Hey there friends. Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days. The campgrounds at which we have stopped have had no internet access and I have been feeling a little disconnected.
We have had a relatively easy time traveling the interstate highway system to get to where we are now. I-90, I-71 and now I-70 along with the various bypasses around Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis and St. Louis have been little disrupted by construction and/or heavy volume. We did run into a little problem on Tuesday just across the Indiana line. Thunderstorms reduced visibility to only a few yards and the pickup in front of me didn’t turn on his lights making it even more difficult. Traffic kept moving, however, except for a few vehicles that pulled over to the shoulder. I am reluctant to do that since I can picture someone slamming into my rear if I do. No exits or rest areas were available so we just kept rolling, albeit at a slower speed than normal, until we got out from under the storm. Later, we came upon a six-mile long backup where road construction had reduced the highway to one lane of stop-and-go (mostly stop) traffic.
On Wednesday, the small problems we experienced were put into perspective. On the eastbound side of the highway, there was a multi-car accident in a construction zone (reduced to one lane) that shut I-70 completely. The backup was a good 10 miles and people were shutting off their engines and getting out of their cars. It was about 95 degrees (St. Louis predictions were for 100) and they had to be uncomfortable. State troopers and fire trucks were present up and down the line. There was a second accident caused by the first and that too had its own mini-backup—although even without it the people behind them weren’t going anywhere. Just the sight of all the parked vehicles made me happy to be on the westbound side.
We’ve crossed our first time zone. Leaving Indiana and crossing into Illinois we went from Eastern to Central Time. We’ve also crossed the Mississippi River and the Missouri River (twice, as it makes a big loop south then north as you go up river from the Mississippi north of St Louis).
We crossed the Missouri River for the last time this morning (Thursday) as we went from Kansas City, MO to Kansas City, KS. Got good views of the baseball and football stadiums as they are right next to I-70. It was much cooler than Wednesday. The temperature is closer to 85 than 95.
We ran into some more heavy rain Thursday morning just west of Kansas City, KS. Some poor woman a short distance ahead of us must have hydroplaned into the median. When we got there she had some help with two trucks having pulled over. One was protecting her car from oncoming traffic and the other was on the shoulder with his lights flashing. First aid was being administered and a highway worker was already there with radio in hand. Otherwise, the travel has been relatively smooth and we are sitting in Salina, KS having lunch at a Flying J and using their wi-fi network. We will be in Oakley in about three hours. Then it’s on to Monument. We've been doing about 400 miles a day and that is just about right with the trailer.
Kansas is not as flat as it seems. Besides the rolling hills as you travel west, there are many eroded gullies and breaks. It's similar to the Badlands further north but with grass. The trees disappeared from most of the land as we left KC behind. Now they are only in the depths of the gullies where water accumulates and around the rivers and ponds.
That's all for now. Tune in later for more.
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