Post Rock

We stumbled across something interesting while driving the stick-straight roads of central Kansas.  Fence posts made of stone.

Turns out these unique fence posts have become a cultural icon of central Kansas.  With the Homestead Act of 1862, the lands of the west were opened for settlement.  Pioneers were drawn by the lure of relatively free land.  Since the prairies are basically treeless, they had to find some way to enclose their new land.

Some smart person decided that the limestone of the area fit the bill for fence posts.  It is relatively close to the surface and is pretty uniform in thickness.  But the best quality is the fact that it is relatively soft when first quarried but then hardens with exposure to air.

A very cool discovery on the backroads of Kansas!

A Tale of Two Saturdays - The Second Saturday

After leaving Fort Larned, we headed north to reach I-70 in order to get a few more miles under our belt before stopping for the day.  After a quick bite of dinner in Hayes, Kansas, we headed west - those miles clicking away.  And then it happened.

Vol Fan was traveling in the right-hand lane with a semi beside him in the left-hand lane when a car came down the on ramp.  The driver was busy talking to (and looking at his passenger) and he never glanced up to see the oncoming traffic.  Vol Fan attempted to speed up to avoid collision but it didn't work.  The car missed hitting the vehicle that Vol Fan was driving but not the trailer he was pulling.

Thankfully, Vol Fan was able to maintain control of his vehicle and didn't end up under the semi that was beside him!  We lost a fender, mangled a tire, and had a pretty good dent but we were safe and that was the main thing.

As we were on the side of the interstate speaking to the policeman that had just arrived, we were watching a storm that had been forming to our southwest.  It was beautiful and scary at the same time.  As it approached, it produced a beautiful rainbow.

Just as we were admiring the rainbow, the officer called "Hail!  Take cover!!" and we all scrambled to reach the relative safety of our vehicles.  At first, it was pea-sized then golfball size started mixing in.  And then some tennis ball size mixed in!  It was very scary!  Thankfully, we didn't have any glass breakage in the vehicles but we do have some dents!

Crazy how big these things are!  And this was after 10 minutes of rain and a good 10-15 minutes of tire changing so they had melted quite a bit.

After this, we decided that our luck had run out for the day and that we were stopping at the next exit that had a hotel.  Wow, what a day!

A Tale of Two Saturdays - The First Saturday

Last Saturday began normal enough.  We were on our second leg of the drive to Denver for Vol Fan's current project location.  And of course, Woody made us stop along the way to visit a couple of sites in the National Park system.

Our first stop was Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Strong City, Kansas.  It contains just what its name suggests - tall grass and prairie.  It has its own subtle beauty - an endless sea of rolling hills covered by prairie grasses.  It was a peaceful spot.  We would like to return in the fall when the grasses reach their full height!

Our next stop was Fort Larned National Historic Site just outside of Larned, Kansas.  It is an original fort that has been restored to how it looked originally when it was constructed in the mid-1850s.  It was built to house Army troops that were stationed to protect freight along the Santa Fe trail.

As we toured the fort, a storm passed to the southeast and provided some dramatic skies.

All in all, a pretty great Saturday!

Hagerman Fossil Beds

On Saturday, I went with Woody to Hagerman Fossil Beds.  Things started off great.  I had fun posing at the visitor center.  This is a mastodon skull.  Boy, they were big!!

The day ended with me being eaten by a saber-toothed cat.  :/

Meandering

Yesterday, I meandered.  If you have never meandered, make plans to try it.  It is awesome!

I was on my way to Pennsylvania.  Vol Fan had to hurry along to get to the job site in a timely manner.  I knew our hotel room wouldn't be available until later in the day.  Meandering seemed the logical choice to waste some time.  We had stopped the night before in Raphine, Virginia so I was perfectly situated for roaming around northern Virginia.

My first stop was Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park in Middletown, Virgina.  Middletown was a wonderful small town.  Historic homes - most lovingly restored - and beautiful rolling hills made for a very scenic morning!

Next up was Harper's Ferry.  What a beautiful place!  I would have loved to have had more time to explore.  Maybe we can return one day with Vol Fan.

What fun day!

OMG! I Saw A Bear!!

On Saturday, Woody, Vol Fan, and I packed a picnic and headed to the mountains.  It was a beautiful day.  The sun was shining.  There was a slight breeze.  The temperature was perfect.  We could not have asked for a better day to spend in Cades Cove.

As the afternoon wore on, we saw several people in a field looking toward the treeline.  We decided to see what the excitement was all about.  It was bear!  We were not quite as crazy as the people in the field.  It's like they think they are at a petting zoo!  We stayed back at the edge of the field and used a zoom lens.

After the bear wandered back into the woods, the crowd of people eventually cleared out - confident that she wouldn't be making another appearance.  It was such a perfect spot that we decided to pull out the blanket and have our picnic.

As we sat soaking in the sun, we were discussing the fact that Vol Fan has a good eye for spotting wildlife.  Woody said she thought it was because of his dyslexia - that his mind can pick out patterns that it thinks don't belong.  As she said this, Vol Fan said 'I think I see a pattern right now'.  He was right.  There was a black spot in a notch of a tree.  Upon looking closer, we saw that it was two black bear cubs!

As we were sitting enjoying the moment, the cubs decided to climb down the tree.  Turns out what we thought was two cubs was actually three!  They stayed pretty close to the base of the tree.  In a few minutes, Mama returned and told her stray babies to get back up the tree.  So lickity-split, up they went!

A little while later, a couple that we had talked with earlier drove by our spot and told us of a big male black bear at the other end of the field.  Since the sun was starting to set, we decided to go see if we could spot him.  He was a BIG boy!

What a perfect day!!

My Two Favorite Peeps

8 Is Great

Last week, AB turned 8!  Hard to believe, isn't it?!?  Seems like just yesterday we were working on a bid in the waiting room.....awaiting her birth!  Here is a sample of the fun from her birthday party!

Apparently the singing wasn't quite up to par....

Decision, decisions.  I told her she should wish for a little brother since that is what I wished for on my 8th birthday and it came true the following July :)

Diamonds As Big As Your Head

Last Sunday, I loaded up with Woody, Vol Fan, Blazer, Giggles, and Oboe and headed into the wilds of Arkansas.  We had plans to strike it rich - swimmin' pools, movie stars.  We were headed to Crater of Diamonds State Park.

It had rained the few days prior to our visit.  When we arrived, we were greeted with piles and piles of mud instead of the piles and piles of diamonds we had envisioned.  Thick, sticky, ooey, gooey mud!

But oh what fun we had!!  We filled buckets with what we determined was promising materials, washed the mud from it, and sifted and sifted and sifted.  Vol Fan is an excellent sifter.

We weren't lucky (or skilled) enough to find a diamond.  We did find quartz, agate, calcite, jasper, and volcanic material.  But more importantly, we made memories  :)

Back To SLC

The final day - and we didn't want to leave this paradise.  But it had to be done.  As we meandered toward Salt Lake City, this is what we saw...