Typically, we don’t get in a big rush. Doing more than 320 miles in one day is a big day for us. One reason, as stated earlier, is that it begins to wear on Byron. Sitting in the driver seat is only fun for so long. After five hours the legs and knees start wanting room to stretch. Of course, he stops every two hours or so but, still, a five minute walk doesn't do wonders like being able to move about more freely. For Martha, the constant movement while trying to type, focus on the laptop screen, and listen to a doctor dictating notes makes for a challenge after a while. She’s a trooper and only complains when Byron runs across the rub strips. Besides, while traveling around 60 mph time and distance don’t equate to that which can be covered by car. That’s the typical day.
Today was atypical. When watching the morning news on TV we learned that a wind advisory was in effect for a good bit of Kansas and that the day could offer more severe weather than Tuesday. However, weather toward Colorado was more stable with less chances of rain. The issue turned out to be getting into Colorado.
Since we didn’t think we had to be in a hurry to get on the road, we lingered a bit doing some paperwork. We left the campground around 10:30. Thirty minutes after leaving the we heard a noise. A few minutes later we realized the awning on the driver side was starting to billow from the extremely strong crosswind. It had done this before when crossing South Dakota last year. Byron pulled off at the nearest exit. Now, keep in mind the exit goes up in elevation to meet the overpass. That put the coach at the peak of a hill before we could stop and secure the awning. On the peak, of course, the wind is certainly obvious since there’s nothing near to break it’s force. As Byron reports, it created quite a challenge.
He was prepared for a problem, however, since buying some duct tape in Little Rock. At first he attempted to tape the awning to the side from the two-step ladder we carry in the coach. That was too much of a stretch. So, up on the roof he went. Martha told him to be careful. He said he’d crawl so he wouldn’t be caught by the wind. (While crawling, he had visions of being a caped crusader drifting through the air but without the benefit of cape.) Byron was sure the wind had gotten worse, or so it seemed. At any rate, he was able to put enough tape on the top of the awning and the side of the coach to get us to a rest stop. At that point, the wind was coming straight out of the south. It had been coming from the southeast.
At the rest stop we pulled parallel to a tree. It did help break the very brisk wind somewhat so Byron could do a better job of securing the awning from the roof. When he got back in the coach he just sat still for a few minutes before moving on. He said he was shaking inside a bit and wanted to settle down. He definitely isn’t used to doing work in 40 or 45 mph gusts nor does he want to be.
When in Oklahoma City we were at an elevation of 1,200 feet. Wichita is at 1,300 and Salina is in between when it comes to elevation. WaKeeney, where we spent the night, is at 2,450. Strasburg is at nearly 5,400 feet which is nearly the same as the average elevation of the Denver area.
After stopping for fuel near the border with Colorado in Colby, Kansas, we continued on. There is a gradual but definite change in the terrain as we climbed upward in elevation. It also means going from the plains of Kansas into the rolling hills that are on the eastern side of the Rocky mountains. However, we still aren't within view of any mountains. That experience won’t come until tomorrow. Once in Colorado the wind was not as strong but still blowing. This time it was from the north. Seeing the tumble weed roll across in front of us was fun.
Fields along the roadside in eastern Colorado.
Since this was Martha’s first time in Colorado, she was surprised at the gently rolling hills with expansive views of the sky. There are more trees in the large fields but they are still removed from the roadway by a few hundred yards. It was also in Colorado that we saw our first windmill farm since the only one we saw yesterday.
I-70 goes parallel to railroad tracks for quite a distance. The rail line is now that of the BNSF, the merger of Burlington Northern and AT&SF. The line is still active hauling coal and grains.
Strasburg, itself, claims to be the location of the “joining of the rails”. The reality is that it is here, in a town formally called Commanche Crossing, that the last link in the coast-to-coast railroad network in the US was completed. That was in 1870, one year after the Golden Spike even in Utah. It was the linking of an extension of the Kansas Pacific with what would become the Burlington Northern.
Even though Promentory, Utah gets the credit for the joining of the railroads, riders on the Union Pacific, if going east, had to disembark to cross the wide Missouri River by boat. It was not until 1873 that a railroad bridge was built.
Remnants of the glory days of railroading exist in this small town of 2,500 people. Near one of the elevators one can find an abandoned engine that was a switch engine for the Pacific Fruit Express. It's an early Alco diesel. To the east at the end of a siding is an old Denver & Rio Grand Western passenger car. It’s of the heavyweight variety; that means it had cement floor in the effort to provide a better ride. Across the tracks on another siding is an older baggage car built around 1920. Further west are a couple more modern rail cars. One is a sleeper coach with a combination of roomettes and berths (those were unusual). Next to it on yet another siding is a dining car. Further west on a siding is a box car of the 1970’s vintage. Sitting next to it is an old cattle car with trucks removed with boards still in place though greatly weather by the age. Byron had no idea we would be staying so close to a bit of railroad history. He surmises Katharine Lee Bates, the author of “America, a Poem for July 4”, passed through Strasburg on her way to teach one summer at Colorado Springs. After all, this was the only connecting route into Denver before catching a connecting D&RGW train south to The Springs.
Remnants of another era in railroading can be
easily seen along I-70 in Strasburg, Colorado
By the way, the words of the Bates poem were modified when it was aligned with the music of organist Samuel A. Ward and published as “America the Beautiful”.
It’s interesting that Strasburg is still a town. Promentory, where the Golden Spike was driven linking the transcontinental railroad, is now only a Monument operated by the National Park Service. There is no town within miles of what is an important landmark in our country’s history.
Tomorrow we continue on another 270 miles. We drive through Denver where we’ll turn northward and go parallel to the Rocky Mountains as we cross into Wyoming.
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