01. ​America The Beautiful. Part 2: Trip News (AKA My Road Trip 4/27-8/21, 2017).
02. Table Of Contents.
03. Preface: When In Doubt, Just Ask For Directions. :-)
04. Trip News 1: Miles of Gratitude for Jessie and Edison.
05. Trip News 2: Things I Need For The Road Ahead.
06. Trip News 3: Help! I'm All Over The Map!
07. Trip News 4: Happy Mother's Day 2016.
08. Trip News 5: Miles of Gratitude for Trystan Trenberth.
09. Trip News 6: Traveling Down Memory Lane.
10. Trip News 7: You Can Tell Me Where To Go. :-)
11. Trip News 8: Will These Questions Inspire America?
12. Trip News 9: Miles Of Gratitude For Jodi Low.
13. Let's Do This.
14. Trip News 10: I Started My Trip With Nothing (AZ).
15. Trip News 11: St. George Was Truly Virgin Territory. 
16. Trip News 12: Flourishing Despite The Odds. 
​17. Trip News 13: Taking The Long And Winding Road.
18. Trip News 14: This Sign Raises Some "Difficult" Questions.
19. Trip News 15: This Ride Is Really Old School. 
​20. Trip News 16: This Is Probable Cause For Pun-ishment.
21. Trip News 17: Rocky Mountain High Jinks.
22. Trip News 18: Looking Forward To Seeing My Pal.
23. Trip News 19: Just A Couple Of Jackasses. 
24. Trip News 20: Somewhere Over The Rainbow. 
25. Trip News 21: A Toast To The Life Of Butch Cox.
26. Trip News 22: Visiting An Out-stand-ing Friend In LA.
27. Trip News 23: Having More Fun In Moorpark, CA.
28. Trip News 24: Taking A Big Leap In San Luis Obispo.
29. Trip News 25: Visiting A Lifelong Friend In Napa, CA.
30. Trip News 26: A Visit With The Mighty Quin.
31. Trip News 27: Allyson Made Oregon Music To My Ears.
32. Trip News 28: What About Bob? It's All Good.
33. Trip News 29: We Were "Stumped" For A Caption. :-)
34. Trip News 30: My Friend Has A Very Cute Caboose. :-)
35. Trip News 31: Toasting The Birthday Boy In Spokane.
36. Trip News 32: A "Pitcher" Perfect Hike In Spokane, WA.
37. Trip News 33: Mr. America On My American Road Trip.
38. Trip News 34: JaJa Really Rubs People The Right Way!
39. Trip News 35: Getting Hugs And Mugs In Harvey, ND. 
40. Trip News 36: A Visit That Was Six Years In The Making.
41. Trip News 37: Feeling Like A Big Wheel In Minneapolis.
42. Trip News 38: I Found This Woman Shocking. :-)
43. Trip News 39: Getting Life Lessons On Living And Loving.
44. Trip News 40: Taking A Cue From Little Miss Muffet. 
45. Trip News 41: Dear, Deer Memories In West Branch.
46. Trip News 42: I Was Gladwin I Visited My Buddy, Tim. 
47. Trip News 43: Meeting Them Was Just Great Luck.
48. Trip News 44: Making Memories With Steve And Judy. 
49. Trip News 45: Patti And Gerry Are Seriously Fun.
50. Trip News 46: Wyandotte Buddies Come In Hand-y. 
51. Trip News 47: Photo Op With The Amazing Bill Fennel.
52. Trip News 48: Come To The Farm. It'll Be Fun, He Said. :-)
53. Trip News 49: Here's The Scoop On Far Out Ice Cream.
54. Trip News 50: Still Crazy After All These Years. 
55. Trip News 51: What Sounds Fun IS Fun With These Two!
56. Trip News 52: Say Hello To My Little Friend. 
57. Trip News 53: Two Thumbs WAY Up For Eileen Mankin.
58. Trip News 54: Nope. Nope. Nope. And Nope. 
59. Trip News 55: Delicious Servings Of Southern Hospitality.
60. Trip News 56: Happy Trails To You Until We Meet Again.
61. Trip News 57: She's A Briick House. 
62. Trip News 58: It's No Secret That Vanessa Is Super.
63. Trip News 59: Flat Out Frustrated-And Blessed-In GA.
64. Trip News 60: Things Are Always Eventful With Stacy.
65. Trip News 61: Houston, We Have No Problem. 
66. Trip News 62: A Picture Perfect Finish For My USA Visits.
67. Trip News 63: From "Nothing, AZ" To "The Thing?" In AZ.

