Hays, KS to Colorado Springs, CO

Picking, up from where I left off last:

8th August.

Wheat growing.
Wheat growing.

We made our way from Hays, KS to Colorado Springs. We gained about 4000ft in elevation through the day, although it is barely noticeable. We were in the highland plains.

Along the way, we saw fields of sunflower, nodding donkeys extracting water for irrigating land that once saw dust storms.

Sunflower fields.
Sunflower fields.

We stopped at Goodland, KS, around about where part of Kansas State goes with Colorado Mountain time. Incredibly confusing. As if Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO isn’t confusing enough.

At Goodland, we found the world’s largest Van Gogh…

World's Largest Van Gogh.
World's Largest Van Gogh.

… and visited the High Plains Museum that has the first patented helicopter in the US.

First Patented Helicopter in the US.
First Patented Helicopter in the US.

We managed to find the National Weather Service Centre. We were unaware that we had to make an appointment for a tour, but they gave us a short one anyway.

There's still the trusty rain gauge with all the modern equipment used in weather forecasting.
There's still the trusty rain gauge with all the modern equipment used in weather forecasting.

It was very interesting to find out that weather balloons all over the world were released at the same time to get a good reading of the atmosphere. What happened way above gave them indications of what was to come. It was also interesting to note that none of the rooms where all the computers are not tornado-proof. Only a store room where the staff can wait out a tornado.

There’s not much going on in Goodland. The town was clean and quiet. But I found two ladies working on a mural for their school’s reunion. They had been painting it for over a year.

Mural in Goodland, KS.
Mural in Goodland, KS.

We made it to Colorado Springs and swapped the car, as by this time, it was flashing some service light that I did not understand. We got an upgrade to a bigger car. It was bigger in size, but the trunk was smaller and it took me a good 3 days to work out a system that fit all our existing bags – and more.

Our first stop was Seven Falls that failed to impress me. It’s a tourist trap with a lot of stairs. We took the lift, up, however and walked down instead.

Seven Falls.
Seven Falls.

As our hotel was the Drury Inn we went back to the hotel around 5:30pm to enjoy their snack time.

2 Replies to “Hays, KS to Colorado Springs, CO”

  1. can you elaborate on snack time? also, does Seven Falls have more water during other seasons, like during spring?

    keep posting! 😀

  2. blog wrote

    can you elaborate on snack time? also, does Seven Falls have more water during other seasons, like during spring?

    keep posting! 😀

    They call it “kickback” and you get chips and alcoholic drinks, hot dogs and other snack type foods as part of the deal. Practically the whole day, you get free drinks (soda, water etc) and from afternoon to night, help yourself to popcorn in the lobby.

    Yes, Seven Falls will have more water, judging from the water marks. But when, I don’t know. I suppose then, it’ll be more magnificent. Close to 7pm, the lights come on and you can watch the falls at night too.

    I can’t keep up with the posts!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *