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We left the Independence area, and drove for 400 miles -- and we were still in Kansas. God, it is a gigantic state. Our route was across the bottom of the state (KA 160). Most of the drive was fabulous. The Ozarks slowly decline for hundreds of miles West, so much of the drive was hilly and forested -- not what we expected from Kansas. However, around Dodge City the feedlots began, and then it seemed like it was one feedlot after another. If you have never experience a large high Plaines feedlot, I can't really help you. Even with the air conditioning set on "MAX", and all external circulation turned off, the stink was still hideous. Jordan took to keeping a magazine perfume sample pressed under her nose.
However, our chosen stopping spot in Scott City was delightful, wooded, quiet and cool. Also, there were no feedlots nearby -- a real concern -- so the air smelled clean. We overnighted, and took off the next morning for Colorado. The picture above was taken at just about the time that the World Trade Center came down -- but we did not know that, then. We rarely listened to the radio, and state parks never have TV lounges. We drove for perhaps an hour or two, and then stopped for gas in Tribune, a sleepy little town that sported a good sized filling station. After the tank was full, I went in to pay. The TV was on, with the volume rather loud, but I ignored it and made straight for the register, credit card in hand. The attendant did not glance at me, his eyes fixed to the TV, so I too turned to see what riveted him so. I saw a large building collapsing, and assumed it was some kind of scheduled demolition, as the collapse was so precise. I then noticed that there was an ABC News banner along the bottom of the screen. I asked "What blew up?". Another customer told me that 6 planes had been hijacked, with 2 of them running into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon. I was dumbfounded. I looked back at the TV, and the talking heads were describing the pandemonium of lower Manhattan. The banner along the bottom read "Attack on America". This was all happening too fast for me to process -- it felt like some kind of bad dream, or of a movie that I had somehow managed to stumble into. After staring at the images for another few minutes, I went to the van, and told Jody the grim news. She and Jordan went into the smoky gas station office to watch for themselves, and try to make it real. Now we listen to the radio all the time. September 12 - Manitou Springs
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