These Boots Are Made For Walking

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Oh, The Places You'll Go in the Most Tremendous

Pair of Boots in the Universe!

By the time you're reading this, I'm headed to DC!

The Moment It All Began

New Year's Eve 2025. I was watching fireworks celebrations from around the world, as I do every year. And then the coverage got to Washington, DC. There, projected onto the Washington Monument in stunning 360-degree imagery, was "The Story of America" — a visual journey through Discovery, Independence, Westward Expansion, the Industrial Revolution, and Innovation.

At 12:01 AM on January 1, 2026, something clicked. I KNEW — with absolute certainty — that I MUST be in Washington, DC, to celebrate the most tremendous country in the world's quarter of a millennium. 250 years. Once in a lifetime. I had to be there.

The Boots That Were Meant To Be

But wait, let me back up. Last August, I was speaking in Scottsdale, AZ, and we visited some western shops. Then, just THREE WEEKS AGO, Mike got an email from one of those shops with a link to these incredible Corral 250th Anniversary boots. He showed me and said, "Tracey, would you like these for your birthday in July?"

WOULD I?!?! YES!!!

But we had to act fast. These were limited-edition, hand-painted, Certificate-of-Authenticity boots. I snagged the LAST pair of size 10s!! When I logged off the site, there were only a 5 and a 13 left. YIKES!

So these boots? They were MEANT for me. Meant for this trip. Meant for America's 250th birthday.

The moment of unboxing joy!

Make It So! Six Months of Planning

So I turned to my trusted Best Supporting Bot — CC (that's Clever Claude, my AI planning partner) — and said, "Make it so!" I knew planning America's 250th would be crazy. Tickets would sell out fast. Timing would be everything. This became a six-month planning extravaganza.

And let me tell you about MANIFEST DESTINY. Not just as American history, but as how this whole trip came together:

The last pair of size 10 boots — MANIFESTED.

The NYE calling at 12:01 AM — MANIFESTED.

Watergate Hotel rooftop fireworks viewing tickets before they sold out — MANIFESTED.

National Archives tickets (10:00 and 10:15 sold out, but 10:45 available) — MANIFESTED.

Air & Space Museum and Museum of the Bible passes, Great American State Fair registration, every piece falling into place — MANIFESTED.

And the celebration hasn't even BEGUN yet!!

The full spread: boots, certificate, flag, and patriotic gear — ready for America's birthday!

The Haters Gonna Hate

Of course, then came the haters. "DC for the 4th? Why would you go THERE?! That's the LAST place on earth I'd be! The crowds! The heat! The traffic!"

You know what my father, Charlie, would have said? "Good, you stay home, you thumb suckers. We don't want you ruining a great party!"

Sound familiar? It reminded me of a joke I love to tell that brings down the house every time:

A woman was at her hairdresser's getting her hair styled for a trip to Rome with her husband. She mentioned the trip to the hairdresser, who responded:

"Rome? Why would anyone want to go there? It's crowded and dirty. You're crazy to go to Rome. So, how are you getting there?"

"We're taking United. We got a great rate!"

"United?! That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they're always late. So, where are you staying in Rome?"

"We'll be at this exclusive little place over on Rome's Tiber River called Taste."

"Don't go any further. I know that place. Everybody thinks it's gonna be something special and exclusive, but it's really a dump."

"We're going to go to see the Vatican and maybe get to see the Pope."

"That's rich," laughed the hairdresser. "You and a million other people trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."

A month later, the woman again came in for a hairdo. The hairdresser asked her about her trip to Rome.

"It was wonderful," explained the woman. "Not only were we on time in one of United's brand new planes, but it was overbooked, and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and we had a handsome 28-year-old steward who waited on us hand and foot."

"And the Taste hotel was great! They'd just finished a $5 million remodeling, and now it's a jewel, the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us their owner's suite at no extra charge!"

"Well," muttered the hairdresser, "that's all well and good, but I know you didn't get to see the Pope."

"Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican, a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet us. Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down, and he spoke a few words to me."

"Oh, really! What'd he say?"

He said, "Who screwed up your hair?"

The moral? Don't let the negative hairdressers of the world cut down your dreams. While they're busy telling you why it won't work, you're out there living it — first class, upgraded suite, meeting the Pope.

The Party Kept Getting BIGGER

As the haters hated, every day brought MORE announcements. The Great American State Fair! RODEOS! Flyovers! Concerts! The programming just kept coming. I couldn't stand it — in the BEST way.

I'm going to be walking around DC with a box of Kleenex in one hand and a cold drink in the other, crying tears of patriotic joy while wiping my brow in 100-degree heat. BRING IT. This is America's birthday, and I'm here for ALL of it.

And all that noise about protesters at the Reflecting Pool? Causing chaos? Well, honey, let me tell you, there's no better place for a patriot to be than right there on the National Mall, ready to plant her God-ordained, eagle-emblazoned, Certificate-of-Authenticity-carrying Corral cowgirl boots squarely in the backside of democracy's discontents.

Some folks came to protest. I came to CELEBRATE. And these boots? They're not just made for walking; they're made for two-stepping right past the nonsense and straight into 250 years of American greatness.

The World Came to America

And as if the 250th wasn't enough in the weeks leading up to July 4th, the WORLD came to America for the FIFA World Cup. Nations from every corner of the globe landed on our soil, and they saw it for themselves.

They saw our cities. Our people. Our hospitality. Our spirit. They came for soccer. They left understanding why this country is the greatest on earth.

Welcome to America, world. Glad you could warm up the party for us.

A Library of What's Right

My father, Charlie "Tremendous" Jones, used to say: "I could write a book about what's wrong with America, but I could write a LIBRARY about what's right."

That's what this trip is about. That's what July 4th, 2026, is about.

The haters can write their book. I'm walking through the library in my eagle boots, with my veteran husband and friends, celebrating 250 years of what's RIGHT.

The Longest-Running Show on Earth

Here's something the haters forget: The United States of America is the longest-running continuous system of government in human history.

250 years. Same Constitution. Same republic. Still standing.

Empires have risen and fallen. Governments have been overthrown. Revolutions have rewritten maps. But America? We're still here. Still free. Still "We the People."

That's not just worth celebrating, that's worth walking to DC in 100-degree heat in eagle boots to witness.

A quarter of a millennium. And we're just getting started.