Our goal for the day was to make it out of Missouri and into Kansas. We started north west for the state line around 10am and travelled backroads all day, across the border, and into the night until about midnight when i just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Kansas backroads weren't the most exciting, so it was pretty easy to lose that "i can drive all night" attitude that kept me going to that point. The roads were perfectly straight grid lines running through endless miles of nothing but farm land. Most people told us "Kansas is a brutally boring drive" but i found it had its own beauty and charm to its vast amount of seemingly empty land. It's the kind of drive where you'd better get gas at every single town you pass or you might not make it to the next.
When i decided i couldn't drive much more, we were approaching "Great Bend" Kansas where if it was like all the other small towns we had passed, we might struggle to find a place to park the rig for the night. Eyelids falling heavy and the radio progressively getting louder to keep me awake, i saw the holy land. Walmart never looked so beautiful to me. We pulled into the wally world parking lot and i couldn't wait to jump in the Scamp and get some sleep. Stepping out of the car was a blast to the face. it was like stepping into one of those wind tunnels from the car commercials. I had never felt natural wind so strong and steady that wasn't part of a storm or hurricane. I guess it made sense being that the state of only flat farm land had nothing in the way to block it. It was pretty hot out that night, but the insanely strong gusts kept us cool enough to get a decent night sleep in Great Bend.