Kansas City to Colorado Springs

It took us ten hours, 582 miles, to get from Lee’s Summit to Colorado Springs, quite a ride. It was a beautiful day until we crossed into Kansas, when the winds picked up, and we were literally blown about for five hours. I am sure the winds were somewhere in the 50’s, and even trucks were slowing down to make up for it. We stopped at a rest stop, and the doors literally blew out of our hands, when opened, and the napkins in the door pouch were blown about the stop. It was shocking how strong it was, as well as a bit scary. At times, we could see huge dust storms in the distance; eventually we would reach them, and for about ten seconds, it was difficult to see in front of us, but then it would clear up. It was also strange to see signs and gates which were there to announce the closing of the road, no doubt in the winter. Clearly, with out the gates, trucks would have tried to make it. The ride through Kansas was desolate and monotonous, flatlands on either side of the road, vast fields of brown, black, and some green, seemingly ending only at the horizon. A few spots broke the monotony, a farm or house or barn, or whatever, with towns every 20 or 30 miles. One can see how horrific it most of been in the thirties, and be a farmer in the dust bowl. Even now, the winds were blowing dirt around and if the fields had been fallow, with no growth just dirt, I am sure it would have been worst. Along the road were bizarre and extreme religious signs, one even saying , “Who is John Galt?” Most were about Jesus, references to churches in the various towns, and some mentioned abortion. Clearly, this is a very religious and conservative state, the perfect nesting place for the likes of Bob Dole although John Kerry does not seem to fit in. We left 70 at Liman, and went a back road to Colorado Springs, a much more interesting drive of about an hour on RT. 24. The landscape was a bit more interesting with some groves of trees, occasional towns, mostly very dusty and run down, with occasional ranches, mostly with huge acreage, off in the distance. It must be lonely living out in these areas, though I saw a school bus picking up kids but neighbors are quite a distance. Farming is a lonely profession, one where you rarely get together with neighbors, except on occasional trips to the store or in a time of trouble.
We arrived at 5:00, having left at 8:00 and gained an hour. Halle ran out to hug us, whereas Hayden played coy and the mature girl, staying in the house, waiting for us to come to her. We had a dinner of pizza, as the girls had both been to the doctor that day, Hayden with headaches, Halle with a urinary track infection. The girls, as usual, were quite crazy the first night, hilarious and high spirited. Hayden never stopped talking once you got her going. Evie read them a story and I told them a bad boy story, and they were in bed by 8:30. Drew seems good, after his nine months in Iraq, though he continues to be very busy tidying up the groups return from Iraq. He looks good, in shape, and usually heads to work around 5:30 in the morning, in order to get in a workout. I was really exhausted from the drive, so I went to be around 9:30 there time, 10:30 Tommy’s time.