Arrive in Dodge City and hotel has pool, sauna, hot tub. I use all 3, Greg is not interested in swimming. Dodge City Brewery Greg gets a flight and I well,…. sip. Some of each. I’m not a drinker but in Dodge, how can you not sidle up to a bar and ask for a beer? Never been drunk yet. All very good especially the Oatmeal Stout.
Getting the hell out of Dodge, we eastwardize until we get to the Quivira wildlife refuge. Vulture, Snow Geese, Greater Yellowlegs, Black Necked Stilt, Northern Shoveler, American Coot, Bufflehead, Blue Winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, American White Pelican, Raven, Savanah Sparrow, Northern Flicker, Canada Goose, Red Winged Blackbird, Brewers’s Blackbird, Common Grackle Collared Dove, Red Tailed Hawk. Possible Northern Harrier.
Then moving along we get to Hutchinson, Kansas. I liked it.
1. Great ribs at Hog Wild BBQ outside of just 2 o3 three places in Austin, and with a different style (Yummy!) style of sauce, just about the best ever.
2. A big beautiful AFL-CIO Union Labor Temple. That is right, a Temple to Labor. A+.
It is a good sized, clean, organized town. Worth a look.
We passed 1800, 1900, 2000 and 2100 today. San Fancisco, Bay, Central Valley (Bushtit!) ! means a lifer. Sierra Madre, Tahoe, Great Basin, Utah Mesas, Rockies, Great Plains, Flint Hills, Arkansas River Kansas River, Missouri River. Good Views. Is America still America? Geograhicaly it is. the rest is up to us. We saw Native American influence in Nevada and Utah. Good farms, really destitute farms, some really nice towns and some with poverty that has taken down whole towns and farming communities. We are just ahead of spring in most places, the trees are just leafing out, slower at elevation. We arrive in Kansas City Kansas, and go to Kew Point, the cofluence of the Kansas and the Missouri River, and where Lewis and Clark put up for several days, with boat repairs, recruiting crews and giving 50 and 100 lashes to two privates for drinking on watch duty. Not an easy voyage. They took over 2 years from St. Louis and back, We got to St. Louis in 8 days taking our time. They would be amazed at life today.
We have been on the Pony Express Trail, Overland Stagecoach Line, Santa Fe Trail and the Lews and Clark Trail. The route from Ohio to Virginia and DC was planned by Washington and the Virginia Legislature to open the west (Ohio) and prevent another nation from organizing on the continent.
Lots of history here, and further back in time as we move east. Not all of this history is pretty, A lot of it is murder, disease, genocide, death starvation failure and some great triumphs. Kansas City we get there too late for the Royals and decide to leave for Saint Louis tomorrow. KC Kansas really a working person’s town. Railyards galore, warehouses, construction. Tired and asleep is why I am a day late with this.