This is My Kansas

This is my Kansas from Scott Bean on Vimeo.

It is my Kansas as well. As a rather good photographer, Scott Bean has an eye for the natural beauties and wonders that are contained within our state.

From his website:

I have to say something about where I take photographs, my home state of Kansas. Many people think that Kansas is simply one large, flat wheat field. Certainly wheat is important to Kansas and wheat fields hold their own beauty, especially with a gentle breeze blowing across them right before harvest. But that is not everything that Kansas has to offer. Kansas actually has many diverse landscapes across the state. And as for flat, well most of Kansas is not that flat. I’ve now lived in the Flint Hills longer than any other area of Kansas and I’m constantly stunned by the beauty of this area. If you haven’t experienced the different landscapes of Kansas then you are missing out on something special.

I know it is cliche, but I sincerely hope my images will inspire you to "stop and smell the roses." We are surrounded by beauty but seem to rarely take time to notice it. If we aren't careful it is going to be gone before we know it. I can be so attuned to the light and shapes, texture, and colors when I'm out photographing and feel so alive...only to be lost in the noise of our ever increasingly complex world when I return after a session of shooting. I hope you can find some time to get away from the rat race with me and enjoy these photographs.

He has plenty of other photos on his site as well. Worth a look.

Scott Bean does have an advantage living in the Flint Hills - that is probably the most scenic of all the areas in Kansas.

But I still love my prairie, and while we don't have much in the way of waterfalls around here, we do have a lot of deep creek channels cut over the centuries through layers of limestone bedrock, creating imposing structures lording it over the valley below. The varied flora, fauna and wildlife are an integral part of that tapestry. The open vistas of the flat prairie expose much of the more interesting features, and yet, headed across said flat expanse will uncover a hidden valley, surprising in it's mere existence.

Well, anyways, I hope you enjoy his pics as much as I did.

H/T Jade DeGood

Cowboy Up!

Y'all may have surmised that I'm back home from my trip. If not, welp, I got back Friday afternoon. I needed a couple days rest just to recover. I also ran out of steam as far as making it to all the places I'd liked to have gone to as well.

There weren't enough hours in two weeks to go to points east of Indianapolis nor west to Denver, much less the West Coast. I'd pretty well figured that out already, but after about seven or eight days on the road, I was pretty well fried. For sure I was tired of biscuits and gravy, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, nuked sausage and egg patties I can buy at Wally World, and so on and so forth. Never did get tired of bacon, which was available exactly twice.

I stayed in Holiday Inn Expresses, Comfort Inns, and AmericInns. I wish more king bed rooms had recliners. The sofa beds and the average chair are really not made for sitting.

I put on over three K miles, which is not that big of a deal. The new truck got as high as 17.5 or so mgp - I need to bring in my little black book and get all the figures - haven't even gotten to that yet. I was hoping for better, but it hasn't even gotten close to it's first oil change.

I also have a drain pipe (four inch diameter) to put on for a cat back exhaust system (as well as a grill guard), but didn't have time before I left. Not gonna mess with the chip or the intake - I'd prefer Ford pay for any screwups they installed rather than moi during the warranty period.

 Kitsey was pretty tickled to see me when I appeared at the door. She now likes sitting in my lap and being petted endlessly, but she hasn't figured out that she can actually come to me and I'll pick her up to do that. Her standard practice is to flop on her back in my path so I'll stop and rub her belly.

And I have more pics. Sorry about the quality - it's kinda hard to tell in the dark just how crummy they are when you're taking them. I hadn't been to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in OKC, OK since I was a teenager.

Things have changed.

For one thing, I've changed. Old me: Paintings? Bah. Boring. Current me: Surprised at how art can move me.

I got in trouble for taking some of these pics in a restricted area. The guard was really nice about it - he said the flashes can break down the pigments, and that there might be copyright issues were I to publish them. Of course, they're gonna end up on this blog. However, after looking at the pamphlet handed out, those areas were limited to no flash photography, not no pics at all.

