I haven’t been able to post anything because I got caught in the scariest ever (for me) wind storm after I left Wheatland. I only drove a little more than 20 miles when the big, neon road signs warned of heavy wind gusts. After the trailer got a couple of side gusts, I decided it was time to wait it out at a rest area. Turned out the gusts only increased, up to 65 mph and it lasted for 24 hours! It was violently shaky in the trailer so I slept in the Tahoe as best I could.

Finally on the road again, I was really excited to see a former student of mine whose parents I love dearly. Unfortunately, I was a bit sad because I thought the student would be equally excited to see me (haha, such an ego!), but I guess he turned out to be too busy since I only received sporadic replies to my questions about where we could meet. Oh well, no worries – turned out to be a great day, and I made a lot of time. After days of sketchy weather and looming chill, it felt great to finally make progress, and see the subtle beauty of Western Colorado. This was on Colorado Hwy 86 from Castle Rock to Limon – highly recommended!

I stayed at a KOA campground for the first time last night and it’s a great one. This is in Goodland, Kansas. Seems like the only real point of interest is a Van Gogh billboard here in town and the Wizard of Oz house a few hours away in Liberal, Kansas. Really wanted to see the Wizard of Oz house, but since it’s raining again, I think I’ll just hit the road and make time towards Paris, Texas.

Sadly, I still haven’t had time to process other photos from the trip, but here are some from a very sweet family I met (I’ve been given permission to post these) who went on a little road trip with me to Guernsey, Wyoming where we saw all these birds’ nests, ruts from the Oregon Trail wagon trains (don’t understand how they got so deep), and Registry Rock, where the pioneers and many since have carved their names in the cliffside.