Sorghum, road kill, and Dorothy, oh my

Okay, day three of this packing up and driving 300 miles daily, and I'm already tired of this crap. Maybe because I'm not up to par with my cold and everything.

By 9:30 a.m. we were ready to pull out of our site. Jim says what he always says, "Watch out for that side." Yeah, like I'm supposed to do something about it. It was somewhat of a tight turn pulling, Jim turned the truck, and I heard a loud snap! Yowser! It was the tree branches that were hanging over the trailer. There was nothing we could do but continue to pull forward. We pulled up in front of the office to throw our garbage out and look at the branch sitting on top of our trailer.



Jim got the ladder out to get the branch down. If he just waited a minute, the wind would have blown it down.



The majority of the day was spent on roads just like this one. Just a two lane road through the country.



We would pass miles and miles of fields of corn, but mostly this crop.



It was very hard to get a good picture of it, without it being blurred, even if I panned the camera. Jim thought the crop was possibly sorghum.

Kansas is a pretty flat state. So we could see these buildings a few miles down the road. They are granaries. They are EVERYWHERE.



Here is a HUGE pile of corn. To get an idea of just how tall that pile is, look at how small the tractors are in front of it.



Here is a different pile of corn. Look at all the trucks just waiting to load up.



Railroad tracks ran alongside the road for a long distance. We saw many trains. Here's one coming up.



And, again, because this state is so flat, here's the train as far as the eye can see.



We passed through some funny named towns like Cheney, or this one:



Or this one - not for the weak at heart:



I saw four identifiable dead animals on the road - a raccoon, a deer, a white spotted owl, and a skunk. I saw many unidentifiable smooshed animals - too bad I didn't have this guide with me:



Something typical you would see out in the country:



Something not so typical:



I have NO idea what those pots are used for, or if they are just decorations, but they are HUGE. Compare them to the trees in the background.

As far as interesting cars, I saw this old truck drive by. It's a little blurred, being that we were both moving. Look at the hat on that good ole boy driving!



This little VW Bug passed us up. I got a kick out of the license plate.



We arrived in Liberal, KS close to 5 pm. The campground owner was very friendly and nice. She came to our trailer to collect the money. There happened to be a field of that crop right next to the campground that Jim and I were wondering about and I asked her about it. She said that it indeed is sorghum, or milo, and is used to feed pigs, and also is put in bird seed. I walked over to get a closer, clearer, photo of the mysterious crop.





They had bales of hay piled up high. Here is a "study in hay".



I am attracted to barbed wire fence. Maybe it's the bad girl inside me wanting to get out. This caught my eye.



As I walked back to the trailer through the dried out weeds and grass, I was bombarded by grasshoppers. One actually hit me hard in the chest. I let out a yelp and walked faster, but those babies where hopping all over the place. It was like the fricking plague out there. I couldn't reach the stones fast enough. If anyone saw me they'd think I was crazy the way I was waving my arms and yelling.

I found out that right here in Liberal, KS, that I could have followed the Yellow Brick Road. That's right. They have the original model of Dorothy's house that was used in the 1939 filming of "The Wizard of Oz". They also have 5,000 square feet of animated entertainment including good and bad witches, the Munchkins, talking trees, winged monkeys, and Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and Toto, too. I was so disappointed to find out that the Seward County Museum, where this all is located was already closed for the day by the time that we got to town. And they don't open till 1:00 pm on Sundays and we'll be long gone by then. And listen to this! Next weekend is OZ FEST! They have actual MUNCHKINS from the movie come to town, they have a parade and everything. Doesn't that sound like fun? Gosh I wish we were passing through next weekend. Click this link for the best website I found with pictures of the Land of Oz.

Liberal also has International Pancake Day, which is celebrated with all-you-can-eat pancake and sausage breakfast on Shrove Tuesday (the day before Lent begins). This is after having 3 days of festivities such as cooking, eating and flipping contests, and many other events. After the breakfast on Tuesday, the races begin. Children's races begin at 10 a.m., with kids as young as 3 participating. Women over 50 race at 11:30 in the Last Chance Race, and then the Men's Pacer Race starts. The official International Race begins at 11:55 am. The shriving service is held at the First United Methodist Church, then a live web chat is held between the two communities and a parade ends the activities in the afternoon.

