We're Not in Kansas Any More!

Thank goodness! Kansas does tend to go on. I drove 533 miles today (with some Colorado thrown in there), plus a few side trips. My observations on Kansas: there are lots of billboards, there is no cell phone service anywhere, and it is very windy.

Speaking of side trips. And wind... I found myself transported to another land! I met this nice young girl there. She kind of looks like a cross-dresser, but she's really a statue. Love the shoes.


Here I am with a nice, gentlemanly (if a tad empty in the head) scarecrow. He said his name is Fiyero, but that is open to your own interpretation (depending on which Oz lore you subscribe to)


Some people said she was a total witch, but I think she's really just misunderstood...


Okay, so, I wasn't actually in Oz, it turns out. I was in Wamego, Kansas - at the Oz Museum. Some guy wrote a term paper about the Wizard of Oz, and it turned into this ridiculously huge collection of Oz-ities. So, what do you do when you're in a Plains State and you have something ridiculously large? You open a museum! (or you stick it on a big pole along the interstate...) Wamego is a cute little town. I felt good contributing to the commerce of that town.


One notable occurence today: My odometer hit 23456. Tee-hee. I love it when the numbers look cool. Sadly, it only lasts for... well, a mile. I took this pic on my way to my other side trip of the day: Gove, Kansas. I was drawn to Gove by one (among many, many) billboard on the road that said "Antiques and Yarn." I'd been thinking of stopping into an antiques shop today. And... well. Yarn. While at the yarn and antique shop (more yarn than antiques), I met about 1% of Gove's population. That's because only 100 people live there. Seriously. That's fewer people than my new apartment complex.

When I finally hit Colorado, the speed limit, to my happy surprise, was 75 MPH. But, you know how Denver is the mile high city? Well, I always pictured that as, you know... a mile up from zero. Like on a big mountain with tons of switchbacks and scary edges. Turns out it is just a gradual incline from about the middle of Kansas. My truck don't like gradual inclines. Especially when driving head-on into a big ol' thunderstorm. I maxed out at 65. Sometimes I could barely hit 60. All these little old grannies in their Oldsmobiles were passing me. Ah well. Got to see some really spectacular lightning bolts (thankfully all far away).

Now I'm finally in Denver! I've met 7.2 x 10 to the negative 4th% of the population so far...