Day 7: Co to Kansas

Wow- this makes a week on the road. I miss my husband and kids a bit, but I know they are well. I try not to get too sentimental (I avoid country music and sad movies while on the road).

Today was driving through eastern Colorado and western Kansas. Yesterday, there were thunderstorms and floods. Today there are blue skies with large and interesting clouds (they look like shelties chasing sheep). (see pic.)

Eating on the road. You are not really hungry because you've done nothing but sit in your car. But you feel you MUST get OUT of the car. The last thing you want to do is continue sitting down in a closed-up restaurant. Winnie and I have a routine. We find a McDonald's (they are everywhere around interstates) and get a chicken salad and an iced coffee in the drive thru. Then, we go find a park or just an open space. In this part of the country, there are wide open grassy fields wherever you are.
We have a picnic- I eat the salad and I feed Winnie some chicken. Then we run around in the sunshine for a while. I recommend some kind of slip-off shoes when traveling - it's nice to rub your toes in the grass.

Kansas- apparently there are tons of famous people from Kansas. Every town has signs urging you to pull off and see where X was born, lived or died. I did pull off at Russell, Kansas. There is really nothing there except this water tower (see pic:):


One interesting thing I saw in this part of the country - entire fence sections made with stone posts. Really...tall, rectangular pieces of stone placed every 10' or so, wrapped with barbed wire to make fences, sometimes for miles. How determined do you have to be to hew fence posts out of stone, drag them to the proper place, dig a hole, secure it and make a fence --- for miles. Makes me proud to say my family is from Kansas.

So this night, I stayed at a working cattle ranch outside of Junction City, KS. The Sun Rock Ranch (also operating a bed & breakfast- 3 rooms only). They have about 3000acres and about 250 head. The original ra

nch house section where I stayed is built of limestone and is dated 1870. (see pics).
The ranch owner, Elaine, is super-sweet and made Winnie and I feel right at home. She put me in mind of my grandmother who hails from Kansas and passed away last year. Tomorrow, I am scheduled to go on a trial ride.(This post is late because I had a hard time making my internet connection)