 US marines mountain warfare hardware on the move, note exhaust pipe, the tube on the front hum-vee I presumed was for storing fishing rods.  Peds  The winkets, Janie and Susan at lunch break 2hrs east of CS, ground cover a small succulent. They were so well behaved enroute.  Number two driver with snow protection fence and cattle yards as backdrop |
 Kansas roadside environs, best suited to night driving  Tonys next project?  been at it for years, Kansas  Getting ready to hit the frog. |
2/08/2011 Alton to Colorado Springs, 105℉
Finally getting away about 1500hrs we headed over the bridge to St Louis and through more traffic than I have seen in awhile. I shouted Tony a tank of gas and the four of us a meal at a Chinese buffet.
Cruising along, all having been participants in luxury uptake, the engine started making a tappet hammering kind of noise. We slowly motored to the next service centre.
Letting the vehicle cool down we checked the oil, it was down a bit, topping up was performed, the bonnet closed and we moved on. The noise continued but not as bad.
We headed west on interstate 70 across Illinois for four hours. At about 0130hrs the now infamous noise decided to make itself heard over and above all other noises of our motion.
We pulled into another SC at Topeka just west of Kansas City. There was a dodgy foodstore there selling sugar and cholestrol in all manner of disguises, however they did have wifi.
Being at least 4 days behind with this I took the opportunity to catch up, Ton and the girls slept in the car. We were there till 0300hrs, five coffees found their way to my stomach.
Janie came in and started playing with her ipod and said Ton was stirring, having packed up. I took the wheel, someone was looking after us.
The Nissan V6 had figured these guys aren’t going to turn around so I might as well shut up, which it did all the way to Colorado Springs. Wierd, probably a blessing that we weren’t mechanics.
Driving those dodgey hours from 0300 to daylight, is always hard work when the bod is harping to be put into hibernation mode. Making matters worse, was road works with dual carriage way suddenly bordered by witches hats directing you into oncoming traffic.
Anyway by the time it was 0800hrs we had nearly traversed Kansas.
Many paddocks had those iconic oil pumps on site. State laws designate an allowable minimal distances between them. They were pumping oil to small tanks nearby for later removal to a bulk facility.
The kids, myself and Ton were all pleased to hit the Colarado SL, a few pics were taken here. Tony is in the construction game and is always sussing out cheap dwellings. A burnt out home on the border line was attracting his attention.
We both jokingly agreed you could make money running across the road to take pics for tourists as they pulled up for a momento (many did during our duration on site), we also agreed that we were talking shite.
Tony is such a laid back guy, nothing phases him, he has fifteen siblings, all spread across the US. He said once his mum had to make fifteen lunches each day for the kids and her husband. She is still alive. Quick figures revealed she was pregnant for over ten years. This lovely nature and sharpness Tony possesses must have been a product of such an interesting upbringing, his dad was an engineer also at Boeing. He is so good with his kids. Girls love his demeanour.
We still had four hours till Colarado Springs. The land was flat and treeless, this was encased by a sky that contained most clouds we know. It was a landscape so different from that of the now familiar MR environs.
The girls were already missing the trees. Yuccas, Sage Bush and ground level succulents were most successful at maintaining their life processes in this environment.
Fauna spotted were Pheasants, Mule Deer and providing the most enjoyment were bloody road runners, no coyotes were spotted unfortunatly.
Coal trains out here can be five miles long. As Tony explained, this fires our power stations and there’s plenty more where it comes from. In St Louis a station just across from Alton had a new stack that went someway to reducing emissions. Warm water discharge from these monoliths, nearly always near the river is a problem.
We still couldn’t see Pikes Peak (14,110 ft) and its neighbouring range.
Having been through Cheyenne Wells and Kit Carson we turned onto County Road 94 which took us due west to Cloarado Springs.
The landscape changed, both it’s natural features and those created by us. Firstly it became slightly undulating with a few scattered smaller trees, this was backdropped by the now visible mountain range.
