The One with the Pilgrimage: Kansas

The dull drive across Kansas is usually dreadful. It's flat, it's fields, it's boring. This time, however, it was different. The beauty of the sun's shine, the crispness of the clouds, and the unbelievably open road before me was intoxicating. As I crested a bit of a hill I actually felt a dizziness in my chest and in my stomach. It hit me in that moment that I was alone and that I was happy to be alone.

 Alone with my thoughts, alone with my crazy singing, alone with my decisions, alone with my finances, just alone. Alone, with the exception of the multitude of cows to which, in true Tapley Fashion, I honked at and hollered, "hey girls!"

Regularly, I do not enjoying doing much on my own. I like the company of other's and usually seek that out to eat, to shop, to run errands, to travel, to anything. This time, however, being alone was overwhelmingly freeing. After driving for more hours than I am accustomed to, I made it to a small town hotel and checked in somewhere in Kansas. Much to my dismay my room key did not work just like the last time I stayed at this similarly named hotel. Eventually, I got into my room and decided that I needed to eat. The lady at the front desk had recommend a family restaurant just down the road so my decision was made. The restaurant was a "please seat yourself" type so I chose a booth and sat down for my first lone public meal. There I enjoyed a BLT and pickle chips while I contemplated the first few days, people, locations, and experiences of my pilgrimage thus far. It was sure something to have driven the roads through so many locations that were once stomping grounds from my childhood.

After dinner I made my way back to the hotel, donned my bathing suit, went for a dip in the pool, and enjoyed more alone time there.

Kansas, specifically Wichita, was yet another place I did not schedule myself enough time. 

"Win or lose it's a hell of a game. The roads we choose, they all end up the same."- Peter Bradley Adams