the way to Topeka, Kansas. The next couple of days would see us leaving Montana for North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and finally Kansas. All great states with splendid scenery and landmarks where history sculpted our nation. In this post, however, I'd like to shine a spotlight on North Dakota, in particular.

(Quickly look at the picture. 👆🏻 Do you see our flag in the clouds and sunset? The 'stripes' are in the clouds to the right, mingled with the rosey hue. To the left the clouds are more compact, resembling a darker square. Hubs & I both spotted it at the same time. That's my favorite red, white & blue!)

The day came when we got back on the road, leaving Abilene once again. As we passed through the city limits we watched the planes from Dyess Air Force Base flying above. We are extremely proud of the military presence in our town. Thank you one & all for your service. 🇺🇸. It also gave greater meaning to the festivities coming up for the 4th of July. 🎆 💥 

Ladies, you know where this is going. Hubs was leaving me & Jax home for a few days while Pops handled my usual co-piloting duties. That meant some uninterrupted Me time, and I was not complaining. Other than missing Hubs, of course.

Our next adventure would begin on the road to Moses Lake, Washington. We'd been shut down for a couple of days in Liberty Lake, Idaho,  waiting to get a new load when this one finally came up. 

I'm going to do something different with this post. For a couple of weeks we circled the western seaboard and traversed the sublime Pacific Coast Highway. There aren't a whole lot of things that can compare. I mean, if you can say this is your job? Well....you're a pretty lucky duckling. What I do is take pictures and notes and MORE pictures to solidify the details in my oft addled brain, and have a terrific record of our trips.   In this post I'm simply going to copy & paste my notes from these carousel rides, along with my favorite photos. Ready for a peek inside my head? 😬 

When I say Kansas, what comes to mind?  I think immediately of open spaces & unpredictable weather.  I've already written a few times about the Heartland of this wonderful country. It's not just a geographical center of the nation, but 'Heartland' is a description of the heart of most lovers of the good old USA: valuing traditions, family and a good work ethic, indeed working the land itself. Take a drive through Kansas and you'll see farms and crops that we all depend on. 

We enjoy pretty much all of our travels, but sometimes it's nice to go back to more familiar territory. On this next delivery we would be going up into Missouri and then taking a deep breath to dive into the Deep South. 

Our very next load took us down a path through Nebraska where we hadn't been before. I'll call it rugged serenity. I could feel a sense of calm out on some of those highways surrounded by jagged mountains, towering pines, and low clouds that were bringing in a storm. This was a very different feeling from O Street in Lincoln where we'd begun this trip. 

I descend from the Adams family, not to be confused with the Addams Family. My grandparents were not Gomez and Morticia Addams. 😂