According to the Liberal Visitor's Guide,

"The Pancake race began in Old England when it was customary for the housewives to drop whatever they were doing and hurry to the church at the rolling of the bell to be "shriven" for their sins. In 1445, a housewife in Olney started cooking her pancakes to use up the cooking fat. As she had begun rather late, the church bell began to ring before she had finished her task.

Not wanting to leave her pancakes to burn, she hurried to the "shriving" wearing her house dress, kerchief and apron and carrying the griddle and pancakes running as she went. When she arrived at the church, the bell ringer gave her the "kiss of peace." In 1950, a Liberal businessman and veteran of the war, recalled the event as told to him by a soldier from Olney. Believing that international goodwill was important, Liberal and Olney began an annual celebration of the event. A kiss of peace is still bestowed on each winner at the end of the race."








This only proves two things:

1) Wherever you go, there you are.

and

2) Wherever you go, there's always something to see and learn.

The ramblings of a stuffy-headed blogger

I woke up this morning with my head feeling like the size of a hot air balloon. I know we're going to the fiesta, but c'mon, I don't have to FEEL the part! Remember when I was away dog sitting, and Jim was alone and sick? When I got back home, it was only a few days before I started feeling sick. Yeah, he decided to share his germs with me. Wasn't that nice?

So Jim's grunting and groaning (and not in a GOOD SENSE since I'm across the room from him), every time he moves from the pain in his back, and I'm sneezing and blowing my nose. We're a fun couple to be around today. I hope Kathy doesn't catch my cold.

Since the weather has turned colder, I noticed that we have an awful lot of flies in the trailer. In fact, when we got to Missouri yesterday, I counted 8 freakin' flies in the family room! I let two out of the door. I wonder if those Illinoian flies will wonder where the heck they are now that we're in Missouri? Do they know they're in a different place? We also have a couple of small moths and I saw a lady bug, too. Crikey! I told Jim this morning as a moth flew by my head while I was getting the cereal box down that I feel like I'm in one of those butterfly exhibits. You know where you walk into a large room and the butterflies are free to fly all over the place? How nice. Yeah. Scratch that. Picture flies, moths, and ladybugs. Oh my. Jim keeps saying we need to get a bug vacuum.



I'm seeing the need, folks. I'm seeing the need. Especially cause I step in the shower and what do I see? A moth in my skylight (on the inside) looking down at me. His antennae were wiggling like they were his eyebrows and he was ogling my naked body, or he was wagging them at me and saying, "Na-nee-na-nee-boo-boo" because he was still alive. But not for long. I found my sticking place and screwed my courage there (and it didn't hurt a bit, not one bit), grabbed a kleenex, and killed the bastard. Yes!

Before I go on, I just want to take the time to "pat" myself on the back and make a note that yesterday's post was my 100th! Whoo-hoo! I didn't realize it at first, because I always have a bunch of draft posts that I work on, so the numbers are deceiving. In fact, right now it says I have 112, when this is actually my 101st. So, anyway, I'd stand up and take a bow, but that means I'd have to get up off of my bed, and I'm too lazy to move the whole setup I have here with the lap tray and the computer on top of THAT across my stretched out legs, with my head propped up on pillows. So, YAWN, I'll try to stay awake and finish this post. SNORE! OH! SORRY!

Kathy's husband, Drew, came down to introduce himself before we left this morning. We chatted for a few minutes. What a nice couple they are! I ran in to say a final goodbye to Kathy before we left the campground and thanked her for the delicious apple cake. I got to meet her cute ugly dog Wall-E who's got a face only a, a, well, SOMEONE could love. No, really, he's kind of cute in an odd sense.

I was happy to see the sun shining today.




It was very windy and I'm sure our gas mileage was affected. Not that we get great gas mileage - on a good day, going down hill, with the wind behind us, not pulling the trailer, we MAY get 7 miles per gallon. LOL! It was so windy that I saw something blow in front of the truck, coming at our window. I thought it was a bird! And it was only this leaf:



Clinging on for dear life. Speaking of birds, I kept noticing these black dots on the back of highway signs and wondered what they were till we got closer. I realized that they were birds. I assume they were sitting there to get the warmth of the sun. This photo isn't that clear, but you get the gist as to the number of birds sitting on the back of the sign.



I laughed out loud when I saw this water tower.



