Bits and Pieces

Traveling like this there are always these little odds and ends of things happening that don't really fit in with the regular sequential blog post. Like the nice trucker and his son (presumably anyway) who waved and gestured at us letting us know we had some kind of problem so we pulled over and the tie downs and cover on PoGoGo on the carrier were coming loose and dragging on the highway. Thank you Mr. Unknown Trucker!

Then there is the automatic hand washer Geoff discovered in western Kansas. You stick your hands in and it wets them, soaps them, rinses them and then dries them or so the instructions say. It promises more than it delivers even when you do it three times!

Driving along we suddenly see a concrete field full of helicopters both Chinooks and regular looking ones which Geoff says were UH-60's and OH-58's ... regular ones as far as I can tell. Of course this is not so surprising when we see we are passing Ft Riley. It also explains the sudden appearance of apartment complexes in the middle of no where.

Some things go by too quickly to grab the camera for ... like the sudden area of leafless twisted trees scattered across the landscape for a short bit on the north side of I70 ... looked like a sudden wind storm or small tornado had struck maybe a thousand square yards of hillside.

A little ways farther on we found miles and miles of wind turbines planted in the prairie. Here and there, as you can see if you look closely at the image, there were old fashioned windmills. The juxtaposition was fascinating. There are hundreds and hundreds of turbines in these fields that are also used for whatever else, corn, wheat, or cattle grazing.

Only a little farther west from the wind turbines we found signs along the highway stating that if the lights on them were flashing all traffic had to get off the interstate. The only rationale for this we could think of was weather, either very strong winds that were dangerous or even threatened tornadoes or, even more likely, the blizzard conditions that occur out here in the prairies in winter.

Saw a few signs for the Quilt Cottage near Hays, Kansas, which made me think of stopping and getting a little something for my cousins Cyndi but then I realized since I have no interest in quilting myself I wouldn't have a clue what to get ... sorry Cyndi, just appreciate the thought I guess.

We finally made it out of Kansas (one of those "doesn't it ever end states") and ran into a nasty little rainstorm right where exits were few and far between. We finally got off and found a little RV park at the local Conoco station ... doesn't CW McCall have a song or two that mention the Conoco Station? The rain stopped almost as abruptly as it began and through the windshield we saw this lovely rainbow. It doesn't really show but it appeared much stronger than usual, probably because the skies were still fairly dark and stormy behind it but the sun was shining from behind us. This little park is the Marshall Ash Village Campground and has only two or three dozen pull through slots but they all have power, water, and sewer. It is right off the interstate, back behind the Conoco station which is also the campground office.

Our frig is still being cranky, infrequently showing the good old mysterious check light and being a bit erratic as to temperature so we'll have to keep an eye on it. Maybe I should assign that task to our resident kitty, stuffed and not needing any feeding or litter control. Next stop Denver!