If there should prove to be one real, living Free State Democrat in Kansas, I suggest that it might be well to catch him and stuff and preserve his skin as an interesting specimen of that soon-to-be-extinct variety of the genus Democrat.

— Abraham Lincoln

Sometimes, when I visit my family in Kansas, that’s what I feel like —  a soon-to-be-extinct Democrat.  The state — and my family — are Trump supporters. But I love ’em, and the first stop on my June 2019 road trip is Ulysses, in the southwest corner of Western Kansas, where sister Shirley and brother Gary live.

Kansas — at least Western Kansas — is flat, flat, flat and nary a tree in sight.

Occasional visual relief . . .  Tall white granaries that signal a small town ahead . . .  Irrigation systems that resemble giant insects from an alien planet . . .  Wind turbines that harness the fierce winds that blow across the plains. Sometimes, when the wind blows in the wrong direction, I get a whiff of a feedlot.  Makes me rethink that bacon cheeseburger I planned to have tonight.

Ulysses, Kansas, Population 6,000, Elevation 3,051 feet.

As I neared Ulysses, my sister texted me there was a thunderstorm in progress. I could see the black sky up ahead so I stopped in Holly, Colorado, 20 miles from the Kansas state line, and looked for an alternate route.