© 2017 Les Maness. All rights reserved.
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About This Book: Part 2. I thought I'd give you a little direction on how I originally planned to navigate my transcontinental journey. My initial thought was to simply do a trip around the US by following the perimeter (see Route 2). But when I realized I could work in some key social events if I did the interior states first (see Route 1), I decided to do to all 48 contiguous states. And while my final routes varied a little from these original plotted courses, I did manage to safely and happily complete the 15,000+ mile trip and was incredibly blessed to be welcomed as a guest in over 50 private homes. 

About The Author: When I'm not gathering Stories From The Road Les Traveled, I am a Dad, Granddad, writer, photographer, marketer and trainer who calls Arizona home. To learn more about my background and creative services, check out my Gigs and Photos pages at www.LesManess.com. 

About The Photos: Unless otherwise indicated, all photographs were taken by and are the exclusive copyrighted property of Les Maness (AKA LesManess.com). To purchase photos or the rights to publish images or content, please contact me at lesmaness at gmail.com.

​About The Missing Links: I have left out some additional pages that appeared my original blogs. However, to preserve continuity and offer added reference, I have made them available as links on my Archives page. 

About The Dates: To publish this ebook in a timely manner, I built it using Weebly's remarkable website builder blogging program. That meant I had to manually reorder the blog dates so they would read in proper sequence. So please ignore the dates under each header as they do not pertain to the actual start and end dates which were May 26, 2016 to October 9, 2016​.
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© 2017 Les Maness. All rights reserved.

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As I explained in Chapter 2: It's Gonna Get Scary, I am way over my head in the technical areas I need to share this journey adequately. So I welcome any coaching, connections or resources you might have in the areas listed below. And if you know any of the thousand things that should be on this list but aren’t, please send me a personal message and let me know what they are and how you might be able to help.

Shape Up And Ship Out. If the camera - and road trips - adds 20 pounds, then I need an Accountability Partner who will help me lean up before this trip ever starts. 
Android Tablet. I need to do a trade for a modest sized Android tablet to pair with some existing tech. It doesn’t need all the bells and whistles, just smart and reliable...like you, he said, really, really sucking up.
Dash Cam I need someone dash-ing to help me buy the right dash cam(s) and teach me how to download that video to my laptop. "Dash-ing"? C'mon! You gotta love that one. 
Social Media Coaching. Need several geniuses to help me understand and promote the social medias I’ve just joined and manage them all efficiently. Right now they seem like a bunch of puppies with weak bladders and I've locked myself out of the house.  
Video Coaching. I need a coach who can teach me how to shoot quality videos on my phone, edit them, upload them to my blog, YouTube, and other social media. I fully realize that this is something any 8 year old can do. And trust me, that isn't any comfort to me.
Blog Coaching. When I told my friend about this site, the first thing he asked was, "How many successful bloggers have you talked to in preparation?" My response was something like "D'oh!...Nobody". Obviously I need to correct that and learn from smart bloggers. 
Search Engine Optimization Coaching. There's a way to set this site up so search engines - and more importantly, people - can find it. Or so they tell me. Got to get that done. 
Online Security Coaching. If you know how to set this up so that encouraging people can participate and negative people can’t spoil the experience, please let me know. Come to think of it, I'd like you to do that for life in general, wouldn't you? 
Consolidating Contacts Coaching. I need help consolidating contact info from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and a drawer full of smudged little slips of paper into one manageable digital resource I can reference from the road.
Staying Connected. This site has only been up a few days and already I have been blessed with an extraordinary number of very encouraging people - Yayyy!!! - telling me they are taking this virtual trip with me - Yessss!!! - and making generous offers of hospitality and support - WOW!!! So now I realize that unless I can organize and manage all these various communication channels, I'm going to miss someone or something in the process - Yikes!!

