Walking through a well‑preserved downtown, I catch myself reading old building cornerstones instead of checking my phone. That small shift in attention is exactly why I’ve always been drawn to…
Tell people outside the state you're road-tripping through Oklahoma, and you'll usually get the same response: a polite nod and an unspoken assumption that you'll be staring at flat farmland…
I have a soft spot for unfinished things. Not the kind of unfinished that means neglected or abandoned, but the kind that means still becoming. A garden mid-bloom. A house…
My dad had a rule on road trips: we stopped for gas, not for food. Snacks came from a cooler in the trunk; full meals waited until we reached wherever…
These days I find myself thinking about the diner my own grandfather used to take me to, the one that closed years ago, and how I still sometimes catch myself…
I grew up going to church potlucks where half the parking lot was gravel, and the other half was just grass that had been mowed short enough to call a…
I've killed more succulents than I'd like to admit. They have a reputation as the foolproof plant, the one even notorious plant-murderers like me are supposed to be able to…
I've always had a soft spot for the towns nobody writes songs about. Every state has its postcard destinations, the places that show up on bucket lists and Pinterest boards.…
I have a confession: some of my favorite meals on the road have come from restaurants that barely acknowledged I'd walked in. There's a particular kind of comfort in a…
I’ve come to believe the best roadside attractions are never built by committees. Theme parks get designed by teams chasing market research, but the truly memorable ones — the kind…
I've never been the kind of traveler who needs a destination to announce itself with fireworks. Some of my favorite places are the ones that take a little convincing —…
Over time, I’ve learned one thing about barbecue: if a Texan tells you it’s better than what they grew up eating, you drop whatever you’re doing and go. Texans don’t…