On The Road Again

This report can be brief -- in summary, we left Denver at about 7 and we got to Macon, Missouri at about 8:15.  In between there was a lot of Kansas.

The longer report only includes details about eating and talking, which is all that happens when we sit in the car for 12 hours.  And napping, which doesn't make for good stories.  I did get a solid 90 minute nap after lunch, which was deluxe.

Well, first we dropped Lee Lee off at school before we hit the road. It was just starting to snow very lightly.  By the time we got onto I-70, it was snowing for real.  I have said this before: snow is not my favorite. Jon is unperturbed about light snow but I am on high alert as I sit in the passenger seat and fret more than necessary.  I point out the trucks in the median strip and tell Jon repeatedly that I do not want to be there.  We left the big interstate and got on Route 36, which goes north and then east parallel to the big highway but is a 2-lane interesting road. 65 mph instead of 75, but that is more our speed anyway.  Last time we drove to Denver, we took this road all the way from Indianapolis and we liked it a lot.  It is the Pony Express Highway.

I think I like the scenery in Kansas as much as anywhere. It isn't as dramatic or picturesque as Utah, but it is beautiful and full of life.  There is farming everywhere, small towns not very close together, and there are cows and huge tractor dealerships and the sky is full of color.  When it stopped snowing after a couple of hours, the edges of the sky were a pale 1970s aquamarine and above there was a layer of violet clouds. Not boring.

Most of the day was sunny and clear and we zipped along at 65 mph.  Once a police car pulled up behind me with lights flashing and I pulled over, somewhat confused, but it was the truck in front of me that was in trouble. He had indeed passed me a bit earlier, but I bore him no ill will, unlike the pushy  SUV guy in California.

We stopped in Kensington, Kansas ("the biggest town of its size" was on the welcome sign) at the city park and used our little Sterno stove to heat up some soup and have a picnic.  It was too cold to hang around, but it was a good time to get out of the car.

As we cruise along, we are reminded of past road trips and we continually try to piece together where we went, when.  Before the kids stopped coming with us, we were restricted by the academic calendar so our trips were shorter.  When Rebecca left for college, we got more ambitious.  We have crisscrossed the country a number of times in recent years (but have never gone as far as this).  Route 36 is worth a return trip and some day we will stop at the Pony Express museum.  Two years ago we deliberately drove through downtown Oberlin, Kansas but this time we just stopped there for a bathroom break.

Dinner was barbecue, since we are in Missouri.  Jon says at the moment he doesn't think he will ever need to eat again.  And now we are in another pleasant motel in the middle of the US, maybe for the last time on this trip.

Oh, and today was the day that Jon had the highest hopes for fuel efficiency, as we were coming down out of the mountains, with the wind at our backs. The car did not disappoint.  51 mpg for real. Not bad for a vehicle with 234,000 miles on it.  And counting.