Oh well. I can tell you there is one painting ten or so feet tall and fifteen or more feet wide of the Grand Canyon that was simply breathless. It showed a sliver of sunlight highlighting a canyon wall into a golden display of visual riches, a small rain squall below the rim covering part of the view behind it, several huge craggy and incredibly detailed bluffs - man, the colors and sense of depth just blew me away. There were paintings of cowboys in action - men who look identical to many I've known over the years, Native Americans, various wildlife, and just about any thing associated with the West.

The gun pictures I took were not in the main gun room, which I could have shot some no flash pics. I'd have probably ruined my phone from the drool anyhow. Some of the guns John Wayne donated were definitely highly desirable.

Of course Fredric Remington's and C.M. Russell's works were represented. Awesome, to over work a word. Of course, James Earle Fraser's plaster cast of End of the Trail sculpture is featured.

There is a pretty comprehensive rodeo section as well. I'm not much of a rodeo fan, but I did recognize a few names. Lots of prize saddles over the years on display.

I was there for four or five hours, and being on my feet that long just wiped my fat butt out. Totally worth it. I also went on a Wednesday, which happens to be free admission day for a limited time. I got there about a half hour after it opened, and it was definitely getting crowded with families by the time I left. Any wonder? Free vs thirty or forty bucks?

I hope those kids were entertained - the kid in me sure as hell was!

Here is a slideshow of the pics I took:

One Ring To Bind Them.

Naw. Just stopped by to check out the Gateway Arch at St. Louis MO on the way to OKC. I've been by several times, but I've always figured there was no truck parking. Hey, guess what? There isn't. The garage I parked at made me nervous about the FX4 clearing, much less a semi. No freaking way. I also chickened out and didn't ride up - I'm about three quarters claustrophobic and one hundred percent acrophobic. I'd heard about how the observation platform tended to move in the wind. Not this fat boy, nossir. After seeing the guns, I asked about L&C's airgun - but they didn't have a replica or one of the real ones. Been a while since I read about the original and even if it's still around. And one has to go through security to get in - I ditched my pocketknife before I got there, but walking in I remembered my Silver Bullet Brigade bullet from the NRA on my keychain. They never even blinked and told me a small knife wouldn't have been a problem. My nail clippers were ok as well. Not as high strung as the security theater types at the airports. I got there a half hour after it opened, and thought about hanging around for one of the two movies showing, but it was starting to get pretty crowded. It looked like several busloads of folks hit all at once. No idea where they park, but I'd bet there is a place for 'em. So it was time for me to go. I recommend seeing this if you ever are able - definitely worth the time.

Update to "Last Marble"

Apparently when Google took over Picasa and melded it into Google+, they borked up some of the features. If I log into their url with a no redirect on the end, I get the layout that the instructions reference. Thus, the slideshow. That is all.

I've Lost My Last Marble.

Mecca for a gearhead

Tech problems here - even RTFM isn't helping. I can't seem to put an album I made into a slideshow on Picasa on this blog unless I link to it. Cannot embed. Instructions say there is a link to and an embed button on the right. There is just a slew of pictures on the right. There are sharing options, and there is an option to link to the album. I made it public, so hopefully this works.

Try clicking this link.

At least that seems to work. Not too happy with Google - I suspect the new Picasa version has changed and they haven't changed their owner's manual to go with it.

Anyhoo, I've always wanted to go there, and so By Gawd I did. Driving up to it reminded me of the old Tiger Field in Detroit - old grandstands butting right up against the street. Only this thing was hundreds of times larger. Just mind boggling. Track tours were off because there was going to be a motorcycle race, so I didn't get to do that.

I had in mind that they would have every winning car there, but there isn't enough room for that. They did have an excellent representation of the more historical cars, plus some other racing vehicles from other disciplines - such as the Spirit of America land speed rocket, a Pontiac campaigned by Richard Petty of NASCAR, some bikes and other goodies.

It's probably a good thing the 1989 winner's car was not there. I never did appreciate how Emerson Fittipaldi punted Al Unser, Jr to win the Indy 500. I suspect I'd have been tossed from the place were I to do to his car what I'd really really like to do, if you know what I mean and I think that you do. Nossir, that puddle isn't antifreeze, officer.

Klownz

I hates them. This one does not look like it has my best interests in mind.

Yours, either.

Think about that!

