You know how they say...

... when a tornado roars in, it sounds like a freight train?

Last night, after we went to bed, the weather kicked up.  It started with a lot of lightning and some strong wind gusts... the coach was rockin' 'n rollin'.  I went outside to check the slide-out awnings to make sure they weren't being stressed.  All seemed good.

Then, the rain - a little pitter-patter at first, and then pounding.  More wind.  More lightning and thunder.  And then that sound: the roar of a locomotive!  Tornado?  That roaring sound was followed with the horn of a freight train.  Yep, it is a freight train.  Didn't help me sleep any better.

One of the tourist attractions in this town is "Dorothy's House"... yes, that one: from the Wizard of Oz.  I have no idea how they got it back from over the rainbow, but I understand that whole tornado thing moves stuff around!

We were out shortly after 8:00 this morning, and made a stop right away to fuel up...

While I was gassing up, Joan went into the Taco John's co-located with the Love's station.  She came back with "fuel" for our bellies, including a 55 gallon drum of Potato Ole's.  It seems they upsize the potatoes when they upsize the drink.  We won't go hungry.

Our route today will take us to the north, through Kansas and most of Nebraska.  Joan routed us on a Federal Highway for most of it - two lane, but way better than the state two lanes in Texas.  And, with a 65 mph speed limit in both states, there was less concern about someone coming up behind us going 20 to 30 mph faster.  Decent road surfaces, too...

Rufus spent a good part of the morning on Joan's lap...

Well, look at that: bison...

The drive was mostly through farmland - very pretty in that agricultural kinda way.  Apparently the local birds find it boring - they seemed to be playing "chicken" with us, veering at the last possible moment.  Yes, I flinched.  Several times.  One young deer that bolted out - and this rig does not stop on a dime.  He zigged, I zagged, and he will live to try to dodge another vehicle one day.

Kansas and Nebraska have a reputation (somewhat deserved) for being flat, but there are rolling hills and trees, too...

Enough so that I couldn't use the cruise control, and my right leg got a real workout.  Into Nebraska...

Rufus got a nap in on Joan's lap...

Joan likes to pet him around the face and neck... it slicks back his glorious mane.  He looks like a different cat.

The last hour of our drive today was on the Interstate...

It may not be a scenic as the back roads, but the driving is easy.  And: cruise control.  A time change as we rolled into the Mountain Time Zone.  We are staying at an RV park not far off the Interstate...

You can tell by the prices that we are getting closer to tourist areas in the heat of the summer travel season.  Speaking of the heat, it didn't get above 80º today, and was in the mid-70s for most of our drive.  The wind was less, too.  A nice change from the hot and windy conditions we've had since we left.

We looked at a gas station at a Walmart as we drove to the RV park - it looked like panic buying in anticipation of a price increase.  We'll check it out again tomorrow morning as we head north again.  If all goes as planned, we will roll into the Black Hills tomorrow; a day ahead of our reservation at the RV resort where we will spend the rest of the summer.  We made a one-night reservation nearby to that.  We are getting close.