Day 5

October 16 2009, Friday

Woke up really early. Had free breakfast and a few minutes online with their computer access. Bought some Kansas postcards and mailed the ones from St Louis. We tired to go see the mushroom rocks I had heard about online from Google earth. We had an address to put in the GPS, and it took us off the highway onto a 2 lane road through fields of hay. Got stuck behind a slow RV, and the road was so curvy it took a while to find a good spot to pass it. The GPS led us to a driveway with a closed gate. Ok so now what? Is this it? I don’t see any rocks bigger than pebbles for miles, and unless they are the actual size of mushrooms they should be easy to spot. We saw some signs for Mushroom state park, but they led to a another closed gate. Is it just closed for the day? I was ready to just climb the gate and see what was on the other side of the hill. But of course with my mom in the car there is no rule breaking. We considered this a lost cause and kept going.

Not much farther we spotted some cowboys herding cattle. We stopped to watch and take pictures. The cowboys were a bit weirded out by us – random strangers stopping to videotape them. (I suppose I would be too) We tried explaining that we are on a road trip and never seen real cowboys at work before. The cowboys thought we might be from the humane society or local newspaper. So we left after a few minutes, they were mostly done, and I didn’t want to intrude on them too much. They were weaning the calves. Young females were allowed to go back with their mom, and the male calves were loaded into trucks. So that was exciting!

Then the GPS gave us directions back to the interstate, only instead of going back the way we came it decided on a short-cut down a dirt road. The road was very rocky and I could see mud and rocks fly up behind my tires and hear them clunking around on my car’s underbelly. I tried to drive very slow, but my wheels kept slipping around on the mud and rocks, particularly when we hit some steep hills. We stopped to photograph cows and grass. Kansas scenery consists of rolling hills covered in brown prairie grass. That’s it; not much else other than the cows, fences, and rolled up hay bales. Every few miles we spot some trees clustered around a tiny pond near a homestead or small town. Probably not native, they were planted by the people who live there. This is the wrong season for sunflowers. Everything has been harvested already, leaving empty fields of dried up husks. I got mad at the GPS when it told me to turn onto another dirt road. And then continue for 12 miles! No way I’m driving 12 miles on mud only going 10 m/hr! But by then it was too late to turn around, and go back, might as well continue forward. We were driving around in the middle of nothing but cow pastures. Never trust a GPS with out first looking to see where its taking you. It wasn’t very far before the dirt road became paved and I was saved having to drive the whole distance on dirt. We made it to the interstate! I’m a bit disappointed about the mushroom rocks, maybe you can only get to them by tornado-express.

We drove through Kansas and stopped at Goodwill/Goodland/something. It was a very tiny town. We were attracted to it by the giant easel, the world’s largest. The small town only had 2 stop lights on Main street, which was entirely brick. Non of the roads had any markings on them, such as lane dividers. Main street was wide enough I assumed it had multiple lanes going in opposite directions, but it was hard to tell. A faulty address for the GPS/ or just our bad sense of direction got us lost again. We ended up stuck in the middle of a long funeral procession which the whole town had come out to attend. Almost drove to the cemetery before we turned off and found our way back to the easel. We had to stop and ask for directions. It was large enough to see from the interstate, but apparently once in town the huge factory blocked our view. It’s not like there were many roads to choose from, but I was behind the wheel and mom was navigating. This is a bad combination when neither of us know where we are. We took a picture and got back on the interstate again. Then my ipod died and I can’t listen to it and charge it at the same time so we switched to radio. There wasn’t much selection, only one clear station– country music of course. We listened to the local news and they mentioned the guy that died, but I forgot what his name was. They are having a memorial dinner at the senior center with homemade pie for dessert. RIP whoever you are, the town of Goodland misses you.

Many miles later we reach the border and enter into Colorado. I thought Kansas was plain and boring, but this section of the Colorado foothills is worse. (I know the rest of CO is much prettier.) The landscape is completely brown as far as the eye can see, which is quite a ways; since there is absolutely nothing to block line of sight. Kansas had tall prairie grass, this is just short and scrubby grass. Maybe in the spring this might look better, if the grass is green? Not a single tree, just brown nothingness until it joins up with blue nothingness. There are hills, fences and clouds. Not even hay bales or fields of crops. The sky is immensely vast, this would be a great place for star gazing. Too bad we didn’t think of it last night, we will be in Fort Collins by the time the stars come out again. The road is very finely grooved and there are chain stations where you can pull over for 30 min to chain up your tires. We passed a single solitary tree that looked a bit lonely and out of place. A few cows here and there, and some dilapidated farm buildings reminiscent of old westerns. Still no sign of the mountains we ought to be approaching. Ooh off in the distance! Very faintly I can see pale shadows that look like mountains! They blend in so well with the sky its hard to tell if they are actually just clouds. We passed a Christmas tree farm – rows of evergreens waiting for December.

For an uninteresting state I sure had lots to write about Kansas. It’s because I was bored sitting in the car observing the same scenery so it was more entertaining to write about it. Made it to Fort Collins! Saw the movie Julie and Julia with Aunt Allison and Skyler.