Why Kansas?

 

We came, we saw, we got the hell out of Dodge.  As best we could anyway, when you’re towing a 31’ Fifth Wheel behind you.  We are on the cusp of Memorial Weekend – school is almost out for summer and tourist attractions will never be closed to our tourist dollars.  But before we could get the hell out of Dodge, we first had to get the Heck into Dodge.  Dodge City that is.  One of the many towns that Wyatt Earp helped clean up of desperados, outlaws and all round bad guys.

Did a walking tour of Dodge taking in the sights then headed to Ellinwood where we toured part of an Underground town.  Most of the buildings in the main street of Ellinwood had basements that had businesses operating out of them.  Connecting all these basements was a tunnel – one on each side of the main street with a couple of connecting tunnels.  Many theories abound as to why the tunnels were built – my favourite is the link to the 
brewery and Prohibition but no-one really knows.  Most of the tunnels were 

Steps that lead down to basement
 businesses and tunnel

filled in in the 1970’s however one woman took on the county and won the right to keep hers open.  This was ultimately turned into the tourist attraction we have today.  Three of the basements connected by the tunnel show the businesses that went on in the day – a harness shop, barber and bathhouse.


Smart barber used to provide beer
 for those waiting - also had
 a poker table

When finished, the tin tubs were just tipped
up for the water to drain through the
floorboards back into the town's
water supply.



 

 

 

I know we used to reuse the bathwater
when we were kids but, ewwww

 

 

 Headed north from Ellinwood to a small town named Lucas.  What an amazing place.  It’s definitely centred around grassroots art (Garden of Eden, Grassroots Art Centre, Bowl Plaza, Deeble House to name the ones we visited) and the whole town has a good vibe to it.  We joined the locals in a fundraiser lunch for the local community theatre.  We even had a woman come up for a chat telling us she saw us in Dodge the previous day.  Yes, it was in a bar but yes, we were behaving (it was only lunch time).  I think it was more overhearing us speak in both towns and recognising the accent – she even picked us for New Zealanders.  Not as much fun as sisters behaving badly but there you go.

 

 

Garden of Eden.  Log Cabin built in 1907 with blocks of
limestone shaped and dovetailed like a proper log cabin.

 

 

The last sculpture SP Dinsmoor was working on when he died in 1932 (aged 80+) hence the unfinished lawyer and banker at the bottom.  Most of his installations were along religious or political lines – he was involved in the Populist movement.

Car and motorbike made from tear tabs,
exhibited at the Grassroots Art Centre

 

Bowl Plaza - public restrooms.
Note the toilet bowl shape entrance.
The inside is lined with mosaic art.

Deeble House - a small taste of the
multitude of art work that lies within.

 

 Leaving Lucas we headed east to Rock City at Minneapolis.  An area approximately the size of a couple of football fields is home to a couple of hundred of spherical boulders like these:

 

Rock City, Minneapolis, Kansas

 

Sue & Jean making themselves comfortable in the Giant's Easy Chair



A dozen of them have been named by some children so we had a bit of fun trying to work out which rocks matched the names.  I think we got them all.  Heading southwards again we stayed in a town called Lindsborg who celebrate their Swedish heritage, including a herd of wild dala horses throughout the town.  Spied several of the wee critters before stopping for a well earned coffee.

 

Jean finds one her size

Every good firefighter
needs a spotted horse
 

 Continuing south we find ourselves in Hutchinson that is home to the Underground Salt Museum.  The museum itself is 650’ underground like the mine itself and everything is taken up and down by elevator, including all equipment which is broken down into manageable pieces and welded back together underground.  Basically, what goes underground, stays underground.  This was a good thing when the museum was being set up as they just had to trawl the played out parts of the mine and, voila, here are all the exhibits.  They just had to collect them all.  Given that this particular mine covered 67 miles this was no easy feat but they’ve done a fantastic job.  Can see the similarities between copper mining and salt mining.

What goes underground stays
underground - they keep patching them
until they stop then leave them where
they die.

No big boggers in this mine - note how low
 the backs (ceilings) are.

 

 
  
 

 

 


From Hutchinson it was a short hop down to Wichita.  Haven’t seen any linemen and we were driving the main roads … we did see these chaps but not a lineman among them.

This troll lurks below a grate by the Little Arkansas River in Wichita
- it's okay kids, he's chained up and can't get out.

Keeper of the Plains statue in Wichita.  During the summer
months, fire pots are lit at the base - we were too busy
toasting Wally for his birthday with moonshine
to go back and see them lit.

