where have I been?

Deep within the farthest reaches of Kansas*, we camped

for the first night, then storm winds snapped a tent pole and sent us to motels for the other two nights.  We wanted to check out a lake and some pretty cool rock formations in Western Kansas and generally see the sights and so forth.

We hiked in the Badlands and it turned out to be a pretty gruelling hike.  It was around a lake, plus there were plenty of water spigots around the lake, so we weren't too concerned about the heat, but it was hillier and hotter than we were expecting and the dog got a sore on his left front paw, probably from lunging after a lizard, and this deflated him.  We ended up ditching the last part of the trail and hugged the lake as possible.   Our campsite also featured lots of flies that bit almost exclusively below a metre, and a lakeside that was too mucky for a dog that was sharing our tent, plus we drove around and stopped to look so many rocks....it wasn't his favourite trip.  It's probably the only road trip that he didn't enjoy much and he's been on a bunch, up and down the East Coast from Maine to Key West, up to Kap, out to Nova Scotia, etc, not to mention our moves.  This dog recognizes the cooler and the tent and sleeping bags; when we pack that stuff up, he sticks to us like glue.

So, for him to have a lousy trip is something new!

He probably did not appreciate the cool terrain.  The yucca flowering season was ending but there were still a few alien-looking blooms to examine, and cacti flowers, and a few other wildflowers that I'd never seen before.  And the rocks!  The best were Monument Rock(s) and Castle Rock, both on private ranches with dirt road access.  These structures were large enough to walk into and were more complex than they first appeared.  Castle Rock was the greatest surprise: the most photographed section is a small trio of rock towers, but there's a larger almost maze like section as well which probably doesn't photograph as well or as iconically, but it's fascinating to explore.  We could have spent longer at each place but it was hot and the dog, though revived by the skittering motions of lizards, was not a happy camper.

We also saw many grain elevators.  I think I actually started getting a bit sick from the wheat particles in the air.  Is this even possible?  My gums got pretty sore (I sometimes get mouth cankers from wheat).

We drove through some pretty flat areas, which I was looking forward to.  This is what I thought Kansas would be like.  The authenticity of our Kansas experience was enhanced by fleeing a storm and also losing the belt to the car A/C later on in the heat of the day.  It got close to 100F.  I also liked seeing the Smoky Hills and the Flint Hills, both rolling expanses of rich pastureland.  There were so many cows.  Grain and cows.

We also drove by a hand-painted sign that said "Cat House, 3 miles"  This was outside a very small town that was otherwise shut for Sunday (except for the church, presumably).  The gas station was even closed.  I was delighted by the juxtaposition of the two sets of Sunday customers, parishioners and johns, and I wondered about the overlap, but I later googled and found that the Cat House is actually a set of 4X4 trails.  It is actually called The Cat House Recreation Area, which doesn't help clarify matters and perhaps has led to some disappointment.

Anyway, we didn't run at all even though we had a shower and probably treadmill access in the motels.   Lazy us!

I didn't run today either.  Just did a butt workout, Zwow #20.

*for us, the west side