We got as far as western Kansas and ran headlong into their first winter storm of the season. When we pulled into Colby, Kansas on Tuesday the weather was fair and warm. We had a nice bicycle ride around town to see the sights. We heard about a high wind advisory and intentionally chose a park over a Wal-Mart parking lot. About 9 p.m. the first gusts shook the coach like a rat terrier shaking a rag doll. We quickly retracted the two sliders and hunkered down for the blow.
The prairie winds shook us all night, but we slept as sound as a baby in a rocking crib. Wednesday morning we awoke to standing water in the many mud puddles around the camp ground, and the winds were a steady 35 mph with gusts to 55. We elected to pay for another day. Judy kept busy with crafts and I caught up with bill paying and practiced fiddle and guitar for a couple hours. After supper we took the guitar and visited the camp owners, Dan and Shirley. Dan had his guitar and we took turns leading our best songs. Shirley runs a Restaurant in the old depot that serves as the park office. It is a low key thing, and there were only a couple customers, but they thought it was grand to have live music for their dinner.
We returned to our home through the blustery wind. The temperature hovered around 40 to 42 degrees all day and evening. Around two a.m. I had a chance to look outside and see the first of the blizzard snow swirling around the coach. By morning the temperature was at 33 degrees and there was an inch of snow on the ground. Now we always love to quip that we get to see a different sunrise every morning. Today certainly lives up to that legacy. Oh yes, the Colby school is having a snow vacation today. I think we will stay put for another day. It is now ten a.m. and the snow just keeps filtering down, and it is still 33 degrees. I should be able to get a couple more hours of guitar and fiddle practice in today. Maybe if I break it into short sessions Judy won’t run screaming from the coach.
Tomorrow we need to move on to Russell Kansas and meet up with our mail. We are expecting our ballots and need to get them voted and mailed back ASAP. We are supposed to get a nice warming trend by then.
Oh yes we welcome Nephew Wayne and his wife Karen to our readership. Wayne was the perfect host while we were in Colorado.
Playing in the snow in KansasÂ….love from Gary and Judy.
