Filling the Gap

Filling the Gap, Closing the Circle

As we continued our road trip adventure, we realized something unexpected: a hole in our map. Somehow, we’d completely skipped Nebraska—a state right in the heart of the country. While we could justify skipping places like Washington or North Dakota as outliers, missing Nebraska felt like a real oversight. A gap. A hole.

So we changed our plans.

We rerouted and ended up staying in Pottawattamie County, Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska. While looking for something fun to do, we stumbled across the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge—a 3,000-foot curved suspension bridge that connects Iowa and Nebraska.

It turned out to be more than just a footbridge. Lit up at night with shifting colors, the bridge sparkled like fireworks against the evening sky. We laughed, played with our cameras, took silly photos, and just soaked it all in. Standing over the river, with one foot in Iowa and one in Nebraska, it felt like we weren’t just crossing state lines—we were connecting something deeper.

And then came the moon.

Huge. Orange. Glowing.

We had no idea that night was the Strawberry Moon—a rare and special full moon, unusually low in the sky, appearing even larger and more dramatic due to atmospheric effects. As we stood there in awe, it hit us: this wasn’t just a missing stop on a map. It was the missing piece to the journey.

We took turns “holding” the moon in photos, and Janet—of course—tried to be the moon. It was pure magic.

That night, everything came full circle. We didn’t just fill a hole—we completed the loop. We connected the dots. And in the middle of it all, lit by moonlight and neon, standing between two states on a glowing bridge over the Missouri River, we were exactly where we needed to be.

Blessed. Grateful. Whole.