A fun little storm day seemingly ended with sunset-illuminated, fuzzy cloud debris left over and beyond the roadside Smoky Hill Trail commemorative marker, while the other side of the sunset made a rewarding High Plains scene unto itself. Gold-rush prospectors blazed this trail west out of Atchison to Denver from 1855 to 1870, following mainly the Smoky Hill River from eastern Kansas into eastern Colorado. The Butterfield Overland Dispatch followed this route also, south of their stage route across southern Nebraska, before railroads made both trips far faster and safer than via horse-drawn wagons. Learning the human and geological history of a storm-chase route, and of the Great Plains as a whole, enriches the experience of the place beyond whatever rich but ephemeral abundance the sky offers. My life has been better for doing so throughout the decades I have been storm observing. This day’s experience wasn’t yet done! While on the road east to lodging in western Kansas, a weak band of convection to the east intensified in the low-level jet and started hurling scenic, blue-hour sparks for a little while.
6 W Cheyenne Wells CO (4 Jun 22) Looking SE
38.8127, -102.469