In March of this year, Emma and I decided that we had the time and means to go visit our brothers who lived in the middle of the country. Her brother, Will, lives in Austin, Texas; my brother Bryce was living in Lexington, Kentucky. Christmas was meant to be spent in Texas but finances prevented us from going, and Bryce was moving from Kentucky to Arizona in May, so we wanted to go see them one last time before they left.
Texas was first on the list, and we decided to visit Carlsbad Caverns en route to Austin. I'd been there before, but it was a first for Emma. Our grand plan was to speed to Albuquerque from Salt Lake as soon as we got done with work, sleep as much as we could, and get up early the next morning to drive to Austin, arriving Saturday evening. After a late start from Salt Lake and getting caught in traffic for over an hour, by the time we made it to Albuquerque it was approaching 3am. After a short consultation, we decided that it wasn't worth stopping to sleep for 3 or 4 hours before having to get going again, so we made the decision to drive through the night. Emma and I traded off and the other would fitfully sleep as we drove through central New Mexico. We arrived at Carlsbad Caverns Saturday morning and enjoyed a few hours worth of hiking and wandering through these amazing caves.
We continued our journey to Austin, ignoring the freeway a bit and going through the Texas countryside, including visiting the least-populated county in the US, Loving County, Texas (population about 57), and arrived absolutely exhausted in Austin that evening. It was nice to spend the next few days recovering and visiting family, while I had a lot of work obligations to take care of (including a lovely family party and presentation about genealogy to our gracious hosts). We also got to go boating on Lake Travis with some of Will's friends, which was a really fun activity.
After our visit with Emma's brother, we decided that a 'shortcut' was possible by going to visit one of Emma's friends who lived in Missouri. After all, Missouri is sort of on the way to Kentucky, right? It was a fantastic drive through central Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri, and we passed by the beautiful Lake of the Ozarks and the Missouri state capital, Jefferson City. It was really nice to meet Emma's friend and her husband; they are truly great people and were excellent hosts for us.
From Mexico, Missouri, we drove through St. Louis and again departed from the freeway, meandering our way across the southern Illinois and Indiana landscape. As part of our trip we drove through the lovely Hoosier National Forest in Indiana, along winding roads through blossoming redbud and dogwood trees and the verdant growth of springtime in the forest. Although Emma didn't care for the slower speed limit (55 mph), the lush landscape through winding valley roads made the drive worth it.
Once arriving in Kentucky, we spent some time with my brother Bryce and his family, as well as his in-laws who were also visiting from Arizona. We felt bad about crashing my sister-in-law's party with her family, but were grateful for them letting us visit them before they moved. We spent one day visiting Kentucky's Mammoth Cave, which is one of my favorite places to go. The cave is amazing, as it's the largest cave system anywhere in the world at almost 400 miles of known passageways. I try to visit the cave every time I go to Kentucky. Even my two-year-old niece got excited about hiking, and kept up with us the entire two miles.
We also went to one of the premier race courses in Lexington (known for their horses) and enjoyed a morning breakfast watching the jockeys prepare for the day's races. I loved hearing the horses thunder by on the track, and was amazed at how fast they were going --- and the race hadn't even started yet! That afternoon, we went to the kite festival and enjoyed watching (and trying to participate), while being wowed at some people's abilities to fly a kite -- including one kite with approximately 25 smaller kites all tied together! Our time in Kentucky was family-filled and fun.
On we went to Nashville, where my friend Jamon lives. Here, Emma caught her flight back home so she could make it in to work by Monday, while I drove back across the US stopping at county archives along the way to do some successful on-site research for a client. I spent Sunday with Jamon visiting Franklin, Tennessee, taking a slightly unauthorized tour of a Civil War cemetery and surviving plantation house. Monday morning I proceded to Illinois, where my first county courthouse (Randolph County) awaited me, and got to cross the Ohio River on a ferry (*very* cool experience).
Also along the way, I stopped at Benton County Courthouse in Missouri, where I found a very strange set-up in the county's bathrooms. Apparently eastern-central Missourians have a lot fewer boundaries than we in the Mountain West. I drove around west-central Missouri for a while, hoping to hear from my aunt who lives in Cedar County, but when I didn't get a phone call back from her, proceeded on my way home, driving along the southernmost part of Kansas, staying in Wichita. Kansas was flat, but the landscape, especially toward the west, became more interesting as I drove. However, once I entered southern Colorado, it again became fairly flat and featureless.
That is, until I hit the Rockies. I don't know what it is about mountains that takes my breath away and sends chills down my spine. They're just inspiring to me. Hitting I-25, I turned south until I came to New Mexico. I was determined to swing through Taos on my way home, and although the twisty turvy road began to make me a bit carsick, I was so glad I did. The mountain scenery was spectacular, and Taos is a very cute Spanish-mission-style town. I turned north and followed the Rio Grande to its source, then headed across the continental divide into western Colorado. After being gone almost two weeks, we managed to visit ten states, and I picked up 102 new counties (total: 1129).
According to plan, I left earlier in the week. Part of the reason I wanted to drive up was to 'catch' some counties in Washington and Oregon that I had as of yet been unable to hit, and that was the perfect excuse to do some back-roading through the Pacific Northwest countryside. Since I'd been through Idaho, I beelined it on the freeway through Boise, and hit the Oregon border. At Baker City, I departed from the freeway, and began to angle northward. I was excited to go to the town of Enterprise, Oregon. (Since I'm from Enterprise, Utah, I have a strange fascination with other towns of the same name. I can't explain it.) It was a cute town, nestled in a valley with mountains around it. The drive from Enterprise northward towards Washington included one of the most beautiful gorges and descents to the bed of the Grande Ronde River (and back up) that I've seen. I took a loop through the dry farming region of southeast Washington through Walla Walla and spent the night in Washington's Tri-Cities area. 
As we pulled into Tri-Cities, we were faced with the decision of getting a place to stay, or to continue along the way a bit further. We decided to keep driving until the next town, where the same scenario was replayed. By the time we got to Boise at 2am, we'd decided that it really wasn't worth it to stop and stay the night when we were so close to being home (about 4 1/2 hours). So, we continued driving through the night, arriving in Salt Lake about 6:30 in the morning, just as dawn was approaching. I even added 18 new counties to the tally, one in Oregon and 17 in Washington.
