Midwest Road Trip Adventures book — You must have this *Midwest Road Trip Adventure*s book before you go on a road trip!

Order the must-read book Midwest Road Trip Adventures

I’m so excited to tell you about the book — our book — Midwest Road Trip Adventures. The book is a detailed guide for road trippers, and you must have it. Order directly from the publisher and choose my name, Roxie Yonkey, in the author dropdown menu.

Here’s the jacket blurb: “The book takes travelers along some of the most storied highways and byways in the nation, including The Great River Road and Route 66. Stops include historic lighthouses along the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio, canyons in Kansas, four of the five Great Lakes in Michigan, Underground Railroad history in Illinois, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, and authentic fish fries in Wisconsin’s Door County. Movie fans can visit the ballpark from A League of Their Own in Indiana or tour Iowa covered bridges showcased in The Bridges of Madison County.

Twelve top authors from the Midwest Travel Network combined to write the book. Each author lives and works in the state they described. I wrote the Kansas chapter, plus the Black Hills portion of the South Dakota chapter. Each author is well respected in the travel blogging community.

Road trip adventures book equals a dream come true

Roxie holding Midwest Road Trip Adventures book — Merry Christmas to me! Holding the new Midwest Road Trip Adventures book for the first time was extremely satisfying.

Some dreams do come true.

As a child, I avidly read everything I could get my hands on and dreamed of being an author. I especially enjoyed travel writing and hoped someday to become a travel writer. But I never believed that would actually happen. And I never could decide what kind of book I would write.

Then the road trip adventure author opportunity dropped into my lap.

In May, shortly after the national lockdown had ended, my friend Sara Broers of Travel with Sara called me. She said she only had five minutes to talk. Our phone connection was poor. I heard, “Blah, blah, blah from blah, blah, blah Cheesehead is going to call you. Just say yes.” Then she was gone.

Puzzled, I waited for a call from a Wisconsin phone number. Surely Cheesehead was a Wisconsin thing?

A Wisconsin phone number called. Dannelle Gay of the Traveling Cheesehead explained that she was putting together a group of authors to write a travel book. Am I interested?

I wanted to jump out of my chair and dance and shout. Of course, I’m interested!

The dream came to fruition in mid-December when I received three boxes of books. A wave of satisfaction washed over me when I opened the first box and pulled out the first book. Wow, this is really true!

Sunflowers on Land & Sky Scenic Byway — When sunflowers are in bloom, watch for any spectacular sky to go behind the flowers.

Road trip adventures in Kansas, the Sunflower State

The authors decided to feature four geographically-separated road trips from each state. The decision was a difficult one. Follow a pictorial journey through the chosen road trips.

Explore the Flint Hills and Native Stone byways

I decided to include three of the state’s four corners, plus the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway and its neighbor, the Native Stone Scenic Byway.

Chase County Courthouse, Road Trip Adventures — The Chase County Courthouse in Cottonwood Falls is an outstanding example of Second Empire Architecture.

Lower Fox Creek School, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

Hays House, Council Grove, Road Trip Adventures — The Hays House in Council Grove is the oldest restaurant west of the Missouri River.

Wildflowers at Konza Prairie — Hike the Flint Hills at Konza Prairie in Manhattan.

The Flint Hills’ shallow soil underlain by tough flint rock prevented successful farming and preserved one of the nation’s only unscathed tallgrass prairies.

Amelia Earhart, the Underground Railroad, and Little Switzerland

Kansas has a false reputation as a table-top flat state. For example, Northeast Kansas‘ Glacial Hills Scenic Byway’s northern end is nicknamed Little Switzerland. Follow famous footsteps on Glacial Hills. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Abraham Lincoln, Amelia Earhart, Dwight Eisenhower, and Colin Powell walked here. In Leavenworth, Underground Railroad conductors smuggled enslaved people away from Missouri and Buffalo Soldiers broke down stereotypes against African Americans.

Roxie at the Four-State Lookout, road trip adventure — From the Four-State Lookout, visitors can see Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. On a clear day, Iowa is visible. The lookout is on a hill above White Cloud, Kansas.

Amelia Earhart Birthplace — Amelia Earhart, the famed aviator, grew up here in Atchison, Kansas.

Tall Oak in front of the Doniphan County Courthouse, road trip adventure — *Tall Oak* was sculpted from a tree in front of the Doniphan County Courthouse.

Cathey Williams' bust — Cathay Williams is the only known female Buffalo Soldier.

Land and Sky is the nation’s first agriculture-themed scenic byway

In Northwest Kansas, drive from Land and Sky Scenic Byway‘s Arikaree Breaks in the north to the World’s Largest Painting on an Easel and the Giant Grasshopper in the middle and Mount Sunflower in the south, Land and Sky Scenic Byway takes agriculture to another level. Every season’s scenery is different as farmers plant, tend, and harvest their crops and livestock.

Mt. Sunflower on Land and Sky Scenic Byway — The marker at Mt. Sunflower proclaims its altitude at 4,039 feet.

#7 of the top 10 things you should do in Goodland, KS — The Giant Grasshopper, the bane of farmers, measures more than 9 feet long and more than 5 feet tall at the back legs.

Arikaree Breaks, road trip adventure — The Arikaree Breaks is full of gashes in the earth, the Kansas Canyons. It’s not suitable for farming, but farmers pasture cattle here.

Where Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska meet, a road trip adventure — Holding a tumbleweed torch at Kansas’ northwest corner.

Route 66, the highway that’s the best, and the War on the Border

Route 66 in Kansas runs through the state’s southeast corner and joins Frontier Military Historic Byway on its run north to Kansas City. Near the Mother Road, mining carved the land. The Missouri-Kansas border turned hot with conflict before the Civil War actually began, and conflict there did not end when the guns fell silent elsewhere. Watch for Route 66 in the Missouri and Illinois road trip adventure chapters.

Fort Scott National Historic Site — Fort Scott was central to the Mexican War and the Civil War.

Unsung Heroes Museum, road trip adventure — Fort Scott’s Lowell Milken Center celebrates unsung heroes like those who integrated Little Rock Central High School and those who supported them.

Route 66 in Baxter Springs, Kansas, a road trip adventure — Standing on Route 66. Kansas has only 13 miles of The Mother Road.

Where Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri meet — Placing my finger where Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri meet

Road trip adventures in South Dakota, the Mount Rushmore State

Three authors, including me, teamed up to write the South Dakota chapter. I wrote about the Black Hills.

People enjoying Mt. Rushmore from Grandview Terrace — An hour from Rapid City, Mt. Rushmore is the No. 1 attraction in the Black Hills and one of the nation’s top attractions.

Geographic Center, Belle Fourche, a road trip adventure — Standing at the Geographic Center of the Nation Monument in Belle Fourche.

Crazy Horse Memorial — Construction is everywhere evident on the giant Crazy Horse mountain carving.

Mountain goat, a road trip adventure — A mountain goat smiles at the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway.

South Dakota is full of enticing road trip adventures. Definitely read the chapters on the Native American Scenic Byway, the Badlands Loop Scenic Byway, and a tour through eastern South Dakota artworks.