Disclaimer: This post was updated in November 2022, as the original only included 1 photo. The bigger details were written back then, although a few things needed to be figured out.
This was the real reason for bringing my mother-in-law to the middle of America: the Great Plains.
Golden waves of grain, living up to the American vision of things being beautiful and bountiful.
A spry 80-year-old widowed farmer feeding her cows crawled up over a nearby fence to chat with us and talk to us about her life out this way. She also told us about her favorite cafe not too far off.
That little old lady pointed us to Palisade and just over the railroad tracks on Main Street for breakfast. Love them grain silos.
We had a great breakfast at the Pioneer Cafe in Palisade, Nebraska. Ashley, the girl with the yellow shirt, was in training as this was her first day, and we were her first customers. The ladies at the Pioneer Cafe left a great impression on my mother-in-law, who thoroughly enjoyed their hospitality. If ever you find yourself near Palisade, Nebraska, you should stop in at 104 Main St for some great food, great service, and incredibly low prices.
Kansas, you have the best Stateline sign for taking photos of people with the sunflower crowning them.
Traveling on Kansas Highway 25 out in the middle of nowhere, we make a very short detour east as I see a capital specimen of a grain silo with an invitation to drop into the El Ranchito Mexican Cafe.
Caroline and I passed through here on our very first cross-country trip just five years before this.
In keeping with the souvenir hunt of photos of my mother-in-law in front of as many Stateline signs as I can capture, I present Jutta Engelhardt visiting Oklahoma.
The look on my face is explained by the fact that this is the first time Jutta has driven a car in more than 20 years. After some practice, I let her drive all the way across the panhandle of Oklahoma from the Kansas border to Texas. Aside from my hamming it up for the camera, my mother-in-law just loved this opportunity.
Back on terra firma, Jutta had to touch something solid and unmoving: Hello, Texas.
This selfie was taken for Caroline because while some might pronounce this in the French style as “Doo-maa,” Texas pronounces it “Dew-mus,” and of course, I go for “Dumb-ass.”
Saving turtles in Texas, as that’s what one does when barreling down the highway. Next stop: still somewhere in Texas because it’s a really big state.