My plan to drive back to Missouri from our Colorado farm was complicated by a monster storm on the Plains. By noon yesterday, the storm was centered in southern Kansas and was sending severe thunderstorms and tornados across the lower Mississippi Valley. Heavy snow was falling to the north and, on its west fringe, a blizzard raked the High Plains. Interstate 70 was shut down from the east side of Denver to the Kansas border and I decided to skirt the storm by heading south. Taking U.S. 50 east from Pueblo, I made it as far as La Junta before a ground blizzard closed that highway.
After a night in southeast Colorado, I started out before dawn on a mostly clear road. Only a soft north breeze persisted and the sun rose in a clear sky as I entered Kansas. Just west of Syracuse, I encountered a huge flock of snow geese resting and feeding in a snowy crop field. The flock was noticeably restless, with groups of a hundred or more rising into the cold morning air and then resettling as other groups took flight. No doubt, the entire flock would be heading north by later in the day.
I suspect that these snow geese had wintered in New Mexico and took advantage of the strong, southerly winds ahead of the storm to begin their migration to the Arctic. As the storm moved east, the winds shifted from the north and, facing a head-on blizzard, the flock took refuge in the field. Humans are not the only creatures to face travel nightmares!
