Time to go

I couldn't believe time could go so fast, but it was time to take you back to the trail so you could go on. Funny, work days never go that fast....do they run in another paralled universe? The average work day lasts at least a week, and each day you were her lasted only a couple minutes.....how does that work?

I woke up at 2:00 am. Saturday. Jed wanted to get on the road by 2:30 - 3:00 so we could get to southern Missouri before it began to get too hot. The weather, in less than 2 days had turned to what felt like the "dog days of August". Temps of 92-95, with heat indexes in the triple digits. When there was a breeze at all, it felt as though you were in a convection oven. Geeze I hate the heat. I am a fall person. Give me a cool gloomy November day anytime. If it weren't for the fact that I love to garden, I could do without summer at all.

Well, we were loaded into the car and driving south toward the Joplin area. The section of the trail we were going to finished the Missouri distance, then headed into Pittsburg, Kansas, then west across the state. It was obscenely hot that day, and I was beginning to have a bad feeling about how the trip would progress for you through the state. Kansas is a challenge in the summer. You would think it would be easy leaving the mountain roads behind. Easy to run across flat land.....easy......except for the fact that now you are running in triple digit numbers, and the water stops are very few and far between. The towns spaced generously apart....no trees....no shade.....no nothing really. The first time you tagged in on your satellite posting I was relieved. There's something about that little message....Jedediah OK 8:10 p.m........
That little blip with the words OK really mean a lot to me. I try to picture if you have found a tree, a bridge, some water......

The days will get harder from here. Little do I know what will come soon.