This Puppy Haz Axles

This is a "B"Train grain hauling setup. Most of the grain haulers "up north" just have a shorter front trailer with a ring and pintle hitch for the rear trailer on a dolly (fifth wheel on an axle with a tongue hitch), but this one has a whole series of axles that act as one unit at the rear of the front trailer. This one did have a hitch of sorts separating the front and rear gangs, but it was a solid shaft that only allowed transverse swiveling - movement in only  the vertical plane. There were five or six axles there, so I'm sure that's an advantage on rough terrain - if it were solid, the torque on the trailer would probably be excessive and it might crack. This way, stress is relieved.

I hate how my phone camera makes things seem further away - I had to put the thing down to keep control while pulling beside him. Literally, this was a last second shot, and I wasn't going much faster than he was.

And I was so wrapped up in trying to get this shot that I missed the northbound tank haulers coming at me! They weren't ours - who knows who they belong to. But, they're all part of a steady stream of tanks going up US 83 every day headed to the Bakken, which is where I went. The Montana version thereof, that is.

Jeffro's Picture Roundup

This is some guy's junkyard north of Mission, SD. Nothing unusual except for the car on top of the old stock trailer close to the road.

It's an old Mustang II notchback. It has been up there since I can remember. How and why are the questions we have - how did he get it up there and why? What in the world?

For Grey Havens - the old steam engine nut. This is an old Baldwin 2-6-2 oil fired locomotive on display at the Boot Hill replica in Dodge City, KS. She was built for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in 01/1903, and is no longer in running condition. I think the boilers are completely shot, which was apparently something Baldwins were known for. Planned obsolescence, yannow. She was donated to the museum in 1954, and several years ago was moved to this location during an extensive remodel of the grounds. I've spent some time playing and climbing around on her, but that was a long, long time ago!

This is what you will see a few miles west of Dodge on US 50 eastbound - the silhouette cowboys welcoming you to the Cowboy Capital. A similar sculpture is by the airport on the east side of Dodge on Business US 50. Welcome! We've got the Boot Hill Museum, complete with shootouts, dancing girls in the saloon, a pretty nice casino, and lots of other odds and ends. I have said before that this area literally drips with history and Dodge is a tourist destination during the summer. Oh, yeah, by the way, there is a rodeo during the summer. The five day Dodge City Roundup Rodeo, sanctioned by the PRCA. Yep, it's a big deal.

Purebred Longhorns. These are located kitty corner from the grain elevator at Howell, KS due west of Dodge and east of Cimarron, KS on US 50. Sorry 'bout the image quality - I was hoping they'd be far closer to the fence. Longhorns are liable to be about any color combo - not uniform at all. They all share a lanky, bony structure that can survive on grazing in dry country, and manage to survive long drives. It wasn't until the plains were settled that more domesticated cattle breeds infiltrated the beef supply - more meat on their bones, etc.

Again, sorry for the crummy image quality. This was pretty low light, which my phone camera does not like at all. Anyhow, meet Yeager, who is obviously a German Shepherd. He and I got along right off. He could poke his nose in my chest with all fours on the ground - he is that huge. I've always liked large dogs - I like rasslin' with em and having them physically able to rassle right back. His head and nose were as long as my arm. He resides on a farm north of Norfolk, NE. His master says he is normally friendly, but there have been times Yeager didn't recognize him in a different vehicle and that he was NOT so friendly - until he got an eye and a whiff. I was A-OK, though, and gave him most of the attention he thought he deserved. Very cool hound that I was glad to meet.

Remember me grousing about how crummy the roads were and how I hate to drive on snow and ice? It wasn't real bad, but I'm still not wild about driving on this stuff - especially empty. No weight on my drive axles means not a lot of traction. And, my drive tires are getting kinda thin, but not thin enough to replace just yet. So, that means the rear of the tractor squirms around on the various ruts and such instead of staying planted, which I infinitely prefer.

And here is one reason I hate driving on this crap - it isn't always going to be a mistake I make that ruins the day or gets me hurt or killed. Too fast? Probably - for sure too fast for the driver's ability to keep it straight and on the road. It was windy - like 40mph windy, but it was out of the north and this guy was headed due north. It was not a sidewind that twisted him up. I was running about 40 or 45 and even on gradual rises I lost some traction and had to back out, so him fighting the wind probably had him hurting worse in that regard. At any rate, "four wheelers" out in the ditches is a common sight as well, and I just don't like being out there when they've lost it and slide until they stop. Which may be right in my path.

