These often-graded gravel thoroughfares in rural Kansas are called county roads. That’s who maintains them and keeps them (mostly) free of washboard ridges. This one runs precisely east-west in front of the family farm. You can see the dust kicked up by an approaching vehicle. Not hard to drive on it this weather, but I have scary memories of an ice storm on Thanksgiving weekend.
It’s just bloody hot here today, 100 F / 38 C, and we just got home from Kansas City. Too much to get back out on the street yet, although tomorrow should be much cooler. So for now, we’re still on the family farm. Ellie was fascinated by the farm animals and equipment, a long way from her city kid experience. My brother-in-law, Mel, took her out in the tractor and let her steer on the way back. Big time fun.
A mechanical monster in the fields, something that might chase you in your dreams. I didn’t ask my brother-in-law, but my guess is that it strips the corn cobs off the stalks, and there is a lot of that kind of work to be done in the vicinity.
Lots of gently managed nature for a city boy. I could make a bad art joke and refer to this as a color field painting.
My wife grew up on this farm in Marshall County, Kansas. I grew up in an apartment in New York. The combination has worked for more than 50 years. This is beautiful country, rolling, not flat as some would imagine. Her family is a delight. The crop in the middle distance is corn, at least 2.5 m high with adequate rain this year.
When we pass through Kansas City with Ellie. a stop at the aquarium and the adjacent Legoland is required. The kid gets very engaged, ooh-ing and ah-ing over lots of the exhibits. This lionfish (I think) gets plenty of attention.
Out to the Kansas prairie tomorrow. Big change of scene. A different part of America.
