Reunion Day Three and Heading Home

So many readers have been checking in so I thought I had better get this posted. We did arrive home yesterday evening after a lovely two days of driving. On the way to the reunion, last Thursday, we first encountered this Really Large wind generation farm west of Salina on I-70. Tuesday was a perfect day weather-wise but it was hard to get close enough to them for a photo that truly reflects the scope of this project. We counted some 100 wind turbines that we could see and there undoubtedly are more.

They look like improbably ungainly beasts, rising from the prairie and surrounding hills. About half of them were turning at a leisurely speed. They are part of the Smoky Hills Wind Farm, providing power to Hays-based Sunflower Electric Power, Midwest Energy and the Kansas City Board of Public utilities. (Our nephew Corey works for Sunflower and is involved in the expansion of the coal-fired energy plant near Garden City.) Sunflower expects to have 13 percent of its generation sources from wind farms by the end of this year, according to an article in the June 9 Salina Journal.



This farm will produce at least 1000 megawatts of electricity when it is finished. We could see cranes at work in the distance, erecting additional towers. Also, at the far right of the photo, a super cell thunderstorm is building. Later that night in our hotel in Lawrence, we saw that it dropped a lot of rain and hail in the far northeast corner of Kansas.


Gracie did really well on this trip. Out on the open road, she gets 25 to 26 mpg. It seems that 75 mph (uh, make that 70 mph Mr. State Trooper) is her most efficient speed.


On this trip I got to pursue one of my passions (some would say vices) and visit several quilt fabric stores. At the Quilt Cabin in Colby I found this lovely version of a baby quilt using a pattern I already have called Simon the Puppy and a new pattern I bought, Sally the Kitty. Also on the trip we stopped at Quilter's Harvest in Higginsville, MO and at The Quilt Corner in Warrenton. I now have several new patterns and some more lovely fabric for my "stash."

Another of our favorite stops is at the intersection of the road that leads to Wilson, Kansas. This shop, Kansas Originals, features all kinds of items made in Kansas, from Christmas ornaments, to stained glass, to woodwork and you name it. They also serve free hot coffee and samples of snacks made with sunflower seeds and other Kansas-grown foods.

We thoroughly enjoyed the trip (including last Thursday's tornado sighting) and especially the reunion. We are glad to hear from Texas that Walt did well with his surgery and we wish him a speedy and complete recovery, as well as new ways to manage his situation. Paula and Carla get an A+ for their planning and execution of the reunion weekend. On Day Three of the reunion, some 13 of us trooped into the 8:30 service at Colby United Methodist Church and then descended on the Village Inn for brunch. In the afternoon, several of us visited the Prairie Museum and got together at Harold's to discuss next year's Sib Reunion. We haven't chosen a place yet because we want some input from Walt when he feels like it. Then Norm and I met up with John and Nancy Sanders for supper and 6 hours of non-stop talking and looking at photos and reminiscing. No wonder we didn't get an early start leaving Colby on Monday!