No. 1: Leaving Home On A Road Trip From The Ozarks

Dear Friends,

Harper Lee here. Bark Ranger. Road-trip mascot. Backseat supervisor. And, apparently, your official correspondent for this adventure.

I should probably begin at the beginning.

Home.

We are setting out from the Ozarks, where the roads curve around hills, the trees crowd close, and Table Rock Lake has been part of the scenery of everyday life.

The humans have been planning this trip for what seems, from a dog’s perspective, like approximately seventeen years.

• There have been lists.

• There have been more lists.

• There have been lists about the other lists.

Things have been packed, unpacked, moved to Frida, moved out of Frida, put in the truck, taken back out of the truck, and then returned to exactly where they started.

I have supervised all of it.

Frida is our fifth-wheel camper, and she is coming with us all the way across the country. Our big destination is Seattle, but there are a whole lot of roads between Missouri and Washington, and the humans seem determined to explore quite a few of them.

• There will be national parks.

• There will be mountains.

• There will be lakes.

• There will be coffee.

• There will almost certainly be changes to the plan.

  
  

I am particularly interested in the parks.

🐾 Harper’s Road Trip From The Ozarks Notes

For the younger members of our traveling support crew, Little Boogers (Uncle Snott's nieces by choice) who are following along and learning about the states, here are a few things to know about where we started.

Missouri is called the Show-Me State.

We live in the Ozarks, a region of wooded hills, lakes, rivers, caves, and winding roads stretching through southern Missouri and northern Arkansas.

Missouri’s state animal is the Missouri mule.

Which feels like a respectable choice for a state that appreciates creatures capable of carrying a lot of stuff.

The state tree is the flowering dogwood.

Mama loves Dogwood trees, and I approve of any tree with “dog” in the name. WOOF!

And, Missouri sits almost in the middle of the country, which makes it a pretty good place to begin a very big American road trip.

Today’s Postcard

Where: Home in the Ozarks

Traveling in: Frida, our fifth wheelTraveling with: My humans

Destination: Eventually, Seattle

My official job: Bark Ranger and Correspondent-at-Large

Human activity observed: Extreme list-making

Harper’s assessment: Everyone appears excited. No one appears completely ready.

But maybe that is how adventures are supposed to begin. You pack what you can.

You make the best plan you know how to make.