Slight possibility of severe weather, Sunday 11 July 2010

...which means a slight possibility of a chase...

Day Tripping, University of Kansas, Lawrence

Ken and I day tripped with Tima and Betsy to the University of Kansas in Lawrence, to explore the campus.  We took the back way into Lawrence via Kaw Drive and K-32.  It is a more relaxing scenic drive  but I recommend doing it only during the day as night time can be hazardous due to deer crossing the roadway.

When we arrive in Lawrence we come upon Teepee junction, which is on 24 highway north of the turnpike entrance/exit...

Arriving in Lawrence, we take a driving tour in the rain...

We walked the campus, which I think is one of the prettiest university campuses in the US. We played a little game of trying to guess when the buildings on campus were built. Ken pointed out a building that I never noticed before. He told me it was the ROTC building that was burnt down during a campus riot over the Vietnam War. It looks like it has successfully been adaptively re used, and is no longer an ROTC building....

As afternoon waned into evening, we found ourselves admiring the Campanile, which is a world war II memorial. The bells were being rung as we took our pictures.

Powell Gardens July 4th Celebration 3 July 2010

July 1st Friday

Daytripping Burlington Kansas and BETO Junction

Hurricane Alex

1st Hurricane of the Atlantic season.  We just missed this one on our Florida Vacation.

Hurricane ALEX Public Advisory Home   Public Adv   Fcst/Adv   Discussion   Wind Probs   Maps/Charts   Archive   US Watch/Warning   Storm Surge   000 WTNT31 KNHC 301750 TCPAT1 BULLETIN HURRICANE ALEX INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 20A NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL012010 100 PM CDT WED JUN 30 2010 ...LARGE HURRICANE ALEX...A LITTLE STRONGER...AIMS AT THE NORTHERN MEXICO AND SOUTHERN TEXAS COAST... SUMMARY OF 100 PM CDT...1800 UTC...INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------- LOCATION...24.4N 96.2W ABOUT 110 MI...175 KM ENE OF LA PESCA MEXICO ABOUT 130 MI...210 KM SSE OF BROWNSVILLE TEXAS MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...85 MPH...135 KM/HR PRESENT MOVEMENT...NW OR 320 DEGREES AT 12 MPH...18 KM/HR MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...962 MB...28.41 INCHES

Long Road Home

We left New Orleans about 7 p.m.  We headed north on the dreaded interstates for speed and time.  We wanted to get home in time for me to rest up for my early morning at work on Saturday.  We really pushed it to get at least half way to home by morning, which ended up taking us to a truckstop at a small town in the Missouri boot heel.  Mississippi is a long boring drive normally, and even more so at night.  I've taken this route several times in my life.  The first time was in January 1978.  The BeeGee's were constantly driveling on every radio station and disco was in full swing.  I also remember Paul Simon being played a lot and there was a song -- 50 ways to leave your lover, that kept being played over and over again.  We stopped over at a cheap motel in Sardis Mississippi, and I remember it having the softest nicest bed I've ever slept in.  The next morning we all got up to an ice storm.  The weather got worse the farther north we went.  We had lunch in Sikeston Missouri.  Somewhere south of St. Louis, Mom and Debbie, my sister, who were following us in the 74 Ford Gran Torino spun out at a slick spot and got nearly stuck.  Dad, the dog Rebel, and I were in the 72 dodge pickup in the lead.  We bypassed St. Louis, which I've noticed is a path we took today.  We stopped at another truckstop somewhere midway between Kansas City and St. Louis for dinner.  I remember that truckstop food was good back then.  I also remember how hard it was snowing, which was novel for us who lived primarily in the south where it rarely snowed.  I stood under an awning at the truckstop and a big pile of snow fell off the eave and landed on my head to my amusement.  As we headed farther west, the Dodge truck's heater started failing.  I and the dog, Rebel had to curl up together for warmth and try to sleep.  We got into Kansas City early in the morning and the temperature was twelve below zero.  We checked in the Holiday Inn at Harlem, which was a run down neighborhood by the downtown airport just north of the river.  I remember it being unbearably cold and the city seemed depressing and grey.

    Thirty two years later, Suyen and I made the same trek, in another Dodge truck, with our dog, Tima.  We didn't check into that motel in Sardis, though I did glance over to see if it was there.  We stopped over in Steele Missouri after blowing through Memphis without stopping, and Arkansas -- definitely without stopping.  All the rest areas in Mississippi were closed, except one.  Arkansas didn't have any rest areas.  I didn't feel like stopping anywhere close to West Memphis anyway.  We slept in the truck in a truckstop in the Missouri boot heel.

   We got up the next morning, took off, and I stopped at a Caseys for breakfast pizza.  We passed by Sikeston, and I looked for that truck stop.  I think it is long gone, replaced by chain motels.  We only stopped once after that, south of St. Louis for fuel at St. Genevieve.  We bypassed St. Louis all together on ring highways, which was alright by me.  St. Louis is not much to look at from the interstate and traffic there is a nightmare any time of day.  We blazed across I-70 back to familiar territory.  We stopped in KC at a gas station so Suyen could pee, and we got home late in the afternoon.  Not bad for being in New Orleans the evening before.

We had treked across the heartland of the former Confederacy and had seen many pine trees.  We didn't hit the major touristy spots in Florida, but we had a nice relaxing good time.  You know you've had a good vacation when you are happy to be back home.