Iowa City, IA → Geneseo, IL → Morris, IL → Hebron, IN

Our love for Iowa, and Iowa City in particular, started in 2011 while Ben was on his second year-long deployment to Afghanistan. Finding Sharon, along with our dear friend and self-proclaimed "#1 Fan Jenn," in Iowa City was my saving grace. The girls kept me sane, and Sharon's home was an oasis during my first year of law school.

We left Sharon's and Iowa City and crossed the Mississippi the same day. Riding across that wide river, it felt like we somehow crossed a demarcation line dividing the western United States from its eastern half.