Gail, with her infinite supply of energy, did it again.

She tossed up another plate into the air with all the others she keeps in constant spinning motion, filling the plates of many visitors who came to her small town for the annual classic car show. One of the plates she spins year round is managing a bar/grill, and she took her fare out on the street for this occasion. She recruited Suzanne and I to join her, and we gladly obliged.

Gail, her husband, her daughter Lydia and Suzanne’s husband grilled burgers and hot dogs and filled plates, while Suzanne and I filled orders for libations. As always, Gail brought people together, filling their need for food and filling their need to connect with others.

I had the privilege of helping her make the German potato salad to feed the masses, and now I am privy to her secret recipe. I’ll share it with you if the price is right.

Suzanne picked up her order for several hundred buns at the Sam’s Club in our small city and brought them along, detouring at a Kansas landmark along the way.

Suzanne and Steve at Little Jerusalem State Park

Gail’s talented daughter Lydia made these T-shirts for us.

After the crowds dispersed, we closed up shop and I headed west. I had some business to take care of.

U.S. Highway 36 is a long, lonely cruise from Atwood, Kansas, to Byers, Colorado, where I connected with Interstate 70 to proceed further west and then north to Longmont, Colorado, home of one of my nephews.

It was time to place a few more checkered flags on that U.S. map that outlines all the people I need to visit, and as of today, there are two more visits I completed. Two flags in Colorado will be placed when I get home tomorrow.

My nephew Matt and his wife Autumn were the host and hostess extraordinaire. Along with Niko, their cat, they treated me to a wonderful visit.

Close to them in Lafayette, Colorado, lives my favorite college professor. I hadn’t seen her for too many years, and it was time. She lives with her daughter, and they graciously welcomed me into their home. Her profound influence on me as a young college student will never be forgotten; it has made all the difference in my life.

Thirty years ago when I got married, she embroidered tea towels as a gift. I couldn’t bear to use and possibly stain them, so I found an expert quilter who created this work of art with them for me. She hadn’t yet seen it, so I took it along to show her.

She is also one of my lunch dates in my latest book, and I presented her copy to her.

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Good food and drink fill our stomachs, and family and good friends fill our hearts. Take a cruise to see someone you need to connect with, and may your heart–and stomach–be full.