Travels with Ann and Dave: Miles and miles of miles and miles

Ann was fixing breakfast of creamed chipped beef on toasted English muffins when the smoke detector started alarming. There was no smoke; so we determined it was a defective detector--actually part of the original equipment, so it had lived a useful life! Noisy, though. Reminded us of a similar event at our son and daughter-in-laws home over the Labor Day weekend when the detector in our grandson's room malfunctioned.

Yesterday, it was rain; today it was wind. We left camp at 8:08 and, after refueling our truck, we hit I70 West which is pretty much a straight shot west. We encountered 30 mph+ winds out of the south, southeast. You figure the dynamic and you understand why we switched drives four times in the 200 miles to Great Bend. Couple the strong cross wind with truckers going 75+ especially downhill, (the posted speed limit is 75 mph) and you get very tired holding the steering wheel. If you have ever driven a towing vehicle, like our extended cab F-150 pulling a 28-foot travel trailer, and you are passed by a truck, a bow wave of air pushes you out of your lane; now add a 30+mph cross wind! We were very relieved to settle into our camp.

We drove along a stretch of I70 which is designated the Native Stone Scenic Byway with lots of rock formations and occasionally a fence of stone. We also passed Ft Riley where David went for Summer ROTC training and which was his first assignment on active duty in 1960. We also passed our first wind turbine farm on this trip.

Kansas is rolling prairie--miles and miles of miles and miles. You see fields of rust-colored sorghum, golden ripening soybeans, lush green alfalfa (hay), dried corn awaiting harvest, brown post-harvest wheat fields and prairie grass with grazing cattle, mostly black Angus.

This afternoon we drove through Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands after visiting a great educational center about the wetlands and conservation. We'd seen tents set up in the morning there while driving to our Great Bend campsite. The ranger told us they'd had 400+ second graders in those tents this morning!! Outside the Center, the flag was at half staff for the DC murders. You can see how stiff the wind is from the flag. The wetlands have been replenished by the bountiful rains this year and birds are just now beginning to come back after several years of drought.

Tomorrow we will visit Quivera National Wildlife Refuge. A cool front is predicted with hopefully less wind and temps below the 90's we had today.