Hot, Hot, Hot!

Well, we made Wichita about 30 minutes late and just ahead of some big T-storms. We saw a little hail, and lots of heavy rain and lightning, but nothing like the local evening news just showed. A little north of here they got hailstones the same of light bulbs, and there were evidently at least a few tornadoes associated with the storms.

The real story of today's ride was the heat. Thankfully we got out of the Mississippi River bottom before the su got very high -- like usual, the humidity was thick enough to cut with a knife this morning. I did note the big billboard outside Brinkley, AR proclaiming the town to be the home of the ivory-billed woodpecker It was nice to finally see the Ozark hill country in the light; I've always driven through those hills at night, They really do look a lot like the north Georgia mountains.

Anyway, by late afternoon, when we were cruising across northern Oklahoma on the Cimarron Trail Parkway temps reached into the low 90s with humidity around 65%. Even with a liter of gatorade at every stop, I think we were both pretty dehydrated by the end of the day. Fortunately, things should get a bit more comfortable when we reach western Kansas/eastern Colorado tomorrow afternoon. I can say for sure though that both of us are looking forward to an extra day in Boulder when we won't have to sit at all if we don't want to.