Anyone who drives all the way across Kansas from east to west can understand why it was not admitted to the Union until 1861, the 34th state. Texas, California and Oregon were already states. As son Greg said while we were driving through the southwest part of the state in 105 degree heat, "Why would anyone want to live here?" Unfortunately, to get to beautiful places like New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and points west you first may have to cross Kansas or Nebraska.
Of course, the political situation which resulted in the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0827030.html may have been responsible for Kansas not becoming a state earlier. For those of you interested in history, I recommend a book by Jay Monaghan, "Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865." The "War between the States" actually may be said to have begun between the pro-slavery forces in Missouri and the Abolitionists in Kansas, fought around Lawrence and along the border between those two states. The famous John Brown was in the thick of things around Osawatomie, Kansas, just 30 miles south of Kansas City.
Sunday, July 31
We stayed last night at the Economy Motel in Pratt, KA. It was a nice room and comfortable. They had a pool, but it was hot and late so we didn't use it. We had dinner last night at Rick's on the west side of Pratt. Not an exceptionally good meal. Greg ordered a cat fish fillet and got a whole, breaded catfish which he said was OK but not what he expected. They did have a pretty fair salad bar.
We drove 80 miles to Ft. Dodge, just outside of Dodge City:, getting there about 10:30 am. The AAA guide said the points of interest there didn't open until 1 or 2 pm. on Sundays, and it was right about the fort. We did walk around and saw the barracks buildings built in the 1860's. There is a veteran's home and hospital, several houses and a small church a hundred years old. Leaving there and just before we got to Dodge we saw our first of many large cattle feeding lots, up on a hill about a quarter mile off of the road. We drove up there and took some pictures of the calves eating at long troughs. I would imagine there were a thousand cattle in that one facility, separated into a dozen different lots.
We drove into Dodge City about 11:30, thinking the sites weren't open yet and drove around a few blocks before stopping at the tourist information center on Front Street. There we found out that the Boot Hill Museum across the street had been open since 8 am. It includes an old hotel building (really only the ticket office and a large souvenir shop), the Boot Hill Cemetery, and a row of old town buildings which house the museum, (a salon, leather shop, blacksmith shop, general store, etc.) The museum has a lot of good exhibits about Indian life in the area and how they and the buffalo were affected by white settlers. The US government essentially paid for the whites to kill off the buffalo in the 1870's as a way to drive the Indians from the area. Some of the hunters would kill up to a 100 buffalo a day, so that by 1880 the buffalo were all but extinct in the area. We had lunch there and left about 3 pm.
We drove west of Dodge to a place where there are markers just off of US 50 indicating where wagon wheel ruts were left by the Santa Fe trail. We had problems identifying just where the ruts were, but they say you can see them in the winter better when the vegetation is gone.
We then drove southwest on US 56 through southwest Kansas and on down to Boise City, OK. in 105 degree, sunny, windy, weather. That area is flat, mostly treeless with little sign of civilization except wheat fields and pastures of sage brush. The Arkansas, Cimaron, and Beaver "rivers" were all dry with grassy bottoms when we crossed them.
We passed through Elkhart, Kansas which is right next to the Oklahoma line and looked like a decent sized town from the highway. We probably would have found better accommodations there, but I pressed on another 38 miles to Boise City, OK. We decided on the Townsman Motel, one of two in this small town. None of our motels so far have had chairs outside the door for Greg to sit in and smoke, an amenity I agree they should and could easily provide even for those who don't smoke. The accommodations were adequate and the price was right.
We were resting in the room after checking in and got absorbed in the movie "School of Rock." Rachael wanted to watch it and by the time it was over Jo Ann's, the local eatery, was closed and the only place left open was Pizza Hut. Mileage on the Jeep was 132,121; our mileage for the day 254 miles.
Monday Aug 1, 2005
We had breakfast at Jo Ann's, a little local place just down the street from the motel. The oatmeal was good, the service friendly and locals were coming and going. A young priest was there, carrying the order of Funeral Worship. The night before at the Pizza Hut I had noticed they had announcements on the counter about services for a couple of people who had died.
We continued on southwest on US 56 to Clayton, NM., and gained an hour at the New Mexico state line. I had said the first person to see a mountain got a prize, and Rachael won. Rabbit Ear Mountain was off to our right north of Clayton, visible long before we got there. I had been checking my altitude watch and the elevation had been rising gradually since eastern Kansas. West of dodge it was increasing steadily and at Clayton we were near 5,000 feet.
We took US 64 northwest out of Clayton and stopped at the Capulin National Monument, which is a volcano standing out on the plateau. At the parking lot the elevation was posted at 7,879 feet so I was able to set the altitude on my watch. It actually was just a couple of hundred feet low before I set it. A mile long trail goes around the rim of the volcano, which at one point rises above 8,000 feet. We walked all the way around and then Greg and Rachael took the .2 mile trail down into the center of the volcano. We spent a couple of hours there and then had a very good lunch at the Mt. Capulin Country Store, located at the intersection of US 64 and the road to Capulin Volcano.
After lunch we continued west on US 64, through Raton, then southwest into Cimaron. Cimaron was a cattle down, much like Dodge City on the Sante Fe Trail, so we only stopped there for some ice cream and ice for the cooler, then continued up Cimaron Canyon through the southern end of the Rocky Mountains and on to Taos. The road west of Cimaron follows the upper part of the Cimaron River which is flanked by almost vertical canyon walls. It is a beautiful drive. We stopped for a short while and put our feet in the cold mountain-stream water.
We got into Taos about 5 pm. and took a room at the El Pueblo Lodge, which had a pool but we later found that the water in it was green and it was closed. We walked about 5 blocks from the motel to the plaza past craft and other shops and found the Alley Cantina for dinner A wall of this establishment remains which is reported to be part of the oldest house in Taos. I had a half barbecue chicken which was very good. After dinner we walked around the plaza and through a couple of art shops/galleries, but most of the stores were closed by then (after 9 o'clock). Our mileage driven today was 239 miles.
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