The further south I got, the better it was, and the snow on my hood finally blew off. I finally got back and felt like I'd been driving about twice as many hours as I had, and in fact, I felt pretty punky the next morning and had to call in. Dammit.

So, this wraps up another edition of Jeffro's Picture Roundup. Hope ya enjoy!

Crappy Video

Probably shoulda cut this video considering how much of it really doesn't show what I wanted it to.
This is the area where Duff Farms is, who I covered in a past post. Somewhere out in all those acres is a herd of buffalo. Most aerial views of Kansas shows how the prairie has been cut into squares for farming, but this ground is too rough. There is quite a valley on the far side of the rise I am running beside - but it is beyond the capabilities of my phone video camera to capture. And most of the shots I take like this seem to flatten out the terrain as well. It really is picturesque, even if this doesn't quite cut it.

And I'm holding that phone as still as I can. That is considered a smooth road, and I do have some tremors in my hands, but most of that is the ride - bouncing up and down and back and forth going down the road. Each and every mile.

So Close

And yet so far......

I try to get a whole gallon number when I fill 'er up, and with the high speed pumps most truck stops have, that is a pretty good trick to hit .000. One one thousands of a gallon, though. Dern.

Who, me anal retentive? Whaddya mean?

Just to make it easier to calculate my account balances, I pump my own gas to the nearest dime.

Are you picky - do you "round it off," or do you just run until it clicks off and call it good?

Idea totally ripped off from a Facebook post by Little Trucker.

Been Meaning to Post This Stuff

First trip by

Closer view

Progress made

All of the collapsed bin removed

This is one of the grain elevators at Oakley, KS. Apparently both holes appeared at once and dumped concrete bits and grain all over the railroad tracks, damaging some rail cars in the process. No one was injured.

I've seen these things being put up, and it is done with slip forms and one hell of a bunch of rebar. The construction firm begins by laying down the foundation forms and has the slip form in place all ready to go. Rebar is laid in around the circular perimeter and interwoven vertically. Continuous concrete pouring is required - as the slip form goes up with more concrete, more rebar is put in place and so on, until they get to the desired height. I've also seen several old elevators demolished with a crane and ball arrangement. It takes  for freaking ever - the ball hits, there is a thud, and perhaps a few concrete fragments fall. At some point the latticwork of remaining rebar has to be cut out. Chunks are measured in inches, not feet as pictured here.

So what happened? I have my suspicions. I hauled grain for ten years, and it was normal to find small concrete chunks from deteriorating elevators in the mesh over the pit where we dumped a load. Storing grain became far less profitable when the CCC quit paying storage fees many moons ago, and some of the Coops of the time just didn't have the money for maintenance. In order for holes this big to fall out means there was a lot of rebar failure. The rebar had to rust in two in quite a few places.

How did that happen, you may ask? Cracks in concrete is nothing new. Cracks in concrete in roads or elevators that are not sealed will result in catastrophic failure, be it bridges, roadways or grain bins, because it allows water to seep in and rust out the steel rebar. The water is trapped inside, the rust is accelerated, and the water also expands and contracts when the weather changes. I used to hear stories from old Coop hands I encountered in my travels.

Just my opinion - I think this place was pretty woeful when it came to preventive maintenance. It was a Coop owned elevator, and they have all gone broke and for profit companies have bought them out.

Then, the other day when traveling through Texas, the wind was blowing in the upper sixties. Yep, almost seventy mph. This was the result on I27 south of Lubbock. The truck ahead of me was headed into the thickening cloud, and we were all running about 45mph - and btw, there was a car right behind that truck. When it got so bad the shoulders disappeared, everyone's flashers came on.

Well, inevitably, something like this always happens.  People slow down, others do not, plow into slower traffic - chain reaction. One person killed, seventeen injured, and the interstate was shut down just north of Lubbock. I had to take the detour. It was so unbelievable windy that it was nearly blowing an empty dry van ahead of me over, and visibility on the secondary roads was probably worse than the interstate. We were on super skinny farm to market roads, and the fields almost came right up to the shoulder. I had decided if it got worse, when I got to Plainview, a motel room was gonna be in my very short term plans. Not that I'm afraid of hustling a low profile flatbed through that crap - it's all the other idjuts I worry about.

