Our plan today is to leave McPherson and head south for some storm offchances along the dryline through Texas. It's extremely marginal and we're not expecting much. No matter - we're interested in looking around anyway and there are lots of big trains in that area. We eventually come to a stop next to a flagperson where major roadworks are in progress....it appears that the flagperson is lonely and sticks her head through the window for a talk. She introduces herself as Robyn and she's been doing flagperson work for a contract company for almost 12 years. We see a lot of these contractors around America in spring, the hard winter frosts have a detrimental effect on road paving. Robyn describes the process of recycling road surfaces - it comprises a 20 vehicle long 'train' that heats the bitumen to a depth of 2", digs it all up, passes it along the line for some additives and a few other things, then reapplies it to the surface as a new material....the road recycling train is probably better than 100 yards long and we find it a very efficient way to repair roads. The average road resurfacing and recycling is 3 miles (5km) a day. We are interested to find out about work arrangements in the US. It's apparent that a lot of workers are employed under contracts on a part time basis. That might ring some bells in Australia where this process is presently being absorbed into our work conditions for some. Robyn works 1 - 3 months as a contract flagperson, travelling through many states and living it rough, for the remainder of the year, she's on unemployment benefits - but Robyn is happy to have a job, and she's proud to tell us that her nephew was accepted into the Colorado Police Academy. She's very happy with her job and enjoys the travelling.

As we pass through southern Kansas, we cross the border to the Oklahoma Panhandle. This is a rather sparsely populated region of Oklahoma - it's an elevated prairie. We rolled down Hway 283 to Shattuck where we spot several mammoth trains. These double stacked monster trains are travelling form the east to the west coast of America. We find it exciting to watch the passage of trains in America - sometimes they travel at speeds of 70mph! The temperature's getting up to the high 80'sF, dewpoints are weak, barely nudging 40F. Heading south through Canadian, TX, then onto Shamrock, DP's decline even further to the 30'sF. This part of Texas is suffering drought as is much of the western half of the state.We overnight in Shamrock under the barely discernible dryline popping up puffs of cumulus which disappear after sunset.

Schoolkids on duty, small town Kansas

Mennonite country, Kansas

In contrast to rivers in the Mississippi Valley which were in record flood, rivers and creeks in Kansas were barely dribbling along after a dry cold winter

Railtrack workers, south Kansas

Robyn the flaggie!

Bitumen recycling train (see text)

Common feature in small town Kansas, youngsters on their way to work.

Typical south Kansas road

Classic American roadtrip image

10 foot of no-man's land separates Kansas and Oklahoma....

Opportunistic buzzards and roadkill

Oklahoma Panhandle country

Busy train line Shattuck, Oklahoma

We are sincerely concerned at some of the aspects of transporting kids in Texas.....

More trains, Canadian, TX

Mesa country, Canadian

Fake, life size dinosaur, Canadian country

Past memories in a paddock south of Canadian