More Kansas Wind

Image by lwa519 via FlickrActually, when I entitled the last entry as "A Kansas Wind" I was going to talk about something that happened later that night. This was the day the main body came in and occupied the tent. There was so much confusion and settling in that I decided to sleep next to our trucks in the parking lot of our corner of the "Dust Bowl."

Accordingly, I took my cot, duffel bag and a poncho liner down into the area, set everything up and lay down to get some well deserved sleep. I had removed my BDU blouse (BDU's were the old green, tan and brown camouflage uniforms named "Battle Dress Uniforms") and then I noticed the wind. The temperature that day had been over 100 degrees and what I felt was a cool, 72 degree wind blowing over me. It felt great. I draped the poncho liner over my boots and drifted off to sleep.

I awoke several hours later to a noise that I couldn't identify. The 10 mph cool wind had become a 30 mph arctic blast and the temperature seemed to be below freezing. I felt around and couldn't find my cover - it had been picked up by the wind and blown to parts unknown. I could still hear the noise and as I rounded up my belongings I suddenly realized that it was my teeth chattering. Using the keys from my "fag bag", I unlocked the Node Center Door and jumped inside out of the wind. I emptied my duffel bag, put on a long sleeved shirt and stuffed my feet into the bag. Later when I had shivered myself warm the noise stopped. Next morning it was in the 80's at sunrise and the heat of the day was "on."

Kansas was like that - tempting you with something attractive and then attempting to make you miserable. A prairie sunflower approached too closely was embedded in a skin shredding tumbleweed. Cooler weather was quickly followed by high winds, thunderstorms and tornadoes. Nice green grass harbored the Kansas variety of "chiggers" that infested your lower legs leaving itchy, weeping sores. Three weeks later we climbed on the chartered 727 to fly home; and I realized that this would be the happiest day of my life in 2002.

My poncho liner was found tangled in the trees, halfway across the camp.