70, 40, 287, and 50!

We left Hays, KS, this morning early, because that's what you do when you stay in a Walmart parking lot overnight and the trucks start rumbling at 6 am outside your window.  We had an enjoyable evening in Hays, even though it was very hot and humid.  A strong breeze came up about 9 pm and blew all night, and cooled things off very nicely.  We were able to sleep with the windows open all night because we were able to park along side the edge of the parking lot so that the larger slide was out over a grass strip and the bedroom slide was away from the traffic pattern.

A hundred or so miles west on I70 brought us to the US40 turnoff.  Right about there the weather deteriorated drastically.

The terrain became "Kansas Flat", and the clouds started gathering.  For a distance of about 20 miles a mixture of clouds, ground fog, and rain made visibility difficult.  Thank goodness the road was straight and the traffic light!

We stopped for lunch a few miles before we entered Colorado, at Pond Station, an original Butterfield Stage stop.

Yes, those are the bullet holes!  The sides of the building are scattered with bullet holes.  I can only imagine the people inside listening to the sound of the bullets hitting the walls.  The wood is rough cut, so it is over 1" thick, but still it must have been un-nerving to say the least.

Out in front of the museum, a metal sculpture of a buffalo seems to be enjoying the taste of Nessie:

A few mlles farther on, and we turned south on US287.  This part of Colorado is flat, flat, flat:

It is, if possible, more Kansas Flat than Kansas.  The saving grace was that the road was excellent, and the clouds cleared, so it was an easy drive to our old friend US50, where we turned west.  US50 is notable in that it passes within a 1/2 mile of our front door at home, so it was kinda nostalgic to see it again.  US50 took us west to the town of La Junta, CO, where we set up shop at Walmart again.  With permission granted at the Customer Service Desk, we found another nice spot along the side of the parking lot, so that Pris could have a bit of grass to play on.  A little shopping, dinner at the Village Inn because it was a short walk away, and we were back at Nessie ready for the evening. A nice day was had by all!