We were still a little weary when we headed out this morning at about 8:00, without breakfast. We drove past downtown Wichita, where of the city's connection with the
aerospace industry is very much in evidence. Suddenly we were out of the city, in a Kansas version of suburban MSP. Green fields became parched, brown plains, and the day's sauna heated up.
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| 55 Chevy we followed on the road. AC through missing back window. |
We had a mediocre breakfast at
Jeri's in Klingman, a disappointing substitute for the fresh farm meal I was expecting. Drivers in this part of the country seem to be either very fast or excessively slow on the two-lane highways we drove on much of the day. Bob passed slower vehicles repeatedly, sometimes at very high speeds. I was shocked to read the GPS stats: his highest speed was 101 mph, a fact I discovered when he thought he was about to be pursued by a state trooper. False alarm: someone else was caught, a guy driving a car Bob had just passed.
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| Dorothy's House in Liberal, Kansas |
Dorothy's Kansas seemed a long way off so I was somewhat surprised to see a kind of Oz theme park near our Subway lunch stop in the city of
Liberal. "My kind of place", I thought, though I missed taking a picture of myself beside the sign. By the time we left town in the early afternoon, the thermometer was already well over 100, and the landscape was drier and a little more grim.
We crossed the border into Texas shortly after 2:00 and were immediately assailed by the odor of cow manure. Cattle stood in holding pens covering several acres and the idea of a vegetarian diet suddenly seemed very appealing. By 3:30 we had entered New Mexico and immediately gained an hour in the Mountain time zone. The landscape gradually became more hilly and mountains appeared in the distance.
Finally, back to freeway on I-40. We thought about staying on the road until we reached our planned destination of Albuquerque, but fatigue and heat were somewhat oppressive and we settled on a Hampton Inn at
Santa Rosa. We swam in the lap pool and felt revived after the hot tub and a cool shower.
Soup and salad at Denny's next door seemed like the right meal choice, and now I'm wondering how early I can go to bed.
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| One of the many trains we saw today |
