We are finally off on our westward adventure. As a kid, when we drove out west on similar trips, my dad would vehemently declare “Westward Ho!,” affectionately slapping my mother’s thigh for emphasis.

So I duplicated that tradition for my daughter who was delighted to anticipate me, jumping out of the way so that I patted the seat instead of her leg. Ah, well. We’ve had an auspicious start none the less. I handed her my new iPhone and told her to navigate the whole trip. She had a great time following along as our whereabouts proceeded on the map on the phone.

We began keeping a list of the license plates we saw and we had over half of the states accounted for by the end of our first day. We’ll be out west after three long days of driving, staying tonight at a quick stop over at my sister’s in Ohio, who we’ll visit more properly on the way home.

We loved the orange car, the local homespun creamery where we had ice cream, the tall corn fields, the sunset and the promise of adventure in front of us.