June 21, 2021 Rudy, we aren't in Kansas anymore

 

June 21, 2021

When I am in the little car that moves, I have learned that I can stretch out.  I can put my forward paws on one human, and my hind paws on the other human.  I can stretch out all over the place and my humans let me.

In the middle of the night, I heard the rain falling.  It had been so hot when we arrived, we closed all the windows and had the air conditioning on.  But now, with rain falling, it had to be cool.  And it was.  There was a cool breeze coming in my window.  It was only 3am, but I opened a few other windows so we could enjoy it.

My walk was totally uneventful.  A light rain is falling, so my rain poncho is on.  Witchita is an industrial town.  But when I walk, I make the best of it.  While I was gone, Spouse went and got an oil change and a few groceries.  Our intent is to head to the Telluride area of Colorado.  We readied Hannah and headed south on I135.  As we passed where Spouse lived, I envisioned a few 10 year old boys jigging for frogs in the canal below.  I saw him pulling his red wagon down the alley scavenging for metal scraps and coke bottles.  He is 72 and he still scavenges for stuff.  He is such a trash dog!  But now, this interstate highway hovers above the canal, which has some water in it but is a small remnant of what it was a lifetime ago.  And on we drive leaving Spouse’s childhood behind.

We catch 400 going west to Dodge City.  This highway is so much prettier than the interstate.  There are farms, ranches, prairies and lots of green.  There are some small rolling hills.  Off in the distance, it looks like rain, but where we are and where we are going, it looks ok.  We stop for lunch in Dodge City on Wyatt Earp Blvd.  From here west, highway 400 is the route of the Santa Fe Trail, which was the major commerce trail of the early 1800’s.  We have an excellent Mexican lunch, then we get out of Dodge! 

There is lots of flat, but lots of green and it is rather pretty.  The sky is blue with white puffy clouds.  The temperature is in the low 70’s – a far cry from the 104 we say yesterday.  And this is the heartland of the country.  While it may get monotonous if you are on the interstate, on highway 400, you see the personal side of farming.  You see the silos, the homes, the small towns.  Right here before our eyes is the workings of what actually feeds our country.  It is very impressive.

And to think, we are towing a tornado magnet and we escaped Kansas unscathed.  We leave the plains, farms, and ranches of Kansas to see the plains, farms and ranches of Colorado.  We made our way to the Elks Lodge of Lamar, and it is on a golf course.  Guess we won’t make it as far as we were planning tomorrow…  it’s here, gotta play!

Best of all… we gained a precious hour as we entered the mountain time zone.

We parked Hannah, and when I opened the slider, POW!  It ate a cabinet door!  It had done this before when Spouse left it open and from that point, never really closed well.  I knew that this would eventually happen, and it did.  By the time we get home, Hannah has a whole list of repairs she is going to need.  I guess we will just have to live with her flaws for another week or so.