Part 2: Filling Our Bellies in Kansas City

We were six women in two cars, packed fairly full with overnight bags, hotel snacks, a couple of coolers with adult beverages, walkie talkies, 40+ years of memories and giggles. Lots of giggles.

The first day started with a 7:30 a.m. Subway breakfast, included standard road food (Twizzlers, turkey jerky, lots of Diet Coke) and by 2 p.m.-ish, we were starving for lunch. A fortuitous stop in Des Moines took us down a random I-35S exit into the suburb of Urbandale, looking for a local joint. We took a quick spin down the main drag to get a good look at what was available and turned back around after deciding on a spot when it happened.

"Mayday! Mayday!" rang loud on the walkie talkie from the car that was supposed to be behind me. A rearview mirror check came up empty. They'd vanished.

"We're in the car wash!" They shouted again, this time more garbled.

"You turned too early," I radioed back. "Go one more block."

And then I heard nothing but laughing and static. "No! We're in the parking lot of the car wash," Deb tried to explain. "Maria ran out of gas!" More static, some gasping, more laughter.

After a trip to the gas station by my car to get a 1-gal. can with one precious gallon of gas and another trip back to the same gas station for the stranded car, we ended up at a Noodles. Not local. Not gourmet. But perhaps one of my favorite meals ever because of the circumstances.

We depended on the hotel for breakfast the remaining three days. Standard powdered scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, frozen potatoes, pancakes, danish and a small bowl of fresh melon just to make it look good.

The best lunch in KC happened at our friend Lara's house. She welcomed the whole tribe in, and greeted us with delicious tortilla soup, served in beautiful bowls lined with a tortilla. While the soup was fantastic, the appetizer (sitting around her family room, catching up on our lives, families and memories) and the side dish (sitting around the kitchen table, with much more chatting, while we ate soup and eventually pie) were worthy of many Michelin stars.

Dinner Friday night was a brew pub treat that featured a local/farm-to-table emphasis. McCoy's Public House treated us well. Collectively, we had a grilled chicken sandwich, macaroni and cheese, a bleu cheese burger, almond-crusted halibut and two orders of vegan masala. Good reviews all around. Best of all, this place was walkable from our hotel.

After no lunch and a heavy day of shopping, dinner Saturday night was our splurge: We were on the hunt for barbecue!

Everyone knows KC is famous for barbecue. It's the home of KC Masterpiece (the restaurant that borne the sauce or vice versa), Arthur Bryant's, Oklahoma Joe's, Gates Bar-B-Q, Jack Stack and so many more. We knew of the history of these places, but we had a few conditions.

We wanted quality, authenticity ... and someplace we could walk to or someplace the hotel shuttle and its 2-mile radius could get us to. Vanessa at the front desk recommended Q39 and she was oh so right!

Maria and I went whole hog, almost literally with ribs, pulled pork and brisket, while some of the other ladies had more demure pulled pork sammies.

Before.

After.

I'm pretty sure we all won. No calorie regrets. Not a single one. It was all So. Freaking. Good!

But, again, the best part of the meal (and that was a LOT of meal!) was that we spent it together.

Love you, Kansas City. And love you girls!