Granted, the first couple hours driving through MO and into Kansas were very pleasant, scenic and cool. Trevor didn’t want to stop anywhere at all ever, I wanted to stop at every attraction we passed. So would go the whole trip! Luckily, he was pretty accommodating and I convinced him the National Prairie Preserve would be totally awesome. Actually, I could have spent more time there. It was such a beautiful day and there were all the exibits and tours of old houses and stuff, but in the end we just settled for a buggy ride. It was cool, the horses were freakishly large and driving through the grass lands was really bumpy and uncomfortable. No wonder they mostly walked! I can’t imagine my ancestors having to do that, ick!
The rest of the afternoon it got hot. Really hot. And to save on gas, we decided not to turn on the air conditioning at all. But don't worry, as uncomfortable as it seemed all cramed into my little car, which was even more crowded now that we ditched the roof bag, it would just get hotter and sweaty-er the further west we went. I'm trying not to think about that at this point... And oh man, was it ever windy once we got the the flatest of flat places ever (though I think locals prefer the term "level"). THis killed our mileage too.
We managed to drive almost across the entire state though and made it to Dodge City to camp. Maybe the only cool thing about getting there is that we followed the Santa Fe Trail--that's where the cowboys use to heard cows & stuff. THey too would rest in Dodge City and give it it's rough reputation. These days though, it's pretty dull. When we go to our campsite, there was this little lake. Awesome! So we get into our suits and hop in, only to find the whole thing is only about 3 feet deep, mostly mud, and smelled like duck poop. Yeah, gross. Luckily, the campers next to us had left-over fire works and we had some big beers, so the night passed pleasantly enough. Ha!
