Dear Readers; 

Once again I am dug in at my winter home in the Ozarks of Missouri.  It took me 4 days/3 nights of driving (well, not driving at night) to get here.  I took the mid-America route; Over Tioga Pass on Election day, then out to Benton and Route 6 out to I-70 through Utah, Colorado and Kansas.  

Once again I am reminded that the western side of the North American continent is pretty spectacular. Utah especially was pretty amazing.  The Colorado Rockies kinda snuck up on me, I was expecting to see jagged peaks.  I’m pretty sure there are some, but not where I was.  Then I hit the Eisenhower Tunnel, and realized I was at 11,000′.  No wonder my car was having trouble climbing!

Then down into Denver, and a delicious dinner with my Twitter friend @DenverDyke.  She also provided me with my own bed in her spare room for the night, and bacon and eggs for breakfast, and coffee from a french press.  Bliss.  Pure bliss. 

Lemme tell ya’ll something:  It’s not just Kansas that’s flat:  It’s flat all the way out to Denver.  Mind-numbingly flat.  On the eastern side of Kansas are the Flint Hills, but between there and Denver it’s flat. 

I’ve driven across the panhandle of Texas, and that’s flat, too.  Some folk singer friends of mine wrote a song with the following refrain: 

“The sun done riz, the sun done set/And I aint out of Texas yet/Counting the dead armadillos/By the side of the road!”

The Texas panhandle ain’t a patch on Kansas for flat.  

Now it’s time to do the dishes and then to take my neighbor Phyllis to her doctor appointment.  Let’s just hope Sappho the Faithful Saturn doesn’t acquire any bullet holes on the way.