2023 Part 1: Quickie Midwest Swing
This is the first trip I took after signing off for the last time following my layoff in March 2023. I was amid my annual medical checkups, so I had to wait several weeks before I could hit the road. After completing projects around the house and acing all but one of my medical appointments (the last one was in late April), I decided to make good use of the week between appointments by heading to Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri.
Since I only had a week before I needed to be back in Texas, I had to pack a lot into a short trip:
Oklahoma City: I originally planned to leave for Oklahoma City on the morning of 19 April 2023; however, I realized that date marked the 28th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing and decided to move up my departure by a day so I could pay my respects the next morning at the Oklahoma City National Memorial at 9:02 a.m. CDT. Afterward, I was able to visit the Oklahoma State Capitol and the Myriad Botanical Gardens.
Kansas: I crossed the Kansas state line for the first time on this trip. After a quick stop in Topeka to visit the Kansas State Capitol, I stayed in the Kansas City suburb of Lenexa while going back and forth across the Kansas-Missouri state line visiting the best of the Kansas City area.
Missouri: The best destinations in the Kansas City metropolitan area are in Missouri. I arrived as Kansas City was preparing for the 2023 NFL Draft, so it was interesting to see what goes into hosting the event, which I normally watch every year.
This was an amazing test run for the travels that lay ahead in 2023 and a reminder of what I can accomplish in less than a week.
