December 31, 2010

December 31, 2010

Our string of travel luck came to a halt today. Yesterday we basked in Arizona-like 60F weather; this morning we woke to an ice storm. What a difference a few hours can make.

After scraping a quarter-inch of ice from the car, we crept carefully along a country highway to Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Before farmers arrived, the central US was a sea of grass. The eastern half grew grasses taller than me although I suspect buffalo kept it trimmed shorter. Eastern Kansas contains the “Flint Hills”. The rocky hilly terrain of this locale kept the plow away. Here the native grasses make their last stand.

Despite notices to contrary, the Preserve Visitor Center was closed today. Surrounding it is an historic ranch complex. Not surprisingly wood is scarce and stone plentiful in the Flint Hills. So unlike Illinois, here both your barn and outhouse are built of limestone. Very nice! After a quick look around, I am back in the warm car.

There Aimee informs me the cell phone is missing. And our emergency phone is dead. We must have left it in the hotel, so we return on the icy highway only to discover the phone under the car seat. Aimee and I both blame each other for that fumble. To really make it a bad day my navigator died. My electronic one. Now we are flying blind. I point the car straight south in search of ice-free roads. We spend the night in Amarillo, TX visiting with Aimee's sister.

The next day, we dig the paper map out, turn the heater on full blast and drive the rest of the way home to Tucson. We didn’t really need the map; all we had to do was follow the continuous line of motor homes going that direction.