Arrived!-August 8, 2011

The drive into Colorado on I-70 from the Kansas border is quite spectacular. The farm fields and plains roll for as far as the eye can see. The bright blue skies and unique snow white clouds create a great canopy. There are no trees to block the view. Then the Rocky Mountains come into view. They have snow on them which is not that common this time of year. They get larger and larger and then the skyline of Denver appears. It is a sight to see. Then the traffic hits and it is easy to come back to reality. We arrived at Derrick's house yesterday afternoon. He was out picking vegetables from his garden for us to eat for supper (or dinner if you prefer). We had a great meal. It was wonderful to see him. He said he is glad we are here for a longer time so we don't have to push so hard to do everything we want to do. We will be out and about today, probably nothing to write about. We need wheel covers for the coach and we are not sure where we will have to go to get them. This area of the country is not welcoming to RVers. Very few parks and no one selling supplies. It's ok. Everything will be fine. I must tell you before I sign off that it was beyond heavenly to sleep with the windows open last night and actually get chilly. The lows here at night, because it is an arrid climate, drop to the high 50s or low 60s. It's very restful. It appears we have a beautiful day ahead of us. I hope you have a great one, too.

Seibert, CO-August 6, 2011

We never, ever dreamed we would spend our anniversary in Seibert, CO. Our intentions were to stay in Goodland, KS, but that did not work out so we kept on driving. When we checked in to this nice quiet little park, we asked where we could go eat tonight? She replied, "Sit down or burgers?". Hmmm, think we will celebrate when we get to Derrick's house. We're in state #14. As we have moved about in these 14 states, the change in scenery has been stark. We went from the coast with palms trees, to trees dripping moss that hung over the streets, to interstates with huge thick trees on the side, to short trees growing crooked from a constant south wind to no trees at all. The crops have changed just as much. We saw our first sunflowers, as a cultivated crop, in a long time today. We have seen more acres of corn and sorghum than we've ever seen before. Corn is finally worth the effort for farmers to grow. And the gigantic wind farms have reappeared. There's one in Kansas that goes as far off the highway as one can see and runs about 20 miles or so in length beside the highway. It was puzzling to us why only about 1/4 of those turbines were turning. You would think with our country's pathetic power grid and the extreme high temps, that they would want more power generated. However, it is a catch 22. It takes electricity to turn the wind turbines on, to govern them and to shut them off. So, maybe it is less taxing on the power grid to leave them off. It is in the low 90s here, dry and extremely pleasant. It's just an overnight stay. The people next door are from Florida and are on their way to Loveland. It is a small world. Tomorrow is Sunday. I wish all of you a blessed day of rest.

LIndsborg, KS-August 5, 2011

Lindsborg is the Sweden of Kansas. In it's hayday it must have been something to see. Like the rest of the country, it is struggling financially. We walked the entire downtown area, bought a thing or two, had lunch and left. They had Dala horses everywhere, almost on every corner. Like Pensacola did Pelicans, Lindsborg did Dala horses. They were delightful. Then we stopped at a store called Menard's. We have seen that name on NASCAR hoods but didn't know what it was. Imagine a Sam's, a Home Depot, a Lowe's and a grocery store all rolled into one. That's Menard's. It was so massive we could not take it all in. Most of their prices were much better than Wal Mart and their selection was the best we have ever seen in any store we have shopped. They had brands we have not ever seen. It was just fascinating. We did buy some good things there and enjoyed walking for what felt like miles. We prepared to walk today and wore out new tennis shoes. It was 93° today but very pleasant. It rained cats and dogs last night, almost all night long, but the sun came out quickly today. We are anxious to be near the Colorado border tomorrow and then on to Derrick's the following day. In a sense this has been a long trip. In a sense, we've not had enough time to do it all. I guess that's part of RVing.

