And On We Go

We said goodbye to our HDT friends and left Hutchinson on Sunday, October 17. The trip south and west through Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle was uneventful. The corn and maize harvest is still going on. Most of the grain was going into the big silos, but in some instances there was more than they could hold. A couple of time we passed large piles like these beside the road, waiting until there was room for them, I suppose.

On Monday night, we stopped at Beaver Dunes State Park. It's an unusual place; right in the middle of the Oklahoma Panhandle it looks like the beach! There was no ocean in sight, though, just miles and miles of beautiful, soft sand, and this lovely, small pond.

This area is a destination for four-wheelers, and we met several people who had come to ride in the dunes. As you can see, they are covered with dense vegetation, and the only way to see them is to follow the "roads" cut through them by off-road vehicles. I tried walking some of the roads, but the sand is so deep and so soft that it's very difficult going. It's beautiful, though, especially at sunrise.

On Tuesday, we continued south and west across the Texas Panhandle. When we stopped for lunch, we were amazed to find ourselves on the rim of a canyon with amazing vistas in all directions. At the bottom of the wide canyon was the Canadian River. At this time of year, in this particular spot, the stream flow is minimal. However, the canyon it has carved is testimony to its power in times past.