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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Meet the road trip adventures authors

Illinois: An Illinois road trip adventure by The Local Tourist

Indiana: In Henry County, visit the gym from the movie Hoosiers by Cornfields and High Heels

Iowa: Nine places to visit in Iowa by Travel with Sara

Michigan: Plan a Midwest road trip adventure by Follow the Piper

Minnesota: Twin Cities beer lovers’ itinerary by Dining Duster

Missouri: Exploring Missouri’s covered bridges by the Hodge Podge Hippie

Nebraska: Lewis and Clark Scenic Byway by The Walking Tourists

North Dakota: Three ways to experience North Dakota state parks by Prairie Style File

Ohio: Five Ohio family road trips by Gleason Family Adventure

Wisconsin: Fish boils in Door County by the Traveling Cheesehead

Join road trip music adventures

Every road trip needs a playlist to accompany it. Add to your music collection with curated playlists in our store.