But the further along I got the better the visibility got as well, so I ended up making it home that night.

Bob keeping watch

He heard me moving around and is ready at the door.

For those of you wanting a Bob update - he and I are great buds these days. He'll park himself in the trees across the yard, hoping I'll come to the door. If he happens to hear me headed to the door, he usually beats me there. Now that it's extremely dry, there is a lot of static electricity involved when I pet him, and every little spark makes his little stump quiver. I'd bet it would look like a snake if he still had his tail. He's certainly moving it in his mind.

I also keep guard against the other cats stealing his treats because they remain better hidden, and as soon as I step inside, I'll see 'em coming out from under cover to grab what they can. My feeling is that if they let me pet 'em, they could enjoy the treats. Otherwise, eat the cat food that Road Pig provides for 'em. Bob is a big wuss and won't defend himself. So I help him out a little.

And we got snow! Yeah, there is some showing in the pic of Bob, but not like this. And this was actually Sunday morning before the first of the year. Six to eight inches of some fairly heavy stuff, and it's still hanging around. The temps have just started hitting into the forties lately.

And while Bob parks his hiney on open ground, the cold really does not seem to bother him a lot. I have also found that Bob can be quite vocal, and when I get home and he is waiting, he continuously lodges complaints about the service he is getting at the moment.

Which of course is none, because I'm unloading the travel stuff or groceries. Nothing less than a complete rubdown (including skritches around the ears) and more importantly - treats - will do.

As it should be, Bob. As it should be.

From the Road

York, NE's extra cool water tower in the background over the Super 8 motel.

I know I'd never seen one before - but this is a 1955 Studebaker Speedster, part of their President series of models. Considering there were only 22215 Speedsters made that year, it's no wonder I've never run across one. Not like it's a '69 Camaro or a 'Stang. Don't ever let anyone tell you they only made stuffy looking business coupes - this puppy looked like it was fast in the day. Whether it was or not - the car came with a 100mph speedometer and an 8,000rpm tach. The engine, sourced from Packard, was a Passmaster 259-cubic-inch V-8 with 185 horsepower. 

President script above Speedster script

The original fish mouth grill, way ahead of the Taurus

It was 1955 when tail fins were just starting to grow. Thank God - still tasteful IMHO!!!

This was one of the few times I could even try to "stage" a picture - guess I was too lazy to think about my real camera in the truck. I've always wanted to catch a pic of the water tower as well, so I killed two birds with one stone here!

This is a sculpture in front of the Bank of Western Oklahoma's Woodward branch called "Binding Contract" by Bradford J. Williams. Two cowboys on horseback, shaking on a deal over the fence between them. Not much symbolism here, eh?!? More honor in that little scenario than all of Washington, DC as far as I'm concerned.

One of our 12'x35' FRP tanks in mid air in the process of being placed in it's new home.

Close enough that it took two tries to get the whole thing.

Welp, until I gather some more pics, that's it for now!

End Dump

I guess I'm just about a weekend blogger here lately - seems with all the election crap going on I'm suffering from burnout. If you are one of my pals on Facebook, you've probably noticed the lack of political crap there from me, too. Nothing I can say will sway someone who thinks our current President is the bee's knees, so enough already. I guess we can all live in food stamp paradise, living our allotted years until we become a liability for the health care program so y'all can feel great about "doing stuff" with other people's money.

Yeah, I said enough already, but I can't help getting a dig in.

At any rate, what we have here I'm sure you've all seen - an end dump rig getting ready to dump. Several of us were waiting to unload (notice the man basket directly in the way), and this guy pulled in.

It's really a pretty sharp KW - nice color and lots of shiny stuff. Most haulers like this truck are usually beat up and rough, never mind the shiny stuff, so this rig caught my eye. Clearly it was fairly new, but some efforts had been made to keep it up. This guy was going for a clean look - no striping or fancy letters on his pretty blue paint. Notice how all his necessary info is on his step. He had already gotten out and released the catch on the rear so the door would swing as he unloaded.

