CZT Road Trip

CZT Ann Baum writes...

In the summer of 2025, in a Zentangle newsletter, it was suggested that we take our tangling outside. As it happens, [at the time of this newsletter], I was visiting my daughter in Columbus, Ohio, while fellow CZT, Harper Ingram, was in Cleveland visiting her mother. Both of us being from California, we decided to get together and take our tangling on the road toward California.

Harper and I became instant friends when she found me on the Zentangle website and asked to join my online Zoomtangle class. That was one year ago! So much has happened since then... Harper attended CZT42 and zenAgain 2025!

Back to our road trip adventure... We had both flown to Ohio, but I had a vehicle to drive back to California, so I invited Harper to join me. To my surprise, she immediately said "Yes!" Due to family commitments, we both had to be back in California in 10 days. We had to decide whether to drive quickly, all the way, or more slowly, part of the way. Choosing the more relaxed trip, we headed to Kansas City. Hotels were booked, routes planned, and on July 14th, we departed together from Cleveland. 

Earlier in my travels, I met with Dione Greenberg, CZT42, in Dayton, Ohio. We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant and shared Zentangle stories. Regretfully, I neglected taking a picture of us together, or even tangling, but it was such wonderful experience. It inspired me to make more ZenPals. Harper and I consulted the ‘Find a CZT’ list and contacted those along our planned route. To our delight, we found three who were available.

After attending IDOZ from Wauseon, Ohio, on July 15th, we drove on to Chicago, Illinois, and spent two days with Harper's brother and his family. Happily for us, he captains a river boat, and we enjoyed a tour of Chicago's stunning architecture from the water. This and dinner with my niece after a thunderstorm made for an amazing day. 

The next morning, after tangling for hours, we grabbed Chicago hot dogs on our way to Coralville, Iowa, en route to Lincoln, Nebraska. We stopped at every rest area to stretch and tangle with chalk in the parking lots. There are chalk Bijou's in rest areas and hotel parking lots from Cleveland to Kansas City! 

In Lincoln, we met Diane Harpster, CZT36, at the International Quilt Museum. There was so much inspiration in the quilts, it was visually overwhelming! We tangled for several hours over lunch at a nearby Lincoln landmark restaurant.

Diane, Harper, and I found that we had something in common that became an undercurrent in our ZenPal encounters... it turns out our mothers were all artists. Harper's mom is still an active painter in the Cleveland area.

After leaving a Bijou in the hotel parking lot, we traveled to Kansas City... both of us in awe of the lush, green rolling countryside. The Midwest is so beautiful with its cloudscapes and endless crop patterns.

Our first few days in the Kansas City area were spent in Overland Park, where we met Mary Wilson, CZT36.

Over lunch at a fabulous restaurant, we learned that Mary's mother had been an artist, too... what a wonderful connection! We tangled all afternoon at Mary's art-filled home, where she taught us to make a clever origami box that holds Zentangle tiles perfectly.  Mary has been teaching at a Community Center for three years to a vibrant group of seniors. I was so excited when Mary invited me to be a guest teacher. 

On Tuesday, Harper and I drove to Topeka, Kansas, to meet Laura Hirsch, CZT42.

We met at a quirky, fun coffee shop that had amazing pastries. We tangled for hours, fueled by caffeine, sugar, and atmosphere. It was an ideal spot to tangle! Laura delighted us with stories of her family and how she found Zentangle. Her mom made quilts and clothing for her grandchildren, continuing our connections. Laura, like Diane, Mary, and Dione, often uses words and color in her tangling. Harper and I saw an emerging theme.

We had encountered an exhibit (at the quilt museum in Lincoln) of women expressing themselves by writing on their quilts. We noticed that Diane incorporates lovely sayings in her Zentangled cards, Mary gently adds inspirational quotes to her art, and Laura weaves meaningful words into her tangles. Calligraphy being at the heart of the Zentangle Method made us reflect on the use of words, poetry, quotes, and lettering in tangles. 

Harper and I were enchanted by the connections between our ZenPals, the stunning quilts, and our own personal revelations during our journey. Did I mention that Harper and I had only met briefly, in person, three times before sharing a 10-day, 24/7, 800-mile trip together?! Happily, we are kindred spirits and had a wonderful time finding out how much we had in common.

Our tangling travels ended on July 23rd when Harper flew home to California. But wait! Mary had invited me to be a guest teacher. My loaded van was picked up by a transport truck, and I was going to spend the day with Mary and her students. Mary treated me to lunch with her friends, and I taught her class my new tile design that Mary sweetly named Mondri-Ann.

I returned to the hotel exhausted, with happy memories of the day, ready to click my heels together and go home.

Friday morning, I packed my Zentangle bag and flew to California. I had left on April 30th, spent nearly three months traveling, driving through 10 states and over 2000 miles, gathering inspiration from museums, art galleries, pottery workshops, quilt stores (my van is full of fabric), and most of all, family and friends. 

Thank you to Harper Ingram for her courage to spontaneously travel with me, and to Dione, Diane, Mary, and Laura for so enthusiastically meeting and tangling with us. It was wonderful. 

Gratefully,
Ann Baum
CZT36

** November 2025 edit **

In the months following the summer road trip, Harper and I have met frequently in person and online, our friendship ‘zemented’ by our travels together. We have met monthly with our ZenPals via Zoom, taking turns teaching a lesson. Next week, my official zenAgain zenPal, Viola Dean, will be presenting. We are all remarkably compatible and eager to share our story of finding each other through the magic of Zentangling.