Biography

I am Amy Jo Farmer, native to central Indiana. My travels across the country began in about 1969 when I was about five years old. Mom and Dad piled us four siblings into the Chevy Biscayne and drove us to the Great Smoky Mountains and Chatanooga Tennessee. We took many road trips across the country over the next fifteen years, and together toured 37 states. Dad was great to stop at the Stuckeys whenever we crossed into a new state so that I could buy a souvenir spoon. It was also fun to annoy my siblings with my urgency to stop for a spoon before we exited the state. Siblings annoying each other on the long car rides was part of the experience. Then I got to be the parent of siblings annoying each other on long road trips. Yes, my husband I hauled our two sons across the country on a similar but not exactly the same 42 state tour over about fifteen years. By the time my sons graduated from high school, I had toured 47 states. Then I became a full-time farmer, complete with dairy goats, and I figured that I’d never leave the state again. Then came an opportunity to take a cruise to the Alaskan Inland Passage from Seattle, Washington. To my surprise, farm help was available so off went Hubby and me. It was a fantastic trip with breathtaking scenery. But how could a person continue to function, having toured forty-nine of these fifty United States? She can’t! And a farm sitting grown son came forward. On a brisk late October weekend, Hubby and I took flight from Indianapolis to Fargo, North Dakota. Then we drove to Biscayne, North Dakota, with a long and lovely hike in Sheyenne National Grassland, then home. October 28, 2023, age 59 1/2, I had walked the ground, ate the food and talked to the people in ALL fifty United States. From the plants to the animals to the people, life in the United States of America is spectacular.