If you look at the front of the trailer, you can see a single ram lifting the dump body. There is a substantial frame underneath with the suspension mounted to the frame, and the dump body hinged at the rear of the frame. This is the strongest variant, but some have a sort of subframe that contains the kingpin (the thing the fifth wheel on the truck attaches to) and the ram, with a set of stringers going back to the rear to keep everything in line, and with the suspension mounted to the dump body. When those guys dump, the front axle gets lifted off the ground and dangles. It's a lighter setup, giving them a better payload. The spread axle rigs really put that front axle in the air. It's not as stable unloading on rough ground as the rig shown here - lots fall over, especially the manure haulers. They unload on soft farm ground, and the load can hang up with one side letting go and the other not, unbalancing the whole apple cart.

He let the rock pile up a bit then pulled forward, because the rock will pile up and prevent more from sliding out.

Really let go here.

Pulling away to let the final dribs and drabs fall out.

Letting it down (it is slow), and latching the rear door closed.

That might not seem like a lot of rock there, but I can assure you it is around 24 or 25 tons - which makes it a legal load for this guy. 50k lbs plus his rig at about 30k lbs equals 80k lbs. If he wants to haul more, he has to lighten up or put more axles underneath.

But I'm sure he's figured all this out, this is a shorter trailer, so it's pretty maneuverable compared to longer rigs. His tractor is fairly short too - he does have a single bunk, but this is obviously a local hauler. He's not going coast to coast with this puppy - I'm sure he does quite well with the local jobs he undertakes.

In most states I'm aware of, "rock" haulers are exempt from the Federal Bridge Gross Weight Law (or the bridge law to a trucker). This law is intended to keep heavily loaded axles a certain distance apart so that there isn't too much weight loading in one spot, overcoming a bridge's ability to hold said load. These guys are exempt as long as they are hauling rock, gravel, refuse, building debris, whatever - as long as it's considered exempt. Grain or feed products are not, so when they load those commodities, legally this rig can in no way approach 80k lbs gross - he's way too short. Doesn't mean a bunch of them don't try it anyhow, but they're not supposed to. If the one of the various alphabet trucking regulatory agencies catch 'em, it's an overweight fine, and perhaps mandatory unloading of part of the commodity until they are legal.

So, this is a little peek into another facet of trucking you might not really know much about.

Been Pretty Busy

And purty tahrd at the end of the day, so posting went right outta der winder.

Went on a trip to Ohio this week and didn't start until Tuesday. Eight of us went to a little burg just southeast of Springfield.

This is half the crew parked at Kingdom City, MO the first evening. The other half was across the street at a truck stop - they all slept in their sleepers. Guess that's why they lug 'em around, eh?

The leaves were certainly changing.

These were all taken eastbound on I70 in Illinois. The bugs on the windshield were from Kansas and Missouri.

Leaving Ohio on westbound I70.

Somewhere west of Indy on I70 - when we weren't stopped for traffic jams in the road construction. We even got to stop and trickle by a state trooper parked facing traffic in the left lane about ten or so miles from the next construction site. I suppose he was out there cutting back on the traffic that would end up getting jammed up in the construction area. This is where a GPS with traffic updates would be handy. One of our compadres behind us caught wind of the jam and went around it on US 40 to the north. We were familiar with it since that was how the State of Indiana had us routed since we were wider than their eleven foot limit on I70. Oh well, just that much later to bed that night.

What one can see of Ft. Riley, home of the Big Red 1, from I70. The top picture shows a bunch of Chinook choppers, and the last has a bunch of their stockpiled equipment both in sand and green colors. This place has really grown - back when I went to K-State, there were nowhere near the buildings there - nor the apartment complexes on to the west, or the businesses and so on.

And I was a moron and missed this picture, so I ripped it off the web.

Pic from here:  http://www.indycargarage.com/profiles/blogs/2007534:BlogPost:28149

And just to give y'all an idea of how flat Kansas is in the Flint Hills:

Photo from here: http://cjonline.com/stories/060108/kan_285036171.shtml

Oh, wait, that actually shows a hill or two! Truly, only parts of western Kansas are notably flat. Most areas have a few rolling hills - perhaps with hills not so high nor valleys so deep as other places, but hills nonetheless!