Zoo Visit, Memorial Day

We took a trip to Rolling Hills Wildlife Refuge on Memorial Day (followed by a trip to Putt Putt in Salina - haven't putt putted in years).

We took the Interstate up to the Refuge, but took the back roads back to Salina. Hedville Road was clear all the way to the zoo. We took Hedville south to Highway 140, which had been closed last week. It was open all the way to Halstead. Well, it wasn't entirely open, to be accurate, but the detour didn't seem to be caused by the flooding.

The section roads onto which we were detoured showed signs of the floods. The verge of the road had eroded in several places. There were fields where the crops were covered in a thick grey sludge. There were fields that still had standing water. Signs of the flood were all around.

We didn't head to Bavaria or up to New Cambria, so no report on those flooded areas, but the parts of Saline county we did travel through showed signs that they had been flooded, but were mostly dry now. A new weather system is heading this way slowing over the next two days, so it is possible that we'll see more flooding.

It has been a hard time for the rural population of Saline County. Talked to one fellow at the zoo with his kids. Said he lost his whole alfalfa crop, $30,000 worth of seeds. He'll cover that loss with crop insurance, but is out the time and gas he invested in the planting. That's rough.

Here's the 3 minute video of our zoo trip.