Hurry Up and Wait

4:00 A.M.  The alarm goes off, but we'd been awake for a while due to the lightning and thunder that preceded it.  The final push to head for the rockies began.  Loading the refrigerator items between downpours and coaxing Tooga to give up his bed of safety between lightning strikes wasn't on the check off list, but they were added and checked off as we hit the road at 6:00 A.M.


Even though leaving town was a wet blur, the traffic cooperated, 

the dogs cooperated,

and Miki cooperated by preparing for her turn to take the wheel.  

There is a popular country song called Jesus Take the Wheel.  Well... I said the same thing to Miki when my eyes got heavy and we almost became permanent residents of Salina, but my emphasis on the wording was different than the real song.  Okay I exaggerated a bit, it was near Hays.


The trip across Kansas and into Colorado, this time out, was a trip of discovery.  We discovered fresh cut, golden wheat fields in contrast to the deep blue sky, surrounded by rich green hedgerows made me think twice about breaking my previous speed record across the state.  It was actually quite beautiful to see even though the photo does not do it justice.

We also discovered where wind comes from.  Right there in plain sight,  just west of Salina, there were dozens and dozens of windmills blowing warm air from the south towards the north.  Wow, that opens up a whole bunch of questions I have about the seasons.

Even though we did not have those wind machines blowing right at us across Kansas, we discovered that head winds can cause what seems like negative mileage.  The harder I pressed on the gas pedal, the slower we seemed to go.  Once we escaped the terrible wind makers it was smooth sailing to Longmont, CO and our campground.  Short on trees, but long on pretty.

Oh, there is something I've not mentioned yet.  A WILDFIRE is procluding us from heading to our destination in the mountains.  The High Park Wildfire, started by a lightning strike last Saturday, has Hwy. 14 (the only road east/west from Ft. Collins that goes to our destination) shutdown at the moment.  It is the northern boundary of the fire area, but from what I can tell, it is not where the action is.  So we wait and look at our options as the sun sets and the smoke provides spectacular colors.

My Zen from the road:  At the moment, this blogdog is a bit discouraged due to the literal road block in our way at this time.  But the whole, "when life gives you lemons..." thing... well it needs some adjustment.  I am changing it to, "when life gives you a wildfire, have a BBQ!"  So we are off to discover where the BBQ will be.