Update 2017: As I look back at this list, I realize that even though I drove over 15,000 miles, I didn't get very far - metaphorically speaking. I did get the tablet and Accountability Partners, but I'm still looking for all the rest. So if you have got mad skills in in any of these areas and get excited when you find someone who is coachable, let's talk. 

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We just learned yesterday that we are going to be Grandparents to another little boy this year! So I am so very grateful for all these Moms (Aunts and Cousins too) for being the loving family he gets to come into. May this day be extra special for all of them. And for all of you other incredible Mom's, Aunts, Cousins, Lifelong Friends, etc. who freely and generously give your love, support and encouragement to everyone in your lives. We are all blessed because of you.    

Update 2017: One of the first things Winston (my Pal Jr.) experience when he arrived in this world was his older brother, Edison (my Pal) gazing at him in loving wonder (photo here). 

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I first met Trystan Trenberth when we worked together at a company in Scottsdale. Although we’re not very much alike on the surface (he is young, incredibly tech savvy, quite tall and very British - and I am none of those things), we hit it off right away. We developed a great friendship over the years and recently began collaborating on a book of famous super stars he has photographed. In turn he is patiently and generously mentoring me on all the technology that I don’t understand – which is just about everything – for this trip. So I want to make sure I express how grateful I am to him for carving out time in his incredibly busy schedule as a Dad, technology specialist, and (literal) rock star photographer in order to help me get on the road.....And this Trip News just in - Trystan is such a dedicated friend that he wanted to work on helping me yesterday even though his one eye was really swollen. I told him to forget about me, just relax and maybe go to a movie. To which replied, "Well Lez, I probably won't because I'd only see half of it." Gotta luv that British humor!

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My parents moved to Utica, Michigan a few days after I graduated from Roosevelt High School, Wyandotte, Michigan in 1968. So I frequently traveled back to Wyandotte, slept on people's couches, hung around with my friends, goofed off way too much, etc. - which come to think of it is exactly what I will be on this coming trip! I guess some fun things never change. Anyway, these two guys, Butch Cox (left) and Rich Sikes (right) were two of my best buddies then and have remained so throughout my entire life. (We Michiganders are a loyal bunch.) And while Butch is no longer with us, we are going to celebrate his life when I get back to the wonderful town we grew up in. So if you had the great privilege of knowing Butch, please message me and I will give you details about the Toast To The Life Of Butch Cox in Wyandotte this July.

Update 2017: I'm glad to say that a bunch of Butch's friends and family came out to toast him in 2016 (story here). I'm even happier to report that many of us met up again in 2017 to honor him again. I am not exactly sure how it works in heaven, but I do know that if he was watching, he was probably a little embarrassed by all the fuss, but it sure made him smile.
 
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I’m sure I have an “ex” that would tell me to go straight to...uh...the only place hotter than Arizona in the summer, but I’m hoping you are all more benevolent. Because as I count the days to my departure on May 27, I need suggestions to eat, sleep, play and photograph along this two day route in America I know nothing about. I think this is where the Bad Lands are, which kinda gives me a testosterone spike just thinking about the appropriate playlist​– Bad, Bad Company, Ba Ba Ba Ba Bad To The Bone, Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing, Bad Medicine, Bad Boys, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, etc.. However, I’m really clue-Les other than that. So if you know this part of the country and want to tell me where to go – okay, I’ll wait while you stop snickering – I’ll take notes. Promise.  

Update 2017: I want to say thank you to all the people who gladly told me where to go. :-) But seriously, folks, I received a whole bunch of great suggestions for places to see along this route. Unfortunately, I had to cut this portion of my trip down drastically because of a family medical situation. However, I am looking forward to putting all those good recommendations - and any new ones - to good use in one of my next big road trips. 

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