I have been to Nebraska. Once. And I’ve always thought: That’s enough.

Although I was born in Minnesota and lived there the first 13 years of my life, my family moved to the southeast corner of Iowa, where my dad’s job took us. From the cosmopolitan Twin Cities to the flat city of Donnellson, population 800, 15 miles from Somewhere. Fifteen miles from Illinois, as a matter of fact.

I graduated from high school in Iowa and graduated from the University of Iowa – not a lot of years – and before I knew it, I was living in McHenry County in 1981. I’ve lived in Illinois more than half of my life, and I should consider myself an Illinoisan.