Hi Gram,

I haven’t updated here in a while. I take notes each evening of what happened in my day, but I never get back to them and write more detail. I’ve been working on creating posts for each month in 2025 and so far in 2026, but I’ve stalled out on that as well. While we wait for that, I’m working on getting back to writing more long form letters instead of just taking notes. Stay tuned to see if this sticks!

Today was a good day. All summer, I’ve been visiting Colorado, waking up around 6, going for a walk, then heading to the gym with Abbey and Victor. Today, I did just that, plus packed my bags and washed the sheets. It was my last day in Longmont, headed off an a new adventure. Abbey, Victor and I loaded up the car and headed off on a road trip to see Emma, then up to Minnesota for CampFI. Today, we just drove 6 hours to Hays, KS where we got a hotel for the night, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I did the 8am HIIT class that we do most days, plus did the stair master for 60 floors at the gym, then headed home and had breakfast. I cleaned up, packed up, then we loaded up the car and got on the road. It was a tight fit with all of my tools, luggage, bike, and other odds and ends that I brought to Colorado this summer, plus Abbey and Victor’s luggage, but we made it fit. Traffic wasn’t too bad, and the weather was gorgeous as we put some miles behind us. After my blood clot scare a few years ago, I make sure to get out and stretch my legs every couple of hours. So we stopped at a little gas station in Seibert. The candy had dust on it, the bathroom was…. well, exactly what you’d expect a small, run down gas station bathroom to be like, and the aisles were narrow and in need of some organizing.

We survived it, though, and continued on our way to Burlington, home of a 1905 carousel, one of the nation’s gems. It was restored over the course of about 25 years and had a deep history including hand carved and painted wooden horses that were stolen in 1981. They were returned 6 months later and the town held a parade to welcome them home. We got to ride the carousel, which turns at 12mph, faster than most. It was a fun little side trip.

Back on the highway, we made good time and arrived in Hays, KS around 6pm. After checking into the hotel and dropping off our bags, we headed into town for some dinner and a walk. We found a cool local restaurant named Gella’s with delicious food, where we shared a dessert before dinner. I had a pesto chicken breast with some carrots and Mac and cheese, while my friends had a burger and some beef stroganoff. Everything was delicious.

After dinner, we grabbed a map of murals in town and walked around trying to find them. The map wasn’t super accurate, but that hardly mattered. We talked and laughed, posed with some murals, and got in a few thousand steps to work off the glucose from dinner before driving back to the hotel. Hays doesn’t have many stop signs or lights, having changed them out for roundabouts. Some of those were very gradual and fun to drive through as we followed the locals. Back at the hotel, I got settled in and found the bed to be comfortable.