When we woke, we were still in Kansas.
With hot weather in the forecast, we wanted to get an early start. It was only 7:30 when we turned onto I-35 heading north. Our route would take us through Wichita and then west along I-70 to the small town of WaKeeney, Kansas. We caught a break and the wind blowing out of the south pushed us along. The roads were good and traffic was exceedingly light. The farther we drove, the flatter the terrain became. Woodlands and farms thinned out. Grasslands and ranches took over. The air became drier. The little towns were farther and farther apart. It then dawned on us that there is a huge section of the country that is sparsely populated and we were right in the middle of it. Peaceful, but sparsely populated.
Strange how you take things for granted. Growing up in Southern California, one would assume the rest of the country is densely packed with towns, streets, shops, cars, etc. As it turns out, most of the country isn’t like that. The regions where food is grown, minerals are mined and water is sourced are way out-of-the-way places. Growing up in the city, you have no concept of how dependent you are on the resources supplied by these middle-of-nowhere places. Magically, things appear in shops to buy, building materials are available at the local Home Depot and water freely flows from the spigot.
The miles rolled by uneventfully. In the afternoon we arrived in the small town of WaKeeney, Kansas, which is little more than a crossroads with fuel stops. We tanked the coach before pulling into the local KOA. We got in just in time. Shortly after we arrived, the weather turned hot. In fact, it was like a blow-torch. Running fill blast, the coolers could barely keep up. Too hot to cook, we ordered a pizza to be delivered to space #13 at the KOA. We spent the rest of the afternoon munching pizza and watching TV.
Tomorrow, we move on to Colorado Springs.