2005-09-30

I left Arkansasy behind, cut through Oklahoma and drove a long ways along the Southern border of Kansas, blowing past Medo's 2000-mile limited warranty. One thing that I'd like to point out is that I very rarely drive on an interstate. This results in a tour of all the small towns and backcountry most people miss. For instance, here in Kansas the tractors in the fields are super-sized, making Wisconsin tractors look like Tonka toys. Avoiding interstates also means it takes me forever to get to where I'm going.

I'm currently camped out in a ranch a few miles from the highway. The landscape here is awesome. I wish I were a botanist that I might accurately describe the trees and plants. This is the beginning of red-earth land. The water has dug and tore at the ground creating a very rugged and contoured landscape of red clay. Overlaying this redness are trees of all shades of green (the dark pines really contrast) and a carpet of yellow flowers. All of this is back dropped by a blue and white sky. Beautiful.

For the past few hours thunder has been rumbling in the distance. Now that it's getting dark the sky is aglow with the flashes of lightning. I may get to experience one of those famous Kansas thunderstorms tonight. I had Medo down in a slight valley, but decided to move it to higher ground, but not so high as to become a lightning rod. My only real concern is this red clay that the roads are made of. I suspect it possesses great propensity of becoming red slime. Again, Medo is not a jeep.