There were scattered houses in varying degrees of repair, huge areas of wrecked cars and trailer parks on both sides of the road. This was life as found in all cities but on full display.
More importantly temperatures were in the low twenties, c,mon baby relief at last, three weeks of above 100℉ had come to an end.
Finally getting away about 1500hrs we headed over the bridge to St Louis and through more traffic than I have seen in awhile. I shouted Tony a tank of gas and the four of us a meal at a Chinese buffet.
Cruising along, all having been participants in luxury uptake, the engine started making a tappet hammering kind of noise. We slowly motored to the next service centre.
Letting the vehicle cool down we checked the oil, it was down a bit, topping up was performed, the bonnet closed and we moved on. The noise continued but not as bad.
We headed west on interstate 70 across Illinois for four hours. At about 0130hrs the now infamous noise decided to make itself heard over and above all other noises of our motion.
We pulled into another SC at Topeka just west of Kansas City. There was a dodgy foodstore there selling sugar and cholestrol in all manner of disguises, however they did have wifi.
Being at least 4 days behind with this I took the opportunity to catch up, Ton and the girls slept in the car. We were there till 0300hrs, five coffees found their way to my stomach.
Janie came in and started playing with her ipod and said Ton was stirring, having packed up. I took the wheel, someone was looking after us.
The Nissan V6 had figured these guys aren’t going to turn around so I might as well shut up, which it did all the way to Colorado Springs. Wierd, probably a blessing that we weren’t mechanics.
Driving those dodgey hours from 0300 to daylight, is always hard work when the bod is harping to be put into hibernation mode. Making matters worse, was road works with dual carriage way suddenly bordered by witches hats directing you into oncoming traffic.
Anyway by the time it was 0800hrs we had nearly traversed Kansas.
Many paddocks had those iconic oil pumps on site. State laws designate an allowable minimal distances between them. They were pumping oil to small tanks nearby for later removal to a bulk facility.
The kids, myself and Ton were all pleased to hit the Colarado SL, a few pics were taken here. Tony is in the construction game and is always sussing out cheap dwellings. A burnt out home on the border line was attracting his attention.
We both jokingly agreed you could make money running across the road to take pics for tourists as they pulled up for a momento (many did during our duration on site), we also agreed that we were talking shite.
Tony is such a laid back guy, nothing phases him, he has fifteen siblings, all spread across the US. He said once his mum had to make fifteen lunches each day for the kids and her husband. She is still alive. Quick figures revealed she was pregnant for over ten years. This lovely nature and sharpness Tony possesses must have been a product of such an interesting upbringing, his dad was an engineer also at Boeing. He is so good with his kids. Girls love his demeanour.
We still had four hours till Colarado Springs. The land was flat and treeless, this was encased by a sky that contained most clouds we know. It was a landscape so different from that of the now familiar MR environs.
The girls were already missing the trees. Yuccas, Sage Bush and ground level succulents were most successful at maintaining their life processes in this environment.
Fauna spotted were Pheasants, Mule Deer and providing the most enjoyment were bloody road runners, no coyotes were spotted unfortunatly.
Coal trains out here can be five miles long. As Tony explained, this fires our power stations and there’s plenty more where it comes from. In St Louis a station just across from Alton had a new stack that went someway to reducing emissions. Warm water discharge from these monoliths, nearly always near the river is a problem.
We still couldn’t see Pikes Peak (14,110 ft) and its neighbouring range.
Having been through Cheyenne Wells and Kit Carson we turned onto County Road 94 which took us due west to Cloarado Springs.
The landscape changed, both it’s natural features and those created by us. Firstly it became slightly undulating with a few scattered smaller trees, this was backdropped by the now visible mountain range.
There were scattered houses in varying degrees of repair, huge areas of wrecked cars and trailer parks on both sides of the road. This was life as found in all cities but on full display.
More importantly temperatures were in the low twenties, c,mon baby relief at last, three weeks of above 100℉ had come to an end.
