On the road again

That old Willie Nelson song comes to mind when we leave our northern home and head south for the winter. "On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again, like a band of gypsy we go down the highway, I can't wait to get on the road again."

We left home on a beautiful fall day and enjoyed some of the nicest fall color in years all the way through southern Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. It's hard to leave when the weather is so nice but we all know that this will not last for long. No wind and sunny skies made the colors pop from the branches. Every low branch, light post and even the fence posts played perch for the many red tail Hawks along the road until we hit the prairies and the Hawks turned to meadow larks and the leaves were replaced with blankets of amber fields as far as the eye can see. The only breaks are the black pepper spots of Angus letting us know we are in cattle country, we are in Kansas. Unlike the land of OZ, the winds are not blowing today but the trees in the open all lean the same direction and the deformed branches let me know that they have seen some significant winds in their time. This year we took the turnpike just after KC through the Flint Hills region which is prairie at its unspoiled best. This country has it's own unique beauty but as the skies turned grey and began to weep, it lost the splendor and became a long, long stretch of pavement, that makes me want to curl up and take a nap with my cat under the quilt. Which is the first thing I did once we arrived at our destination. Just a few more days before we reach our winter home in Mesa AZ.