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On the Road Again – A Colorado State Open Thread, August 3rd, 2026 [1]

['Meteor Blades', 'Wafflehacker Aka Joshhacks', 'Greg Dworkin']

Date: 2026-08-03  

I’m on the road in Kansas as I promised last week. I received a few responses to my poll, but nothing really stood out so I felt free to explore on my own. I did see (in order on the poll) windmills (new only), sunflowers, a feedlot (saw and smelled), the army base at Fort Riley, a herd of buffalo, and had a delicious piece of sour cream peach pie. I drove past but did not stop at the Natural History Museum at FHSU (also called the Sternberg Museum), the Eisenhower Museum, the View Tower, the Russell Stover factory and I missed the signs for the Ball of Twine and the Geographic Center of the US (though I have seen both of those before), the Cathedral of the Plains, The Museum of the Oddities (seen it) and some other exciting attractions like the two headed cow, the world’s biggest prairie dog, and other things that may now only exist in my memory of past trips along I-70. I stuck to I-70 this time going east because I was slow getting going and I knew I would lose an hour shortly after entering Kansas because it’s in the central time zone. I reached my target at 8:30 PM, just as the sun was setting so I was glad I didn’t make any extra detours.

I hope to get an earlier start tomorrow on the road back to Colorado. I now know that the political signs saying vote “yes” to take back the state of Kansas in the voting going on tomorrow are paid for by rich PACS that are trying to vote into the Kansas Constitution the ability for the legislature to appoint judges and to take away the ability for judges in the courts to be voted upon by the people – basically the legislature wants to be able to have the Republicans appoint and keep in Republican judges so they can make and keep abortion illegal in Kansas, as well as keep marijuana illegal for all purposes (it’s not legal even for medical uses). It will take lots of votes from the population centers in eastern and south-eastern Kansas (Wichita area) to overcome the conservative areas of the farmland just like when Kansas voted to keep abortion legal. They also have their primary election for governor and federal offices tomorrow, so Kansas will be a place to watch when the results come in.

As for Colorado, I want to draw your attention to an excellent diary by Meteor Blades about what the federal government has had to do to step in and decide about Colorado River water since the various states couldn’t make up their collective minds about how to deal with the rapidly shrinking resource. No way I could top this diary, so I’m just going to ask you to go read it and keep it in mind as this becomes an incredibly important issue over the next months and years.

Also for Colorado is an apology from me to those of you who were in Colorado on Saturday for Colorado’s 150th birthday. I admit I was not really stoked up about the nation’s 250th birthday, what with Trump spoiling it by all of his interference in it (though I love every time the tall ships come sailing into New York’s harbor). But Colorado’s 150th was an event I wish I had been around for. I would have found something special to do last Saturday – instead I was just visiting a farmer’s market in Lawrence, Kansas, then eating a biscuit with gravy and a bottomless cup of coffee with four different strengths of java, followed by that peach pie I mentioned above, sleeping away some of the afternoon and having a several course farm to table deluxe meal in perfect weather at a farm surrounded by cornfields in country outside of Lawrence while listening to the constant buzzing of cicadas. But I sure would have loved to be celebrating Colorado’s birthday instead of my own a week late.

Paloma ColoTim

Main Course of very tender beef and vegetables ColoTim

Dessert of a non-nut Baklava ColoTim

The Colorado Sun has a list of 150 Favorite Things in Colorado, and I’ll have to work on enjoying these starting tomorrow when I return.

I look forward to your telling me how you celebrated Colorado’s 150th birthday. The floor is all yours…

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/3/800079356/community/on-the-road-again-a-colorado-state-open-thread-august-3rd-2026/

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