I was born and raised in New York state and traveled only during my husband's military career. California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Connecticut, and New Jersey had been the extent of states I had visited until my family found it necessary to move to Salina Kansas. 

We had several discussions and since I had never been to the mid west, we decided driving would be both adventurous and scenic. There was much excitement and anticipation in the planning of this trip. I went to the Automobile club of America and chose several maps and brochures of places to explore en route to Kansas. Places such as Wheeling West Virginia, Columbus Ohio, Indianapolis Indiana and Kansas City Missouri.

Our first stop was Columbus Ohio as I had not estimated the driving time correctly and found we had made excellent mileage From New York to Ohio in one full day.  We checked into a Days Inn and after a good night's sleep the plan was to find Frontier Town in the morning so we could sight see and then get back on the road.  We visited Frontier Town and Victorian Village but ran out of time for the Conservatory.

We found Ohio to be a very friendly state with wonderful people and the city of Columbus had much to offer in Restaurants with a vast selection of ethnic foods as well.  As we neared Indianapolis we found the Indiana Medical History Museum and toured all twelve rooms of artifacts.

We then found the Ramada Inn and checked in for the night after a lovely dinner at Bennigan's which is inside the hotel. Once again we found the people to be warm and inviting. However, the amenities we take for granted on the East Coast such as late night store hours  were somewhat lacking in Indiana.

On the third morning we ventured further west on interstate seventy and actually arrived in Kansas City Missouri in a little under thirteen hours.There we decided to splurge for our last night on the road and checked into the Crown Plaza  in downtown Kansas City.

We had dinner at the City Grille in the hotel and it was a disappointment for such a luxury hotel. We expected dining at it's finest and instead we encountered an extremely casual atmosphere that would be more fitting for a Sport's Bar. The food was barely above what could be found in any Sport's Bar.

When we got up in the morning we went to the famous Kansas City Stockyards and the staff there was kind enough to tell us some of the history of the cattle that came from Abilene Kansas after being driven from Texas and other states.

It was an impressive piece of history which we thoroughly enjoyed learning about.  Kansas City is a large metropolitan city area and although vast in size with a population of nearly a half million people there was still somewhat of a small town feel.  There were none of the big city scents or sites we were accustomed to and we left with the impression it was an over sized Cow Town, more or less.

Three and a half hours after leaving Kansas City we arrived at our destination in Salina Kansas.  Salina is a great big, small town.  There are no big department stores and the restaurant choices are extremely limited other than the small Cafe's. The people are rather cliquish with a mentality of people who are not born here do not belong here.  After four years of living in Salina we are finally being accepted and less tolerated, but it was a long four years.

All in all we decided the Mid West is mostly small communities that may or may not have grown enough to join together with other small communities.  The culture is a couple of decades behind either coastline and it seems to be an inherited lifestyle as you get deeper into the Mid West.  The Mid West is a great place to visit and the people are nice, but it is a culture shock if you are relocating from either side of the USA.