It's amazing how the last ten or so miles having snow makes the previous 580 miles of clear road insignificant. I was really glad when the hotel I finally got to had a room, although from the long line I stood in to register had me on pins and needles. La Quinta is even cheaper than the Hampton Inn was in Indianapolis.
In all, I drove about 40 miles out of my way on my cross-country run today. I first tried to drop off a flyer at a Whole Foods in Denver. Then I thought to go by some casinos that Marilyn and I had driven by in 2004. The ones the Prius led me to were not the same ones so I didn't even stop.
The rest of this entry comes from notes, mostly complete sentences, I made while I was driving. They are in order and unedited, except for grammar.
I'm impressed with Western Kansas, particularly as the growing light reveals the mostly gold rolling hills.
Yes, I left before dawn with a destination set to post my last flyer in Denver. I should have driven an hour further last night. The hotel selection right off the freeway looks to be much better. Still, living and learning is a "good thing" in my Life after Layoff.
I don't know when I first noticed the similarities of names across the U.S., but I started thinking seriously on it after I saw a Humboldt sign today in Kansas. I saw a Humboldt Park sign in Illinois and, of course, there is Humboldt county in California. Other than the obvious source of things named Washington and Columbus, I wonder whether these other named things have a single person as their source or is it several people who are related or just happen to have the same surname. I suppose if I were really interested I could look it up on the Internet.
The sourdough starter that appears active will require a real test of baking with it before it is pronounced "alive." The natural sugar I used gave it a real interesting color. Until diluted with refined sugar, it will need to be used in darker breads.
It is now fully light and just after 8:00 AM. This is remarkable only because I'm just now catching up with the first truck I've noticed. I realized how nice it was driving without them. Now I will probably be going off and on cruise control and wasting even more gas accelerating up to my traveling speed.
As I approach Salina and find myself hungry for breakfast, I wonder what a vegan will find to eat in cattle country. Kansas, home of several meat barbeque sauces. Kansas, where according to one sign, one farmer feeds 128 additional people, including me. I just passed the "breakfast" exit. With the truck right beside me blocking my access to the ramp, I didn't have much of a chance. Oh well, as I passed the actual road, I didn't see any place serving anything I would want to eat. Dry Honey Nut Cheerios it is.
I am passing a huge field of huge wind turbines. I didn't see any turning. Oops, the field turned out to be much larger than I thought. Here on its western end a few are turning.
A first for me: an oil well junk yard. I wonder if they have any shoppers. "I only need a small tank that has no more than one leak..."
I keep passing beautiful raptors. [One made a prey dive right while I was watching.] I wish I knew more about them to be able to name the birds but not enough to make it a study. At least I recognize them as raptors.
There are a lot of exits in Kansas with nothing at the exit. I can't begin to guess how far away the nearest town may be.
I slowed down when a state trooper pulled up beside me even though he didn't seem all that excited by my 72 mph. My attempt to reset the cruise control at 70 resulted in a speed of 71. I was about to bump it back up that one mph when I passed a trooper who had stopped the car that was in front of me when I slowed down.
At 10:00 AM I stopped for a double dose of gas: fuel for the car and an early lunch for me. When I got back on the road the wind really picked up. It has become an effort to keep the car straight. On the bright side, it is really easy and quick to cut over to the passing lane. Unfortunately it is almost as quick to head off the road whenever something temporarily blocks the wind. I hate to think what this is doing to the wear of my tires. I know what it is doing to my mileage.
To break out of the depression I was getting myself into thinking of the last time I was in Denver, with Marilyn, I called my parents. I must have talked with them an hour. It worked. My father was giving me weather reports for the country, including Colorado. He suggested that I listen to a Denver radio station. The first good channel was Glen Beck. The second was Rush Limbaugh. I'm now on a Country and Western station that I'm not sure is a Denver station. It's amazing how many of the songs I recognize from the last time I listened to a CW station, over 20 years ago.
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