Greetings from Hays, Kansas
Despite a late start owing to high-altitude oxygen deprivation and a stop at the most excellent Mountain Lyon Cafe in Siverthorne for breakfast (highly recommended - all the local movers and shakers were there, plus a Colorado State Trooper so you know it's the real deal) we made 400 miles today.
Oh, there was also the fog and snow we drove through on I-70 (down to 25 MPH at one point) and the hour or so stop at a wildlife viewing area where there might have been some bighorn sheep, but alas the weather was too bad even for them and we didn't see any. We did see a couple of guys fishing in the cold rain and sleet. I remarked that they were crazy. Mrs. Bubba remarked that they weren't crazy, they were locals, and reminded me that I had done the same thing in Montana one time where I wasn't even local so I was the crazy one.
I'm just glad we didn't go over the Loveland Pass. On the map it looks like it nears 14,000 feet. We'd probably still be up there under a snow drift somewhere. Regardless, the mountain scenery is quite beautiful along this part of I-70. It's also nice to see some green again.
We then made a fuel/rest stop at the "Oasis in the Prairie" at Colby, Kansas. They had a Baskin Robbins, a sit-down restaurant, a Taco Bell (I think), a pizza place, and a Starbucks. They also had giant fake plastic palm trees, steadied in the high plains winds by steel guy wires. The Starbucks was a little fake, too. They didn't have any New York Times newspapers and they didn't have wi-fi. They did have $3 cups of coffee, though, so I guess it was authentic in that regard.
After that, we drove another hundred miles or so in driving rain and high winds. It was miserable. There was some drama, though. We passed by a local sheriff deputy who had someone pulled over. A few minutes later, he came hauling ass by us with his cruiser lights flashing. He pulled up beside a white van, drove along beside them for a minute, then dropped in behind and began following them. Mrs. Bubba remarked that she thought she had seen that same van pulled over in Colorado.
Anyway, the van and the deputy slowed to about 60 MPH. I kept waiting for him to pull them over, but they went on like this for a few miles. I finally got tired of waiting and passed them. The deputy was a youngish looking white kid. The van, sporting California plates, had a couple of Mexican looking guys inside. Aha! We figured they had been profiled and the deputy was escorting them on out of the county. Sure enough, a few miles later he cut across the median and went back the other way. I'm guessing that was the county line. The only other cop we saw was a Kansas State Trooper, changing a flat tire for a (white) female traveling alone. Interesting contrast.
So here we are at the Holiday Inn at
The hotel also has a giant indoor pool with a waterslide and a hot tub with some very large people floating in it (not that I should talk) and an indoor simulated old-west town main street type deal. It's like a miniature Pigeon Forge all under one roof, and I believe every Ma and Pa Kettle and their kin are here tonight.
There's even wi-fi, but I had to call corporate headquarters tech support to get it working. It seems the local DHCP/gateway server was not responding. He reset it remotely and I got right in. Apparently I'm the only one here trying to use it. Ma and Pa Kettle and the kids are too busy whooping it up at the indoor water park. Which is where we should be, I guess.
I'm predicting we will get an early start out of here in the morning. Unless, of course, we consume too much of this Wild Turkey that Satan has so thoughtfully made appear before us. Get thee behind me! Or not.
OK, then. Here's the only photo I took today, just after the big I-70 tunnel in Colorado at the first safe stopping place. This was from about 10,000 feet looking up.
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