One of the many weird and wonderful art works that
make up Hubbell's Rubble at Howard, KS

And finally, the oldest swinging bridge in Moline, KS, from 1904.

So that is why Kansas.  It may not have the scenery or mountains like some of the other states but it’s got a whole bunch of interesting and quirky stuff to go see.  You just have to look hard and you’ll find it.

 

      

From mountains to prairies

 




Trout Lake at 10,000'

Uncompahgre National Park

When we left Ouray we travelled on the San Juan Skyway which takes you on some very scenic mountain roads.  We headed to Four Corners where 4 state boundaries meet – Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah and the contrast couldn’t have been more different.  From alpine to desert in such a short time.


Sue in Colorado & Utah,
Jean in New Mexico & Arizona



Spruce Tree House
cliff dwelling

We stopped off at Mesa Verde National Park and got a lot of history of the Anasazi people that inhabited the area along with some theories on why they abandoned their cliff dwellings.


Up close and personal - Spruce
Tree House cliff dwelling

  
The dominant theory is drought although some of the later pueblos (villages) appeared to have defensive structures.  They were abandoned approximately 1300AD and not discovered again until the 1800’s.  Such a fascinating place.

Left the desert and headed back to the hills, overnighting at a small town named Creede.  Creede has two claims to fame – one being the largest fork

in USA (I know, it's terribly exciting!), the other being an Underground Fire Station and Underground Mining Museum.  The Fire Station is still in use with all trucks having their own space burrowed into the hill.

Underground Fire Station



One of the many trucks housed underground

Cleanest, tidiest underground crib room
 Sue has ever seen

The Underground Mining Museum is the best one Sue has ever seen for comparing modern techniques with that of the early days.

Typical miner - smoking while working with explosives

 

Early bogger - the best job in the mine at the time

Shift Bosses LV - the most dangerous
piece of equipment underground. 
What's changed?

Rather cumbersome self rescuer

On our way to the Great Sand Dunes National Park we passed through the small town of Hooper.  There is a UFO watchtower at Hooper but I guess UFOs only arrive at night (all the better to see the flashing light show and easier for disembarking aliens to hide or mingle with the humans) so there were none to be seen. 

UFO Watchtower (someone is out there)

Fortunately the distraction of USA’s largest sand dune made up for our non-encounter of third kind.  And, no, we didn’t climb to the top.  You think we’re crazy?  Okay, yep we are, but we’re not stupid. 


Great Sand Dunes National Park

Relaxing in the hot sand

Next day we headed south to a place called Bishop Castle.  Jim Bishop started out in 1969 building a stone cabin in the hills for his family.  One thing led to another and he’s ended up building a castle.  A huge bureaucratic nightmare ensued in the years following but he appears to have won that battle and Bishop Castle is now a listed tourist attraction.  The building continues to this day.  It’s a fantastic place to visit - you have free rein to wander around and we’d both recommend it to everyone.



 

 

When you're walking on these balconies
they feel as flimsy as they look however
 no Mills sisters were harmed in the taking of these photographs

Mt Sunflower - Highest point in
Kansas at 4039' 

Time to leave Colorado and visit some of the other states so we headed east into Kansas.  From Colorado Springs out to the state line the land gets progressively flatter and flatter which  surprised the both of us.  Everything I’ve ever heard about Colorado is mountains, mountains, mountains.  With mountains at the forefront of our minds we decided to stop in at Kansas’ highest point – Mt Sunflower.  The Mt part is a bit of a joke as this mountain is merely a small bump on an otherwise flat landscape.  Love it.  Met 2 couples at Mt Sunflower, both who gave us some good tips on places to visit.  Great to meet you all.



Monument Rocks

Left Mt Sunflower and headed southeast to Monument Rocks.  Another anomaly.  In an otherwise flat landscape these groups of rocks head skywards, up to 70’.  Tim e was getting on so we decided to park up for the night at the rocks.  The wind picked up and we were hit by a storm – a lot of thunder and lightning and just a little rain.  Shame about the storm really, even though it was wonderful, as being out in the middle of nowhere, the night sky would have made for some fantastic viewing.

 

 



Dorothy is alive and well,
living in Kansas and
making a living as
a tour guide

Made our way down south to Liberal on the Oklahoma border and visited Dorothy’s House and the Land of Oz.  More for the younger generation and fans of the movie but a bit of fun all the same.  We took a guided tour, our guide being Dorothy herself.  How lucky were we.  We even got to follow the yellow brick road. 

 

So … onto Dodge.