We hadn't planned on the trip to Iowa.

We were supposed to meet up with our friend on Friday in Omaha at Dave & Buster's. Somewhere we could hang out, play games, drink, and let loose.

Instead, the day we flew into Nebraska, we made the decision to drive two hours one way with Ash, late at night, to meet up at a cemetery.

Okay, so the cemetery thing was for me.

But we never actually ended up at one.




We got lost a few times and had to call several times to make sure we hadn't gone too far or turned in the wrong direction. Ash had us laughing the entire time with her backseat commentary, and I wasn't even upset about being on a road trip so soon.

Eventually, after several attempts to find a cemetery, we ended up pulling into a lot outside a field.

In what looked to be a town about as small as Megargel, we just waited for our friends to find us.

It was hard to be upset about being lost when I looked into the sky and saw more stars than I had ever seen at once.

The beauty of that night will forever be etched into my brain.

I'm sure that night won't be forgotten by Tony either, seeing as how his phone became a glow stick.

After deciding to follow Quinn and Lydia into their hometown instead of continuing to look for a cemetery that was apparently determined to elude us, we got into the vehicle and started driving away.

Someone must have forgotten to take his phone off the roof of the car.

The next thing we knew, a loud thud was heard as we headed down the highway.

After turning back, we found a cracked phone.

It was still usable—just with a brand-new green light going straight down the middle.

It hurt Tony's soul a little.

He spent quite a bit of time brooding while Ash tried to show him the advantages of now owning his very own customized glow-stick phone.

We actually had a good time that night just hanging out with our friends, not expecting much of anything else to happen.

As we learned more about the area we were in, we started reading online about the little towns we were going through.

It turned out that one of them, Avoca, was known for its Spiderbug.





Ash and I immediately decided we were going to see it on the way back, but we didn't make it there that night.

The rest of the evening turned into a night of laughter as Ash continued to give us her opinion on pretty much everything.

She's very much one of my best friends, and I'm very privileged to know her.

When I asked her later about her favorite parts of the road trip, she mentioned the longer-than-normal wait on something and my "NASCAR driver exit" from the car when I couldn't hear and decided to use the driver's seat instead of the passenger side to get out.

At least my lapses in judgment are good for a few laughs sometimes.

While in Iowa that night, we noticed Lydia lived near a wildlife reserve, so we made the decision to come back the next day. We'd see the reserve in daylight and finally find the Spiderbug.

It ended up being just Tony and me who made that second trip.

The reserve didn't interest me quite as much as I thought it would, so we grabbed Lydia and decided to have lunch instead.

Well, after finding the Spiderbug.

Small towns with quirky little fixtures make my heart happy.

It could be a historical plaque, a bicycle sculpture, or a lending library.

In this town, it was a Spiderbug.

I got the giddiest feeling as we walked up to it and took photos to put into the memory book of life.

Detours happen.

Some are good. Some are bad.

A lot of mine just happen to turn into random, happy trips, and I'm very grateful for that.

A few days later, we did finally meet up again—not at Dave & Buster's, but at Ash's house.

We decided our adventures outside the state had cost us a little more than we'd anticipated, so instead we grilled out, played games, drank some booze, and just generally had a great time.

Tony and Quinn built a fire, we occasionally interacted with our mutual friends online, and we played with the dog a lot.



The best of times don't have to cost hundreds when you're surrounded by good company.

Fortunately, Tony and I know some amazing people all over the United States and even a few overseas.

I can't wait until we take our first international trip.

It'll happen one day, I'm sure.

I just hope when it happens, we get as lucky as we did on our first trip to the Midwest.

Well...

Minus the glow-stick phone and the visit to the E.R.

Don't ever forget to value the people who make a trip worth it.

The ones who let you visit as soon as they move in.

The ones who will drive a state over just to come see you.

They're the people who can help turn what could've been a disastrous trip into one of the most memorable of my life so far.