Is it me or does this look like overkill with the tall legs and the little tank on top? It looks like a baby daddy long leg spider. Wait. Is that an oxymoron? Baby daddy? What do you call a baby daddy long legged spider? Seriously? Daddy in training? You've seen one, I'm sure. As my sister-in-law, Dorie, would say, Holy O'for the cripes sake! I tried to find a picture of a daddy long legged spider and guess what? They are really called harvestmen! Who knew? Harvestmen are arachnids, but they are not spiders. Harvestmen have one body section (spiders have two), two eyes on a little bump (most spiders have eight), a segmented abdomen (unsegmented in spiders), no silk, no venom, a totally different respiratory system, and many other differences; not all have long legs.



OH! The things you learn from my blog!

We saw a few funny things on the road today. Here's the first thing:



Although the sign read, "Open 8:30-5:00", there wasn't any evidence of anyone around. We had driven by around 10:30 a.m.

I thought it was particularly funny that this sign......



was right across the highway from this sign:




We stopped for gas somewhere in Kansas and I saw this brightly painted bus with the peace sign on it. And in front of it AND behind it were two gray buses that said, "Nites Prison".






First I thought it was ironic that a "Peace" bus would be following a prisoner bus. Then I was surprised to see the prisoner bus pull into a Wendy's parking lot. Hmmm.....The Peace bus turned in after them. I did a little research when we stopped tonight and found out that they are party buses from Kansas City. Whew! I feel a whole lot better.

I spied this young guy walking alongside the frontage road with his backpack and guitar strung along his back. He appeared young and carefree.



And finally, here's a bridge over the Missouri River, and the Missouri River as seen on a sunny day.






If you looked up the word rambling in the dictionary, you would find this post.

Sorry. Good night. Tomorrow on to Liberal, Kansas. I just may go braless. Oh, wait. People may think I have swollen knees.

A couple of co-ink-y-dinks

Before shutting down my laptop computer this morning, I took a glance at my blog and read the comments from Kathy's Klothesline. I knew that she owned a campground in Missouri, but not the exact location. When she asked if I was going to visit her, I thought she was kidding. Through some investigative work, I found out the name of her campground, and coincidentally, it was indeed located in the town we were planning on stopping in for the night. How strange is that? So we changed our plans and decided to stay at Kathy's campground.

With that settled, we packed up everything. Just before we were ready to go, Jim hurt his back lifting something to put into the trailer. He felt his back spasm up. Not good. Now he's walking like an old, old man, all bent over. I feel so sorry for him.

This is what it looked like pretty much off and on all day long.



So it was hypnotizing to watch the wipers go back and forth.



Can you guess what this is? Maybe I should have used it for Watery Wednesday!



It's the passenger side window. I thought the rain and wind made a cool pattern. Yeah. I'm easily amused.

We came across the town of Funk's Grove. I didn't know why it was named that, and I couldn't roll my window down (due to the rain), to see if it was because of a peculiar smell. There was a rest area in Funk's Grove, so we pulled off to use the facilities. While Jim was resetting the computer in the truck, there was a knock on my window. I looked over to see a guy smiling and looking into the window. He was someone we knew from our campground in Marengo, IL. Talk about another coincidence! He and his wife are on their way to Springfield for a rally. They just happened to stop at the SAME rest area at the SAME time as us. Very strange. They own the same brand of trailer - LANDMARK - as we do. Here's their truck and trailer. I shot this out of my window; didn't want to stick my neck out too far that I'd get rained on.



We passed this sign along the way, and I pointed it out to Jim, who was wincing every time we hit a pot hole or a bump. But he didn't want to stop and see "Dr. Joe."



One of the strangest things we saw today was this convertible with two guys in it, driving in the pouring rain, with the TOP DOWN. They happened to pass us three times on the road, and each time the top was down, it was raining hard, and they were speeding by with their rain coats on. Weird.



Here's a funny billboard that I saw concerning bringing in donuts to work.



We crossed over two major rivers. The first one was the Mississippi:



and this is the Missouri River:



One thing I noticed a lot of in Missouri so far are a lot of billboards that are available for advertising. I don't know if it's because of the current economic affairs or if Missouri has an over abundant amount of billboards.



It was so nice when the rain stopped and the sun tried to peak out from behind the clouds. Let there be light.



We saw a few antique cars on the road. I was only able to catch this one with my camera.



We pulled into Kathy's campground around 5:30 pm. How great to meet her!



After supper Kathy came down to my trailer with some home made apple cake (which was delish, by the way), and we chatted like old friends for a couple of hours. I had a wonderful time. Thanks for your hospitality, Kathy!