Oregon Trail: Ames Edition

03.24.26

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We started our Sunday off in Independence, Missouri.

The night before we’d been curious about a nearby restaurant – Twin Peaks. Now, I’m a huge fan of the show and so naturally I got crazy excited about the opportunity to check out a David Lynch themed bar.

…

Yeah, so let’s just say I’m glad I googled it before we committed. But hey, shout out to those girls working their buffalo-clad bubbies. Who cares if the source material was something their grandmas watched?

ANYWAY … Breakfast at the Corner Cafe, Independence was AMAZING! Very diner. Very yum. Very good house hot sauce.

After our hearty breakfast we headed west into Kansas City. It was a really fun drive through the city and felt very reminiscent of a Baltimore or DC. But the best past was as we left the city and were on approach to Kansas, the state.

This is quite possibly where the more serious “soundtracking” of our road trip began.

Nerds that we are, it was only appropriate that we hit play on a much loved Kansas classic. No, not the state. THE BAND!

Bonus points if you understand why.

What followed was more classic rock than my rented Mazda CX-50 could handle. My only regret was us not filming that moment we crossed the bridge and started belting out “Carry on, my wayward sooooooonnnnnnnnnn.”

(I recommend this playlist on Spotify if that’s your jam. It definitely needs more sleaze rock, but otherwise is pretty darn great.)

Seriously though, it was all a lot of fun and made the trip even better. It was a trend we’d carry with us into the Rockies and beyond.

Kansas (the state) is a fascinating drive, with a landscape that rolls and crests and falls for miles and miles before some midpoint when the rolling hills are less and less and give way to endless miles of sky. Also shoutout to Kansas for having their road repair game on point. Those roads were smooth-sailing with nary a pothole. 10/10.

The transition in the landscape was really fun to watch, in addition to the myriad of cows we encountered along the roadsides. For example, there were these hills with very rich black soil. Just miles of them. And of course – the wind farms! Even though I’ve seen plenty a giant ass windmill on my journeys through western PA, it just slaps a little different when they’re sprawling across a plain. There were so many, and at one point the direction of the sunlight made them all appear black.

With the sunset looming in the distance, the flattened land started to give way to Colorado and what I quickly realized was a steady incline. It was a little freaky to do in the dark, but honestly, it was also really cool. The drive into higher altitudes was so different than western Maryland and unlike anything I’d experienced. I found myself looking forward to the next morning when we could get a look at the landscape surrounding our hotel.

The night ended on the outskirts of Denver, with yet another hotel stay.

Queerly and sincerely,

Ames