More Travel.....

I wrote yesterday that I'd tell y'all about our drive west.  And I will...  but first...  about catching a snake.  Judy asked me how I did that (some people would ask "why?").  Well, black snakes are good guys and eat mice.  They're reported to keep other snakes away.  And they are non-poisonous.  I've managed to catch a few... in the basement or climbing a post to get baby birds (the snake, not me).  If their tail is the closest just grab it... start winding it around your arm until you get to the head.  Grab it behind the head and hold on.  Then either carry it away or put it in a 5 gallon bucket (put a lid on it) and take it to another place.  

I have lots of snake stories, but now...  back to the drive west...

I darned near missed getting the Missouri welcome sign (bottom, 2nd from left)....  and it looked like there had been a wildfire a year or so ago as we entered New Mexico....  and it looks like Illinois has someone who feels the need to express themselves through graffiti....  all everyday sights as you travel the nation's highways.

I'd show you some cornfields, but I found the millet more interesting...

 At least that's what I think this was.  Fields and fields...  acres and acres...  miles and miles of...

Bird Seed!

Some will probably end up in one of my feeders this winter ;-)

We drove around Indianapolis but drove right through Topeka, Kansas...

Visiting State capitals is a favorite thing for us...  but we've been to both of  those capitals...  

Usually the tours are worth going on...  and while we didn't stop in Topeka, we could see the dome looming over the city.

We are fairly self-sufficient and have no trouble "boon-docking" our way across the USA.  Actually we both like staying in Walmart parking lots overnight...  Bill can find a reasonably level place to park, I can do some grocery shopping and cook dinner, and, as a bonus, there is almost always a geocache hidden close-by.  Gives me a reason to go for a walk after sitting all day.  We'd be real easy to track if a person really wanted to...  just pull up the Geocache website, put in our geocache name and it shows every cache we've ever found...  date and location.  And people think those social media sites tell too much!

Most Walmarts don't have a problem with overnight parking.  Some do...

What?  You think that sign means no trucks?  

There were well over a dozen trucks parked here all night long.  Bill had gone into the store to ask if we were permitted to park overnight (yes) and we were well out of the truck range.  Most times it isn't Walmart that doesn't allow parking but a city ordinance or regulation.  Anyway, since we don't need electric, water etc and we always park in the "back 40", we do just fine.

(It would be interesting to watch tow trucks haul away a dozen or so 18 wheelers)

Sometimes we have neighbors...

Kinda makes you want to take your handkerchief and wipe his nose, doesn't it?

This truck didn't stay long.....  good thing or we'd have had to move.

Some aromas are breathtaking...  and not in a nice way.

There are always signs warning you about wildlife...

A black bear...  an elk....  what! a cow?  Well, in some places cattle are free range.  No fences are required.  So it's up to the driver of the vehicle to watch out for them.  We never did see a bear, nor an elk....  not even a cow on the road.  But we did see...

Lots and lots of herds of Pronghorn.

Once we got into New Mexico we saw well over 2 dozen separate herds....  ranging from a couple dozen together to just one standing all alone.  We're in high desert (6,000') here and the terrain is definitely pronghorn country.

We've traveled almost 3,000 miles since we left Maine on September 2nd and it's hard to condense all that into just a few pictures.....  family, friends, scenery....  

Guess that's why I find blogs so interesting... other folks travels give us ideas.   

That's All For Today!