This trip took a lengthy amount of driving to get to our destination, crossing multiple state lines and thousands of miles to ultimately get from Atlanta to Boulder. This presented itself as a challenge but my friends and I were up for the task.
Our first day of driving was 13 hours, where I picked up the three friends that were tagging along, and we knocked out most of our driving in one day seeing a variety of sights. For starters, we took a detour through Memphis, Tennessee to see the massive Bass Pro Shops pyramid. Driving through the Ozarks of Arkansas was also beautiful and worth visiting again.
We landed at a KOA east of Kansas City to spend a night to make the drive a little easier. We ended up pulling in at around 1 AM and had a few hours to sleep so we could do it all again the next day, which ideally should be an easier drive. We were in for a treat...
Waking up to some severe wind warnings my biggest fear was somehow ending up in the path of a tornado. After a morning cup of coffee, we packed up and hit the road at around 7 AM. It was about halfway through Kansas we saw a wall of dust in front of us. It started out as driving through some heavy wind, but eventually, the dust came.
We found ourselves in one of the largest dust storms Kansas has seen this century where we'd be lucky to crawl at 5mph. It showed no signs of stopping, and we saw multiple 18 wheelers flipped on the side of the highway, but sure enough, we continued to inch through the storm and made it to a local town to let the worst of it blow over. A hundred miles or so later it occurred to me that it would probably be a good idea to check on the air filter. Sure enough, it was filled with dust and corn husk, and it was at this stop we realized the back of the truck cover was also filled with dust.
The storm set us back a few hours, but we were still slated to make it to Boulder time.
What an awesome trip, full of adventure as well as a few scary moments. Glad y’all made it through ok! You’ll be telling that dust storm of the century story for many years to come.