Sept. 16, 2016

Westward Ho!

Headed home through country we have been through several times.  Staying in parks we have been in before.  Re-seeing sights and sites.  Still very fun and beautiful.  Not my favorite to do interstates but there are no other options really where we are.  If you happen to be in eastern Utah sometime, I heartily recommend I 70. Take it from east to west.  Could be done as part of a visit to Moab area.  Take Utah 128 northeast from Moab to I 70.  Bit of misdirection but outstanding drive along the Colorado river through a spectacular canyon.  The drive west to Salina, UT is constantly changing wonderful landscapes.  Do it east to west for best views though.

Tomorrow to Ely, NV and the day after to Reno and back into grandparent mode.  It has been a great trip.  Time to do some catching up and start dreaming on the next one.

Sept. 13, 2016

Storm

For the last two days the weather in Iowa and Kansas has been beautiful.  Temps in the 80’s and clear, totally cloudless skies.(And no humidity ).  News weather forecast last night hinted at very slight chance of isolated rain tomorrow (today) afternoon as a front moved through followed by clear and warm days.

About midnight last night we heard distant thunder to the south west.  Thunder continued off and on for an hour or so.  Then it started to become more regular.  Still far away.  About 1:30 or 2:00 am it started to rain gently. Rain of varying intensity (never down pour rate) for a couple of hours with thunder more regular.  About 5am the lightning started accompanied by thunder very close and very loud. AND – very constant.  Several lightning/thunder episodes a minute.  At one point the lightning and thunder was literally every 5 seconds for several minutes. Forked and sheet lightning.  So bright it made night look like day.  So intense that even when the strike/flash was 8-10 miles away (per counting time between lightning and thunder) everything was bright as day.  This display continued for over 2 1/2 hours as cell after cell passed over us.

Above is a screen shot from a radar app on my phone.  Several things to note:  First -This shot was taken late after things had started to wind down.  A bit earlier the storm band was solid (and wider) from lower left to upper right. Second – The blue dot in the lower left is our location. Third – this is a static shot and does not show the movement of the storm.  The storm moved from south west to north east basically along the line defined by the front instead of the whole front moving sideways. Forth – that storm is about 1000 miles long from end to end.  Fifth – Given our location and the direction of the storm movement a very large part of the storm passed directly over us for over seven hours.

Pretty cool.

Take weather forecasts with a grain of salt .

Updated map of this trip:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=12x4dHvzJbvb0UcaUtz2NjLNihZE

Sept. 12, 2016

Oz

The last couple of days we have been crossing the eastern part of the Great Plains.  Traveling Interstates where we had to but state and local roads where available. Much nicer way to travel.  The roads are good, the traffic is light, and the scenery is great.  Close up look at many sides of rural America.  Neat to see the transition of agricultural product and the change in the land as you move from east to west.

One small irritation while driving.  Both days have been done in a steady head wind or cross wind of 20 mph or more.  Just have to be vigilant.

Today we visited the Oz Museum in Wamego, KS.  Nice little town a few miles off the interstate in northeastern Kansas.  The museum has over 2000 items on display (out of over 8000 they own) dedicated to L. Frank Baum, and all things related to The Wizard of Oz.  There are several videos discussing the author, the story, the movie, and the place of all in Americana and world wide.

Shuttle from Oz to Kansas