The never ending goodbye is over and The Hips Don’t Lie Tour is finally underway! Three weeks, 14 states, 39 gas stops, and 4,600 miles in and I’m finding it hard to stop grinning. Over the river and through the wood, with a few mountains, deserts, and cities thrown in for good measure. Visits with great friends and meeting new ones, spelunking in otherworldly caverns, waiting out tornadoes in irrigation culverts, creek-side morning runs, 40 mph head winds, saguaro cacti, ramen noodle dinners alone with a side of moon and homemade gourmet dinners with friends, rain flooded campsites, hikes to the brink of the US-Mexican border, dead batteries, crystal clear starry nights, proselytizing Texans, tow truck museums, collisions with flying mammoth tumbleweed, desert sunrises from out the tent screen, blizzards on mountain passes, relaxing time with family, so far I really can’t complain.