To Kansas and Beyond!

The road west from Missouri through Kansas and into Colorado was full of slow transitions.  the hills of Missouri slowly gentled and became stretched out and rolling.  The time of year, early spring also meant the tress were mostly just starting to leaf out.  In some places there were almost no leaves, just the yellowish colouration from the buds swelling efore breaking.
In Kansas, the farm fields and pastures were mostly lushly green, with a few till having the stubble not worked in, and some with freshly tilled soil.  I did not hop off the bike for a close look, but it seemed there was very little stone in the fields, and the few places where the road was cut through hillsides, the bedrock appeared to be sandstone.
Ever so slowly the landscape changed, flattening out and drying out.  At first the flattening was more apparent with long views of shallow valleys and the rivers and streams showing their path with lines of trees.  The farther west I went, the fewer the watercourses and trees became few indeed.  For the most part the tree were obvious transplants surrounding a farmhouse or the remains of one.
One of the contrasts from western Canada I noticed was the population density and road infrastructure.  The one obviously lends itself to the other, but the number of small towns quietly busy with agriculture as well as the interlocking of paved roads was far more dense than what you see in Canada.
Nearing the western end of Kansas, I hit another transition as the land continued to dry out.  Slowly the fields gave way to pastures filled with low scrubby grass.  At one point it was amusing, for on my left were untold acres of pasture, the fences obscured by tumbleweeds, while on the right field after field of planted crop were green and growing strong, a sharp contrast to the weak colours of mostly browns and beige in the pastures across the road from them.
It was not long before this difference faded out and the only green seen was that of irrigated fields.
The road lead ever west, and rose ever higher.  Drying out yet more until the grass became sparse and lost even the hints of green found to the east.
As the mountains rose into view, it became slightly more green, and ranches dotted the landscape.