Road Trip Out West; Exploring, Wandering and Photography; Part II; Across Missouri and Kansas

I know what you're thinking but no, no saturation added.  This is how brightly painted those
rocking chairs are.  There wasn't much to see in Limon, Colorado except for the old railroad
depot and its displays.  I stumbled upon this scene (and how could I not make a few exposures
of it?) next to the outdoor displays. (click any image to enlarge)
Except as noted, all images in this post were made with my X100VI from JPEG files.

We left Paducah, Kentucky to continue our journey as far west as Utah.  I chose to drive U.S. Route 60 as, when I take road trips, I try to stay off the interstate highways as much as possible, go through small towns, eat at local restaurants and meet the ‘real people’ of the United States.  The ‘real people’ of our country are kind, helpful, pleasant and nothing like the impression you would get if watching the nightly news.

Did I happen to mention, of all things, on Day 2 of our journey one wheel of my 26”, 43 lb. suitcase disintegrated?  Agh!  It came apart in several pieces.  First, I tried to find a replacement online but could not find one that would fit the unique way the wheels are attached.  Plan B was to buy another suitcase somewhere locally but I didn’t want to spend the money on ‘just anything’ to get by.  Plan C was to buy some superglue and use lots of gaffer tape to keep the pieces in place.  So, off to a Walmart we went to buy superglue.  I always travel with a small roll of gaffer tape so my goal was to make a temporary fix—at least to get me through the end of this road trip.  Happily, it worked like a charm!

While driving across southern Missouri, my wife and I stopped at a Sinclair service station to take a bathroom break.  Sinclair—you know the brand—the one with the green dinosaur.  Upon finding the restrooms, I thought it interesting that the bathrooms would be branded in the same colors and logo as well.  Even the bucket and lid are Sinclair colors!

I found the color coordinated mats and doors adorned with the company logo
quiet 'different.' Even the cleaning bucket, which obviously has not been
used in some time, has the same color combination.  I mainly shot this for
my "Just for the Color" project you can find on my website. (iPhone)

We later arrived to spend the night in Lawrence, Kansas.  Not much else to report about Lawrence.  Seems like a decent place.  Now, across Kansas to our next stop—Limon, Colorado.  He we go!

What's missing from this pump, you wonder?  Here’s the backstory.  

When I went to fill up my gasoline tank, I noticed something on this pump
was  missing.  After I placed the nozzle in the vehicle, I grabbed my iPhone
and snapped this.

While driving on Interstate 70 through central Kansas, I noticed my fuel level was getting a bit low and needed to refill my tank.  I started looking for a gas station at every exit.  None.  Exit after exit, no gas stations.  What?  How can that be?  I continued to drive keeping one eye on the digital display that estimates how many miles I can drive with what fuel is left in the tank.  No worries, yet.

Oh!  There’s one!  A Sinclair station!  I like dinosaurs (as I mentioned a green dinosaur is their mascot).  Oh no! The exit is blocked by a wide load truck that is stuck.  It couldn’t make the turn and now can’t move.  In fact, no one moving.  Traffic is backed up in three directions waiting for the wide load to make that turn.  I won’t be getting gasoline here.  Who knows how long we would have to wait before that truck can move?  I’m sure there will be another gas station at the next exit.  I kept driving.

I was now down to less than ‘40 miles to empty’ on my vehicle and driving the plains of central Kansas.  Two. Three more exits, no gas.  What?  But this is a major east/west highway!  Why isn’t gasoline available in centraI Kansas? 

Now I was getting stressed.  Exit after exit, no services available, only miles and miles of prairies.  I spotted a sign for a town at the next exit.  If people live there, there has to be gasoline available.  I exited, got off the interstate and drove to the tiny town about 3 miles off I-70.  Wilson, Kansas.  There couldn’t be more than a few hundred people who live there.  But Waze (my GPS navigator) said there was a gas station there—somewhere.  

There it is!  I found it.  Two pumps.  Two pickup trucks, one on each side, parked at the pumps but no one around.  Seriously?  My wife and I wait patiently for whoever is most likely paying for their gasoline to come out of the little store.  We wait a full 5 minutes (no exaggeration) for one guy to finally come out and move his truck.  He doesn’t look happy.  But he moves it away from the pump and then goes back into the store.  Thankfully.

I pull up to the pump.  No credit card slot.  What?  No credit card slot?  Now that is unique.  That is what is missing!  In today’s global financial markets who doesn’t have a way to accept credit cards?  Evidently here!  I went inside the tiny convenience store and asked the clerk about it.  A seemingly very nice middle-aged woman said she would ‘hold’ my credit card while I pumped gas.  I got a real uneasy feeling about just handing over my card while she was inside and I was outside.  I imagined her copying down all the numbers, expiration dates, secret code number and later me finding thousands of dollars charged to my card—or she lets all her friends fill up with gasoline over the next week using my card for payment!  I needn’t worry.  She was an honest person.  See what I mean about small towns and meeting ‘real’ Americans?  Everything worked out okay.  

Lesson learned:  Get gas early in Kansas while on I-70.  There doesn’t seem to be a plethora of gas stations.

With a full tank of gasoline, on to Limon, Colorado, our next destination.   Limon was just a convenient stopping place as we drove west to our real destinations—the national parks in Utah.  I didn’t expect much there.  I had been through Limon a couple of times in the past on my way to Colorado Springs.  Just a waypoint.

We arrived in Limon in mid afternoon.  We checked into our hotel and immediately noticed our room was just across the small front parking lot from the main road which was very busy with large trucks.  Are you familiar with the term ‘Jake Brakes?’  Jake brakes are the method truckers use to slow down by using the diesel engine’s compression rather than using the truck’s actual brakes.  If you’ve heard it, you will know.  Well, every few minutes, right outside our room window, the sound of Jake Brakes drowned out all other sounds. After an hour or so, I walked to the front desk and asked the clerk to change rooms. She was not sympathetic to our plight.  She said it would calm down as the evening wore on.  By 10 p.m., it did.  Thankfully.  However, about 5 a.m. the next morning, we both were awakened by the estimated 10,000 birds (sounded like it) which roosted in the tree right outside our window!  No sleeping through that.  Needless to say, I won’t ever stay in Limon again as the other nearby hotels are similarly situated to the noise.  Not a good night….  But it is what it is.

That said, after checking into our hotel in Limon we drove around the 'downtown' area to see what was there.  We discovered the old railroad depot and its exhibits.  Seeing an opportunity to make some images, I grabbed the X100VI again and just casually walked around and made some images of things I saw that I found interesting.

Here are a few images for your viewing pleasure!

An old Ford tank truck branded by Texaco.  Obviously it has been repainted as the intense Colorado
sun would have faded that red paint to oblivion by now.  I like these old trucks.  They remind me of
the toy trucks I played with when I was a very young boy.

A view from the other side.

I spotted this very old wagon and noticed the spokes no longer made it to the metal rim.  I thought
that was different and worthy of a couple of exposures.

Red, White & Blue on an old heavyweight rail passenger car.

After roaming Limon, we had a nice dinner and settled into our room for the night. In the next post, we’re off across Colorado, stopping in a couple of small towns on our way to Moab, Utah to visit Dead Horse Point State Park and Arches National Park.

 

I’m really loving using the X100VI.  Easy to carry, easy to use, excellent image quality.  By the way, the JPEGs using my settings are gorgeous!  At least I like them.

If you have been following our road trip so far, you know I have not taken the OM-1 II out of its bag yet.  But its time will come once I get into the vast Utah landscapes.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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