Kansas to Colorado

O Beautiful, for spacious skies (even if they are dark and murky), for amber waves of grain

After entering Colorado and before arriving at Lamar, we passed a cantaloupe farm advertising cantaloupes for sale. As we neared the actual selling point, there was a CLOSED sign plastered across the words "Cantaloupes for sale". This was the farm that produced some of the cantaloupes that were tainted with listeria. In Lamar, at the welcome station, the docent said she had just bought 3 cantaloupes from that farm and they were the best she had ever eaten. She felt sorry for the man whose living depended on those melons.

Bent County Courthouse, Las Animas, Colorado. We can't pass up a pretty courthouse if it's on our route. The other building is the jail.

Hmmm, not a very good crop of pumpkins...Looks like Charlie Brown's pumpkin patch = )

Just as we crossed into Colorado, we ran into a bunch of these yellow butterflies trying to cross the road. I kept telling them the grass (in this case alfalfa) wasn't any greener on the other side, but they kept coming. Unfortunately, Cy's grille was the recipient of many of these butterflies.

Ha, Ha, Ha, Ho, Ho Ho, and a couple of Tra La Las

That's how we laugh the day away in the merry old Land of Oz. And have fun we did. As we were entering Liberal, KS, I started seeing billboards advertising Dorothy's home and the Land of Oz. We just had to stop there.

We found it. There was Dorothy's house with Dorothy and Toto standing out front. The storm cellar was the red door in the grass. What a huge Kansas sunflower!

I was pleased to see that Ron and Nancy also enjoyed the Land of Oz enough to have a brick engraved with their names.

Proclamation from the Governor of Kansas stating that Liberal, KS, was the Gateway to the Land of Oz (Ahs)

 Enjoying the swing and making new friends

A then and now photo. Then was less than 2 weeks before Annemarie was born.

 Sneed enjoyed a Hokie reunion with Jim Floyd, also a former Corps of Cadets member -  Class of '64.

Note the new Max Speed. I have to admit when I realized what Sneed was doing, I egged him on. As you can see in the far right photo in the other blog entry for 16 September, the roads further west were flat with no traffic as far as the eye could see. Need I say, Cy performed effortlessly. 

Zipping along

We are traveling a circuitous route to and from Colorado to avail ourselves of going through the panhandle of Texas to photograph more courthouses. On this leg we got photos of 12 more. Slowly getting to our goal of the entire state - 254 Courthouses.




We must be the only people who enjoy driving across Texas. So many say it's boring, but we find it all quite fascinating. Where else can you see as far as the horizon as you're driving along?

 

In Hardeman County, this board was branded with the County's Ranch Heritage. Right around the corner was the depot built in 1908, now a museum, for the Quanah, Acme and Pacific railroad which ran between Ft Worth and Amarillo. The city of Quanah, Hardeman's county seat, was named after Quanah Parker, the last great chief of the Comanche tribe. Quanah was the son of a Comanche chief and a captured Anglo, Cynthia Ann Parker.



Believe it or not, this is the BIG Red River. Due to the state's extended drought conditions, it's barely a trickle now.

A bonus on the road was the town of Shamrock. This Conoco gas station was one of the inspirations for the movie, "Cars". It's located on old route 66 and is touted as the most photographed spot on Rte 66.

I wonder what this bank is doing to keep all its customers Happy.

As always, I found some interesting flowers of which to take photos. I really like the white ones, so delicate.

On our way to Colorado

Since we were leaving a day earlier than originally scheduled, we took our time getting on the road. As we were nearing the town of Marlin, I noticed there was a notation on the map about a Highlands Mansion near there. Since it wasn't too far off the interstate, Sneed got off and we set about trying to find it. (wish I had looked it up before we left) Anyway, I took some photos of interesting houses which could have fit the description only to see tonight on the internet that neither of them was the one for which we were looking.

The last photo is the Highlands Mansion, but the other 2 are quite interesting too.

The scenery was familiar, dry lakes and other bodies of water, cotton only growing about 6" high but still being harvested, and once we got to Fort Worth, parking lot traffic on the interstate at 3:45 in the afternoon. Saw a few interesting billboards along the way.

We were quite surprised when we got out of the car to photograph the Cooke County courthouse in Gainesville that is was cool and windy. Cy's temperature readout was 72. Normally 72 is a nice temperature but I was immediately chilly and pulled out my jacket. We were quite disappointed to find that the courthouse was undergoing a restoration so we will have to revisit it when that is finished.

We did, however, score when we decided to eat around the corner from the courthouse in a place called Main Street Pub & Eatery. It was a western style pub. I had an excellent  rainbow trout but Sneed's beef fare wasn't quite as good.

Sneed didn't think I'd take a photo of the cowboy's boots at the next table. He even had his spurs on.

Houston RR Monthly Breakfast

A great turnout for breakfast this morning. Two long tables filled at Skeeter's and lots of cars.

Our friends, Beth and Richard, rode with us this morning in Cy

Grandparents' Day at Dickinson Elementary

Needless to say, it didn't run as smoothly as last year when Sneed had the day off and was able to help with getting the lunches et al. Anyway, I went to McDonald's with my hastily written 'menu' of items for Olsin. Wasn't that hard. 6 pack of chicken nuggets, ketchup, apple slices, milk and for the toy he wanted - the Blue Echo.  Well that seemed easy enough. Waiting along the wall for his class to come along, I was talking to another grandma when Olsin came up and surprised me giving me a big hug. We went to Table 1 where his class eats. I unloaded his lunch. It went downhinll from there. There was no ketchup, no apples, and the wrong toy. It was funny because Dena who was sitting next to Olsin immediately said "I'll take it.".  It was a small sneaker flashlight that could be fastened to her belt loop. It was blue though. Someone else didn't want theirs so Dena got a pink one as well. The entire lunch period Olsin put his head on his arms on the table and wouldn't eat. Picture taking was out of the question as well so I snapped a quick one of him while he waited to go outside for recess.

Erika helped out by getting Aedin's and Dylin's lunches. Olsin's lunch period ended at 1120 (they are all 30 minutes long) and Aedin's started at 1150. So Erika made the trip to Taco Bell for Aedin's lunch, and Jack in the Box for Dylin's and brought them up to the school. Dylin's lunch overlapped Aedin's by 10 minutes as hers started at 1210 and Aedin's ended at 1220. So, I saw Dylin long enough to give her her lunch and then got in line for the photograph with Aedin. For some reason, it was taking longer than usual to get the photos taken. Aedin took a great photo of the 2 of us (hehe) afterwards. I finally got back in the cafeteria for the last 5 minutes of Dylin's lunch. Dylin had a lot of fun goofin' around with Garrison who was in front of us in line and also in her class. All of a sudden Dylin lifted Garrison off the ground. It was a flashback of Erika lifting her friend, Matthew, off the ground when she was in playschool.

Birds evacuating due to approaching Tropical Storm Lee

Sneed was enjoying his pipe outside after dinner when I walked out to join him. He mentioned that he has seen numerous doves flying towards the northeast singularly and in groups. I ran to get the camera to capture this phenomenon. I wonder if they know something that the meteorologists don't. They, as of 10PM, are still saying we will only get sprinkled upon this far West of Houston. Somehow the birds got the call, and they are all taking heed.

The first photo appears to be geese instead of doves and they are flying in the opposite direction

The last photo appears to be ducks or geese also flying in a different direction still in formation