State #42!
Last week, on a 14 hour drive from St. Louis to Denver, I passed through Kansas, all 417 miles of it! No, seriously, I drove from the far eastern part of the state right through to the far western part, and that’s 417 miles.
Fitting almost perfectly with the stereotypical image of Kansas, it really is as flat as a pancake. There were a few “rolling hills” in the far eastern part of the state, but for the most part, Kansas consists of corn, wheat, tiny towns that are few and far between, and not much else. Take a look:
With the speed limit set at 75mph the entire way, it didn’t take an extraordinarily long time to get across the state, but even still, eight hours is a long time to be staring at wheat and corn. The only little breaks in the otherwise consistent landscape were the little towns that would pop up out of nowhere. Most of them consisted of nothing more than a few houses and a gas station. Kansas City (in western Missouri) and Topeka were about the only size-able towns or cities along the way. It made crossing into Colorado (which is still very flat, mind you) and even more importantly, arriving in Denver, very welcoming events.
I felt the same way driving through Indiana – flat and nothing but cornfields and pigs, though there were some big towns. Hope you and Emily got together while you were in Denver.