8/24/2024 Email

We made it. Three days, 32 driving hours, and 2205 miles later, my daughter and I are now

having a brief respite at the Jersey Shore before finally driving all the way home on Sunday.

We left Jackson Hole in the dark on Tuesday, and as the sun was rising, we saw two

rainbows. Good luck, no doubt!

A few observations: other than the Tetons and surrounding ranges, Wyoming is flat and

brown…Nebraska is a really wide state (and also kind of brown)…Iowa’s undulating

cornfields are Norman-Rockwell scenic, and it has the cleanest bathrooms we

encountered…the road-work in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio will no doubt result in pleasant

passages through those states for my next cross-country drive, but sadly, not for this one.

Catherine and I shared the driving duties, but I remembered the reason her dad taught her

to drive instead of me. I’m a nervous passenger and much more comfortable behind the

wheel. (Notice I resisted criticizing her driving.) She was a great DJ, though, and found true

crime podcasts to hold our attention the entire way.

We found clean and safe hotels for our brief overnights – first in downtown Omaha, and

then in downtown Cleveland – both sites chosen for the way they broke up our drive.

Wednesday morning as we turned onto our route in Omaha, I was shocked that less than a

minute into our drive, we were crossing the river into Iowa. (Nothing like a cross-country trip

for a good US geography refresher!) And I’ll say this for Cleveland, Lake Erie is a beautiful

backdrop.

This trip was obviously much more than a way to get a car from Point A to Point B. As

Catherine enters her second year in college, there are so few opportunities to spend

chunks of time with her. I am grateful that we had a safe trip and made memories that will

last forever.

God Bless,

Margaret Keightley
Executive Director
Catholic Community Foundation of the Diocese of Richmond