October 6, 2012

UP UNTIL TODAY, we have had incredible weather on our trip.  I don’t think we have had any rain for the last month. When we got up this morning, however, it was cold and raining. Moreover, the weather predictions for the areas north of us were for more rain and increasing cold.  Reluctantly, we decided to head east. Although we have had a great trip, I have had one major disappointment:  my inability to find a rattlesnake.  Originally, I was looking for a big Western Diamondback; but I reached the point where I would have settled for even a dinky little Prairie Rattler.

I don’t’ know why I have had such bad luck finding a rattler. Our daughter’s mother-in-law found one without even trying. A few years ago, she was hiking in the mountains in California with a couple of female friends when one of her friends not only found a rattlesnake, but was bitten by one. (For purposes of anonymity, we will call the mother-in-law “Barbara.”) The friend had a very bad reaction to the snake bite, and Barbara quickly drove her to the closest emergency room.When she told the doctor on duty that her friend had been bitten by a rattlesnake, the doctor responded with a patronizing look familiar to most women and in a condescending tone of voice also familiar to most women: “Are you sure it was a rattlesnake?”   Because Barbara had been a highly successful businesswoman in a “man’s world” for a number of years, she was prepared for the doctor’s attitude. She reached into a sack she was carrying and extracted the dead rattlesnake. The doctor replied, “Yep, that’s a rattler.”  He then successfully treated the woman and left her with a great story she can tell for years. Some people are just lucky.

After leaving Colorado City, we drove through the rain as far Colby, Kansas. The big attraction in Colby is a barn; not just any barn, but the biggest barn in the state. It is so big that it is listed as one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas!

My knowledge of Kansas is limited and more historical than contemporary in nature: Wild Bill and Ike in Abilene, John Brown’s massacres, Gayle Sayers, William Allan White and his Gazette, Clyde Tombaugh at Lowell and Quantrill’s Raiders. I do know that Kansas does not even have the Kansas City with the good ribs; that City is in Missouri.Carole picked up some brochures to see what we might see or do while we are in Kansas. Hopefully, she will find something of interest.