Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Day 7 - Drive West

Monday was "drive back" day. Couldn't sleep Sunday night, so I got up around 0345 hours local time, puttered around my mom's house for a bit, then loaded up for the drive out.

Eleven hundred miles and sixteen hours later, I pulled into "home plate". Not a bad drive, overall. Pleasant weather, and not too much highway construction.

A large part of the trip was north on I-135 from the Oklahoma state line to north of Salina, KS, where I picked up westbound I-70 for 350 or so miles. Central to western Kansas is striking in its elemental beauty. Miles and miles of rolling hills, open fields and wide expanses of prairie. Often on such a ride, I try to imagine what pioneers went through hundreds of years ago in the same geographic area. Without a comfortable car nor numerous places to stop for refreshment, it had to be a gruelling experience.

Those are times where I truly enjoy the wide-open element of life in America. Not every nation has such open space, where you can be alone with your thoughts. Some may find the prairie boring, but I enjoy it so. The hubbub of day-to-day life grinds on me. I need the peace and solitude.

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