…And The Miles Grind By…

It’s just after one and I have stopped for a while to have lunch and to rest a while. According to my calculation, my drive for the day is about half over… at least as the mileage goes. We’ve been driving just over seven hours, not quite five hundred miles at an average speed just above 65mph.

Saga and I started driving around six this morning. The GPS tells me that we have 378 miles left to cover. Gee! Does Kansas never end? I remember now why I prefer the southern route along I-40. The route is about 300 miles longer (2,040 vs. 1,712 according to Garmin.) but with all those little states you pass through, it seems to go faster! Only Tennessee (395 miles) seems interminable on that route. But at least there is scenery! The 435 miles of Kansas are just that Kansas!

I have nothing against Kansas, mind you, I just have nothing for it! I’m covering it at 75mph when I am moving. I can only imagine the sheer mind-numbing boredom that it must have been for the settlers in their Conestoga wagons. Forget MPH! The Conestoga would travel at about 15 Miles per Day! At that speed this trip it would take a month to traverse Kansas!

And if you’re doing it in the summer, you have to deal with the lack of trees and the heat! When I stopped to park in the shade of a building (so that Saga and I do not cook while we’re stopped) and have lunch, I noticed that the hotel we were parked by had a thermometer on their marquee. It wasn’t just that it seemed hot… It was hot!

And heat in this area of the country (if there is any moisture in the air) brings storms. "Wizard of Oz" anyone? Anyone?



There was a front on the surface map when I checked the weather channel this morning. I guess I should save this, and get rolling again. If there are storms ahead of me, then there are storms ahead of me!



Wherever you are today, I hope that you’re staying cool!



Don Bergquist – July 27, 2008 – Russell, Kansas, USA