Poetry hit me yesterday for the first time in so long, when the steamy hot prairie wind tickled my bare leg.

The air around a patch of prairie grass amplifies summer. You will feel it when you ride by, and you should always inhale deeply there.

So far this summer, we have lit several campfires. At a campground populated by ostriches, we pitched our tents on soft sand. We touched two horses and a beautiful mule. We slept on a sailboat and watched the sun rise into a lavender sky with loon calls. We have filled our bellies with the sacred beer of our ancestors. We have dipped our bodies into lakes, creeks, rivers, and pools. Sometimes naked.