5 states in one day

 During dinner the night before in Kansas City, we asked the kids how they wanted to handle the next day’s travel. We had a few options: stop after a few hours in Lincoln, push on a bit farther into Nebraska, or just see how far we could go. The kids—still riding high on road trip excitement—chose the bold route: “Let’s just see how far we can make it.”

The answer? Twelve hours. Five states. Nearly 700 miles.

We started in Kansas City (Missouri) and took a completely unnecessary detour into Kansas—just so I could yell “First in Kansas!” before promptly turning around. From there, we dipped briefly into Iowa before settling in for a very long drive across Nebraska. Flat, endless Nebraska.

Marley didn’t stop talking the entire time. He called out every cow (there are a lot), voiced every grievance with his sisters, and shared whatever happened to be on his mind—nonstop. It was adorable… for the first couple of hours.

At last, we arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We assured the kids: no more state lines for a while—we’re staying put in Wyoming for a couple of weeks.