Relief, at last!-August 4, 2011

We rode out a storm last night in that park in the middle of nowhere, Kansas. It was just horrible. We love the sound of rain on the roof of this coach, but do not care for the sound of hail. The wind was supposedly about 60 mph. The electricity was off for hours. Thank goodness for a generator. We had to open the windows to cool us down. During the night it started raining again and Jerry said he woke up to moisture hitting his face. So, he rolled over and went back to sleep. Is that a form of turning the other cheek?? We woke up this morning with electricity and a ton of mud on the car. It was cloudy so our travel today was very pleasant. We made it to Salina, Kansas. It was only 93° and much less humidity. They predicted a chance of storms. We still have sunshine right now. Very, very nice and such a relief. We are staying an extra day here so we can go to Lindsborg. It is a Swedish Village south of here that we have wanted to see for a long time. We are back on roads that we have traveled for many, many years so we are more comfortable. Derrick got the 50 amp hook-up installed at his house today so he is partially ready for his Alabama migrant farm workers to camp in his driveway. This is going to be an adventure in itself. He said it is supposed to be in the 90s in his area this weekend. We can handle that. Our pomegranate tree will be one happy camper to be able to be outside again. We will enjoy it, too.

In the middle of nowhere-August 3, 2011

We got up really early this morning so we could get on the road before the sun came up and started baking our little brains. The problem with that is that we had to stop earlier. The heat and traffic got to us, so we stopped in the middle of nowhere, literally, in South Haven, Kansas. I mean there is nothing here. But we had to stop somewhere. We had a first this morning. In parts of Oklahoma there is some construction so interstates are forced down to one lane. We were in line like everybody else, following a semi. There was a pick up truck behind us that was loaded with glass windows. When we went back out to two lanes, he tried to dive at our front wheels and force us off the road. He was an idiot. We are a whole lot bigger and a whole lot heavier. He would have lost that battle badly. But Jerry refused to do battle with a man with no brains, so he just held the wheel until the goon got around us. There are some extremely rude people on the road. We just stay the course and keep calm. We are going to make a decision shortly on where we want to land tomorrow. I will say it is much cooler here than Oklahoma, only 103°! We wish we could find another park as nice as the one in Thackerville. That was fabulous.

Hot birds, hot people-August 2, 2011

We did not leave Oklahoma this morning as planned. It was too hot at our destination. Seriously. We saw that it should be a little cooler there tomorrow, only about 105°.  We thought we'd be better off here and not on the road. Neither of us has ever felt this kind of heat. It is very dangerous. There's a huge fire station and EMT station a couple of  blocks from this park. The ambulances roll frequently. We were told by someone who works here that people are dropping from heat exhaustion. The poor little birds are not doing much better. They are standing under our a/c drain and trying to drink the water and get themselves wet. I'm not being funny. It is sad to watch. If our a/c units survive this, it will be a miracle. We cannot get cold or even cool water out of our faucets. It is very hot water. I guess that saves the hot water heater, if we want to find something positive. We do know we will never travel in this kind of weather again. But we had to do it this year to try to get our more mobile life established. This time next year, "the good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise", as the old saying goes, we will be far north staying cool. Then we'll move around in the south for the winter. I am so sorry for anybody who has to be out in this. The rain quit following us and we feel badly about that. Rain is so needed here. It's going to get better. We have faith that it will. If you are suffering this intense heat, please take care of yourself.

Toby Keith-August 1, 2011

Where did July go? Goodness. We have been in 12 states so far in this coach. We ate at Toby Keith's restaurant tonight. He is a local boy. The food was acceptable but not really anything to brag about. When we left, our car thermometer had 110° on it. The heat is so bad nobody works outside past about 11:00 AM. The place is desolate in the afternoons. We met a couple from Odessa, Texas today. It is not only hot there but they have mandatory water rationing because they have had no moisture since last September. See, we don't have to look very far to realize how blessed we are. At least we have seen rain and even walked in it lately. The water here is so soft I bet the tribal medicine man is really busy prescribing meds for high blood pressure. I am not going to wash any clothes here. I am afraid I'd never get the soap suds out of my washing machine. We are off tomorrow as early as we can get out of here headed for Kansas, if we can stand the heat while traveling. Coming up here we had 3 a/c units running (one up front and two on the roof) and it still got to 88° in the back. It took a long time to cool it back down. Tomorrow will be hotter, so if it gets too hot in here we will have to stop. It's ok. We know it will be only a few more days until we get to cooler weather. Not cold, just cooler. Don't let yourself get overheated. Drink lots of fluids!