Flying Through the Plains

As they cruised through Kansas, Oprah and Gayle passed a cattle ranch holding thousands of penned cows, "doing their thing" for mile after mile after mile. The intense stench of manure left Gayle gagging. "I really thought that I could possibly lose it at that moment," she says.

Oprah offered smart—but not particularly nurturing—advice to her best friend. "Do not throw up in this car. You'd better hold it," she said. "You're going to pass that in a mile or so. Throw up you smell for the next six days."