Day 5

As we departed from Salina, Kansas the sky was filled with what appeared to be story clouds. However, just as we turned on to I-135 the sun broke through a hole in the clouds presenting us with a nice scene of rays of light reaching for the ground. It was a nice way the begin the last leg of our trip to Wichita.

Sunshine finds a hole in the clouds

The wind was blowing just as it did the day before, however, the wind yesterday was a stiff crosswind while we now were driving into the wind. As a result, the driving was a little easier with headwinds instead of crosswinds.

After driving south for about 30 minutes we encountered a construction zone where the vehicles were directed into a single lane while the other lane was being replaced. Later our motorhome was directed to the opposite side of the freeway so that we were traveling in one lane with opposing traffic. This left the two southbound lanes open for repaving. We had seen many such construction zones as we had crossed the states on our way to Wichita. The thing that was very apparent was that the highway department of states other than California were replacing roadbeds that were in better condition that what passes as a "good" roadway in California.

One lane in each direction is being resurfaced

On this stretch, both southbound lanes are being repaved

We saw an interesting set of machines in one Kansas construction zone. The was a line of heavy construction equipment with a machine in front that was chewing up the old road and crushing the old pavement into gravel. The gravel was riding a short conveyor belt where is was dumped in the machine behind the chewing-crushing machine. Next to the second machine, in the line, was a short line of big dump trucks filled with fresh asphalt.

Asphalt was being pulled from the forward dump truck as the whole procession moved slowly forward. The asphalt and gravel were mixed in the middle machine with the resulting mixture being expelled out the back into a hopper on the front of a paving machine. This was the machine that took up the rear position in this road building procession.

So here was a process that gobbled up the old roadbed in the front and expelled a brand new asphalt roadway ready to received painted lines. It was an amazing thing to see. Unfortunately, this assembly of moving machines appeared faster than I could get my camera ready to get a picture of the scene.

The trip to Wichita was short and routine other than the constant wind. We arrived in the Blasi RV Campground at about 11:00 where we found that the place was a little different than the last time were here. The road ont in front had a new median strip and traffic signals made it much safer to make a left turn across traffic to get into the campground.

The first thing I did was to hookup to the power so I could get the air conditioners going. It was HOT - HOT - HOT. We found out later that the temperature would reach 101 and that one of the towns we drove though yesterday was 104.

Our home for a week is now set up

The sun screens will get a workout during our stay in Wichita

Kay's brother came out to meet us at the campground. We had a short visit while I cooled down while standing under the air conditioner. Then it was time to go over to Jim and Donna's house. We had been looking forward to this visit because there were new puppies. One of Jim and Donna's basset hounds, Scarlet, was new mother.

When I enter Jim and Donna's house it was like coming home. They have always made us feel very comfortable at their place. We spent the remainder of the day mostly relaxing and playing with puppies.

Puppies explore the big world outside

There are five adorable little basset babies that are just learning to get around and explore a little bit. There is one male puppy that has a face that looks like a little old dog, however, on the puppy it is cute. This little guy has been given the name Rocko. Shortly before we left to go home to our cabin on wheels, we took all the puppies out on the front lawn. It was fun to watch them explore this big outdoor world. It was a fun way to end the day.

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