After days of heavy rain, there was nothing but brilliant sunshine on my trip to Colorado today; only the distant smoke of power plants and shimmering clouds of starlings marred the deep, blue sky. A dome of high pressure had settled over the Plains, clearing the air and stifling any wind; the turbines at the Smoky Hills Wind Farm, west of Salina, were nearly stationary.
Despite the spectacular weather, wildlife was scarce on my drive along the interstate. Turkey vultures tilted above the shallows of the Missouri River floodplain, searching for victims of the deluge. Red-tailed and Swainson's hawks hunted along the highway, several herds of pronghorn grazed the High Plains near Limon and the occasional box turtle tempted fate on our concrete ribbon of death.
Most noticeable were the changing colors of the landscape. Summer greens had faded to olive, the Flint Hills tallgrass was tipped with gold and a variety of sunflowers, coneflowers and goldenrod adorned the grasslands of Missouri and Kansas. Not to be outdone, the croplands offered their seasonal gold, including fields of yellowing soybean, gold-headed sorghum and cultivated sunflowers. In eastern Colorado, yellow clumps of rabbitbrush and western goldenrod adorned the prairie and creekside cottonwoods were dappled with gold. As summer wanes, yellows paint the American West.
