Thurs. Aug 23: We left Sheridan Wyoming bright and early on Thurs. The drive through Wyoming was great with lots of beautiful and diverse scenery. We left the freeway after Casper Wyoming and drove along the North Platte River. We then headed into Western Nebraska. Our drive through Nebraska was very nice as well but uneventful.
We then decided to head south into Kansas and then find a place to stay. BIG MISTAKE!!!!! You know all those things you see on TV and in the movies about the weather in Kansas. IT'S VERY VERY TRUE.!!!!!
About half an hour into Kansas we saw an incredibly ugly cloud and then the wind began to blow. We drove in blinding rain and wind for about an hour. At one point I pulled into a farm driveway to wait it out as I could hardly see even with the wipers going full speed. It was the kind of storm that looked like it would last forever. I'm sure I saw a girl with pigtails and a small dog blow by us as we waited. (this is Kansas--right Toto). I saw a semi coming and from past experience I knew that they are high up in the cab and are great to follow. We pulled out behind him and followed his lights for about 40 minutes. We came to I 70 and he pulled into a truck stop and we saw a motel that luckily had a room available. The rain was coming down so hard that I got soaked taking 3 steps from the car to the motel lobby. Anyone that has heard our motel story from Moncton New Brunswick will know what kind of rain storm we were in. If you don't know the story ask us the next time we meet.
Fri. Aug 24: We awoke to no rain today but it was cloudy. We headed east on I 70 to Salina Kansas and then headed south on I 135 to Wichita. We hit some rain along the way but nothing like yesterday. We then headed east and south towards Baxter Springs, Kansas which is where we left off last year. As we were driving we were listening to our favorite group (Eagles) on a CD. If you are an Eagles fan you remember they did a song called "Duelling Daltons". It was about the Dalton Brothers Gang that tried to rob two banks at the same time in a town called Coffeyville in Kansas. Surprise, surprise, we saw that Coffeyville was on our route to Baxter Springs.
We spent an hour in Coffeyville at the Dalton Gang Museum. Very interesting museum. I'm having trouble getting pictures onto the blog. Will include some when I figure out the problem.
We ate dinner at Baxter Springs and then started Part 2 of Route 66 into Oklahoma. Saw Mickey Mantle's hometown of Commerce Ok and we are staying overnight in Miami Ok----pronounced My am uh.
"Toto, we have a feeling they are not in Kansas any more. - They must be over the rainbow."
ReplyDeleteHi Vicky and Ross, when we drove on Route 66 last year we joined a cattle auction in OKC. Of course all the ranchers noticed immediately we are tourists and were joking "They wanted to fly to Miami, Florida and instead of spending their vacations on the beach they arrived in Miami, OK." The whole audience was laughing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your stormy stories with us!
:-)
No Internet access. Shit I am surprised that they have Pony express in Kansas That entire section of the US is one big antique museum. The storm was just a ploy to get you to stop in and spend some Yankee money south of the Mason Dixon. Enough enough of the eat, sleep and no connection stories. We want to hear about some real hillbilly stories while you were rafting in the storm with some strange local folk!
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