On our way, pt 1: First stop on our trip is to go around the block because we forgot something. Here is Karen leaving our house for the second time in a few minutes.
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Halfway arcross the county, we pass the knot of interstates. I don't know about you all, but I still find these swooping, sweeping spans of concrete and steel somewhat futuristic and larger-than-life.
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I appreciate little architectural details. Like the slender tapered pillars holding up this bulky roof, over the gracefully curved, decco influenced concrete monolith set up just to hold a little map and traveller's information.
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Some cars are more imposing to pass than others.
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A glimpse of Kansas City before we let the Google navigator send us through a perplexing series of interchanges to get through or past it. Still not sure which of those we did :-/
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Leadfoot Jackson was driving at this point :-D
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Easy Gas at the EZGo. Other things, too.
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Bridge # 187.537 and I wondered where I would look up the stats on each bridge. Are these national desginations?
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On some previous trips, we made a point of touring state capitols. Not this time. Anyway, it is Saturday here in Topeka.
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Corduroy fields, endless trains of imported shipping containers, and long, flat highways. This is Kansas.
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Roadside color starting to appear. Not so much in the autumn leaves, but in the geology.
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So far, so good. Another rest area, another driver shift change. Fort Riley historical marker.
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Historical Kansas, set in stone.
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Part of the fun on a road trip is spotting the kitchy local color. This may be a state wide campaign. But it amused me.
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Windmills and cows; bucolic Kansas. These megawatt turbines (quiet and sedate) power cities.
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We'd hit some drizzle, and pulling west of it in the afternoon, got to see a rainbow. But through a dirty rear window. Yes, that is an umbrella at the bottom of the picture.
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The wind that makes electric turbines so effective is hard on the flags. Especially the Sasnak flag.
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You know how weird arguments pop up between couples in confined quarters? Karen claimed never to have seen Dr. Pepper sold in containers from a vending machine. So the next rest stop let me stop the argument.
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So many windmills in the middle of the country. Yet the current administration considers "alternative energy" an unviable alternative to burning coal. :-(
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Once we leave the Interstates, I expect to see more signs like these. Essentially grave markers for ghost towns, roadside commercial tourist stops that dried up for lack of travellers.
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Beef and wind power; Kansas' core exports.
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Old and new styl windmills. One will pump enough water to feed cows. The others each can power hundreds of houses.
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A vanishing way of life.
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Objects in mirror are weirder than they appear :-D
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Red stripes of fields of ripe grains. What grain?
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Our first motel of the Journey. Baymont Inn and Suites, Hays, KS.
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Housekeeping often cranks the air to full power cold. So we open the door to try to bring the room up to a habitable temperature. Karen studies maps to figure out the off-interstate routes for our second day.
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