Last night the place where my hotel exists (this is not even a town) was slammed by a bad thunderstorm. The power went off then back on in a few minutes about four times in a half hour. The air conditioner in my room stopped working. The wind was so bad it knocked over a sign near my van. It landed just a few feet from the Patty-wagon. I got up and went to the main door in the hallway leading to the parking lot. A man was also there looking out at the storm. He was watching his motorcycle out of fear that the wind would blow it over. I was afraid the hail would break one of my windows. In the hotel room, it sounded like someone was throwing a barrage of big rocks at the hotel window. The man told me a couple of tornadoes had been spotted nearby. The wind was swirling the rain outside like little tornadoes. I went back to my room and slept anyway because I was so tired. The next morning, it looked like all the bikes and vehicles in the hotel parking lot had made it through the storm unscathed. I'm very glad I didn't camp last night. It's going to be another hot day on the plains, though not as hot and windy as yesterday.
The hard part of traveling through Kansas is that the scenery is unrelenting. Several friends of mine, who grew up in Kansas or did some traveling there, assure me that there is much more to the state, some of which is very redeeming and even cultural, but all I can see are fields of wheat, grass, corn and cows, then sometimes a cluster of gas stations, fast food restaurants and fireworks stores (and the occasional adult "Superstores"). The bigger towns must have more in them, but it's hard to tell from the highway, and I just don't have the time or inclination to get off the highway and investigate them.
The hard part of traveling through Kansas is that the scenery is unrelenting. Several friends of mine, who grew up in Kansas or did some traveling there, assure me that there is much more to the state, some of which is very redeeming and even cultural, but all I can see are fields of wheat, grass, corn and cows, then sometimes a cluster of gas stations, fast food restaurants and fireworks stores (and the occasional adult "Superstores"). The bigger towns must have more in them, but it's hard to tell from the highway, and I just don't have the time or inclination to get off the highway and investigate them.