A New State For Our Map

It's been at least 10 years since we added a new state to our travel map.  We left Colorado Springs this morning and headed east.  We were mostly on local highways.  We couldn't believe how far east Colorado Springs spreads out.  It is a much larger metro area than we had thought.  That being so, it took quite a while to get out of town and into the countryside.  We left the Air Force Academy at 7,000 ft altitude with pine trees and mountains.  By lunch time we were out in the fields of grasses and corn and had dropped to about 5,000 ft.  It was a gradual descent, though on long stretches of highway. The landscape just started spreading out as far as the eye could see. Wide open spaces, for sure.  





There were hundreds of wind turbines as we traveled east along I-70, but the minute we crossed the state line there were none. Kansas must not be a friend of renewable energy.



We stopped for lunch at the intersection of US24 and I-70. We pulled into a big open lot next to an Arby's.  If you are traveling along I-70 in your Tesla electric, well, be assured that in Limon, Colorado, you can get a charge - and a sandwich while you wait.


The landscape went from rolling hills to farms and grain silos.  Lots and lots of grain silos - every town along I-70 had huge ones.   



Also note that in towns east of what we consider the western states, they always have water towers - with the name of the town painted on them. 

In Nevada we just put the initial of our town on the nearest hill with rocks that have been whitewashed. I guess in the east, they need the whole name spelled out so they know where they are.  

We stopped at a KOA 19 miles into Kansas to satisfy our quest for getting a new state on the map.  It's really one of the nicer KOAs we've stayed in and we got the only site with trees! We also have WIFI that works.   We got here early as it was only a 200 or so mile trek today.  We immediately applied our state to the map.

Kansas is the Sunflower State

 


  












Tomorrow we head northeast to North Platte, NE where we will affix another state to the map!