Driving through the great plains

As with driving through the South late last week, today’s drive through the Great Plains (namely Oklahoma and Kansas) was pretty cool, and distinctly different from what’s come before.

Most notable is the sky, which is somehow bigger, grander, vaster, you name it, compared to normal. It really does feel huge, and creates a personal feeling of being small underneath it.

The impression of the sky is probably created by the landscape, which is, in turn, remarkably flat and empty. Ok, so it’s not really flat, as the plains undulate in small, rolling hills. And yet, the horizon is perfectly flat, and the overall impression created is of a land that goes on forever.

It’s all oddly beautiful, with the vast expanse of sky and stretch of grass. This became especially true as the day started to fade and the sun’s light began to color the landscape and the sky a fantastic range of colors.

Meanwhile, as the day turned into night, a lightning storm of the sort I’ve never seen before began to build on the left horizon. With lightning flashes coming fast and furious, and an ominous set of clouds forming, it really did feel like America’s heartland. I felt myself in a race to reach my hotel before the storm hit, and, with flash flood warnings coming left and right late this evening, it’s probably become the right move. Despite that, we’ll hope for sunny weather tomorrow for an afternoon game in KC.