You may have noticed that we have the Grand Canyon on our July cover. You might be thinking to yourself, “What does this have to do with Virginia or anywhere else in our distribution area?” Actually there are a lot of east coast references that we discovered as we made or our way west on our road trip. We decided to combine a high school reunion, visiting friends and visiting places I had never seen before and take a road trip. We visited Lexington, Kentucky where Secretariat became famous, but did you know that the great race horse was foaled in Virginia. The fabled Route 50 begins in Ocean City, Maryland and stretches west to Sacramento, California. While the Interstate system is the peoples’ choice for auto travel, Route 50 still meanders through small towns and big cities. This is the route for those with time on their hands.

Taking this two week drive opened my eyes to parts of this country that I have never seen. As I write this I am sitting in a farm house in Wyoming where I watched team roping practice yesterday. Went to the Corner Bar last night where the locals meet and I can still buy a $3.00 Gin & Tonic. I have seen the Grand Canyon and gotten my Kicks on Route 66. I have left 120 sweltering degree temperatures in Grand Junction, Colorado, driven to the top of Grand Mesa where the temps dropped to 72.

It is a great country out there. Sketch out a route, make a plan, and take a trip. Visit new places, visit old friends and make new ones.

Don’t forget to check out all of the other attention worthy columns in this issue. The likes of Jimmy Deaton’s garden progress in the Urban Garden column, Lenny Campello’s take on a very hot topic in the news media in his Gallery Beat column, Bonnie Browning steps in for Lori Welch in Open Space this month and the list goes on. My hope is that you enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed taking on the task of pulling it together from the road!

Have a safe and Happy 4^th of July!

Written by: Bob Tagert